The goal behind our blog is to have fun sharing our passion, information, and insights with you – what better way to do this than by discussing recent projects? From time to time, when we think there was something particularly interesting about our day (or week), we will share it with you here on our blog under the “Projects” category (see our list of categories on the right). Please feel free to leave your comments, and if you ever think these posts are boring, do not hesitate to let us know. Sometimes we simply forget that not everybody is as excited about Loblolly Pines, Dwarf Hackberrys, and Turkey Oaks as we are!

Today’s project took place in downtown Raleigh, where the weather was cold and the sky was overcast (certainly not the ideal setting for taking great photos, as you will see). Our task was to remove a medium-sized Willow Oak from beside our client’s house.

The tree was certainly not oversized, but what made it tricky was its location. The familiar adage “location, location, location” is not only true for real estate, but it is also true for the tree service industry. This same tree, in a less congested are, would have been simple to remove. But as you can see, it was located close to the house, with branches hanging over the roof, and power lines surrounding the tree from many angles.

Because of this tree’s problematic location, we were forced to climb the tree in order to cut one branch at a time and section the trunk down in small pieces. Once our climber was in the tree, we established a rope pulley system using a sturdy branch fork and then anchored it to our Port-A-Wrap at the base of the tree. This device is perfect for tight situations such as this one where there are no trees nearby to use as an anchor for our ropes. (click here to see the Port-A-Wrap in detail). The Port-A-Wrap basically allows us to use the tree as its own anchor for lowering heavy branches. What a genius contraption, one we appreciate almost every day! Here are a few action shots:

Our climber situated out on a limb, preparing to cut another branch by first securing it with ropes:

A tree branch being lowered down with a rope:

The key with a job like this is to take your time and execute every movement with expertise, patience, and precision. One wrong move could cause damage to the property, power lines, or worse, the house itself. After a tense morning, we had stripped the tree of its branches and all that was left was to remove the log. There was no space to fell this log in one piece due to the limited working area, but lucky for us, there was a spot where we were able to drop small sections. Our climber worked his way down the tree trunk, cutting sections along the way. The crew on the ground helped guide each section into the open area by pulling attached ropes. Before long, all that was left of the tree was this:

This was a tricky tree and we were all very happy with our performance. We were able to successfully remove the oak tree without so much as damaging the surrounding shrubs.

At this point, all that was left to do was to head home! Ok, not quite, there was still some cleanup that needed to be finished, but almost….