Weather in Western New York has been more February than April. We’ve had over 8 inches of snow with high winds. Temperatures for April have been “Below Average” for 19 of the 20 days so far. During a recent wind storm, one of our trees got blown over. Today, Diane and I met with a landscaping guy who gave us a good estimate on removing the downed tree and filling the hole. We hired him and by next week this eye-sore will be gone. Have you sustained any storm damage lately?
Good thing that was a relatively small tress, as during the storm last week (when we had over 3 inches of rain), a kid in Mount Vernon was almost struck by a much bigger tree from his neighbor’s house that crashed into his bedroom. That’s one of the best things about not being a homeowner, not having to deal with that problem. We have had problems in the past with leaks from the roof, but this time everything was fine.
That said, April has continued to suck here. 16 of 20 days have been colder than normal (42 of 51 days since March 1), and April has averaged less than five degrees warmer than February! Too bad we didn’t stay in Florida for another month.
Jeff, you’re right about the weather. We’ve had 112 inches of snow (average snowfall is 94 inches) this Winter and below average temperatures in April. Big Orange got a good workout this year!
“tree” – don’t know where “tress” came from.
Yes, our skylights leaked and we had to bring out a roofer to recaulk the flashing and now someone to replaster and paint. Lots of trees downed here.
Patti, after the 2006 “October Storm,” we had four trees taken down. The tree that just blew over was never one of our favorites. Fortunately, the downed tree isn’t that close to our house.
I had a silver maple split, and thought it best to have it taken down last January, before it fell down. I had the Tree Guy leave the trunks, and I just finished cutting them up and hauling them to what was once the wood pile (now the wood wall) on the north side. Fans of my Facebook page gasped in awe at the pictures.
Dan, I’m leaving all the heavy lifting to our Tree Guy! We have a gas insert in our fireplace so no need for wood.
Not recently, but over the almost 20 years we’ve owned our current home, we’ve had to have a number of trees removed from our property for various reasons—mostly because they were damaged or presented a danger (too close to the house, giving squirrels and other rodents access to our roof, etc.). Each removal (along with stump grinding and fence repair for having to remove part of our chain-link fence to permit equipment into our backyard) cost about $1000–some a bit more, some a little less. Then, of course, we had an enormous pine tree that crashed through our roof during Hurricane Katrina—causing over $70,000 in damage and requiring a new roof among other things. The irony there is that the tree was on our neighbor’s property. It had been struck by lightening the previous year and John & I would definitely have had it removed had it been on our property. Without that tree on our roof, we would have made it through Katrina with the loss of a few shingles and some minor damage in the back yard!
Though not legally liable, your neighbor should have offered to pay for some of the damage.
No he didn’t…and never acted as if he should have. He was always a bit standoff-ish, to say the least.
Deb, having a neighbor’s tree crash into your house is No Fun! One of our neighbors has a huge tree whose limbs dump tons of leaves on our roof. If it fell, we’d be facing a situation similar to yours.
George, all that little guy needed was a rented chain saw and some soil to fill in the hole. Glad it didn’t hit your house.
We have many trees around our property from Douglas Firs hundreds of feet tall to Vine Maples at 35 feet or so. We have the ones closest to the house trimmed once a year but that’s about it. At least with our new Leaf Guard gutters, leaves there won’t be a problem. It should be noted that none of our trees are on the windward side of the house.
Rick, too many people on our street have trees too close to their houses. When trees are planted, they’re small so they don’t look like a threat. Then, 5 or 10 years later, limbs are raking the roof!
When I was a teenager, one of my aunts who had retired with a good income and savings outlived her $$ (and drank up a bunch of it). I remember every year she struggled to pay to have tree roots removed from her water and sewer lines. That made me very wary of the cost of trees, so I never wanted trees. I have bushes which I had cut way back last year, and can keep up myself.
Sadly, I have neighbors who don’t keep up their trees, so I pay to have the branches that come onto my property trimmed.
We haven’t had weather like most people here have had. My roof is about 10 years old, so I’m good for about another 10 years.
Stories like that remind us that nature might be stronger than humans!
Deb’s story reminded me of “our tree experience” around 20 years ago in Germany:
We had a strong storm aka Orkan (almost like a hurricane, Lothar was the name they gave it) on the day after Christmas – all day it was very windy and the pine/fir tree in front of the house like many others started to shake …
So I told my (late) first wife: Maybe I’d better take our cars away and moved them to the lawn behind the house. And in late afternoon we heard a loud noise/screech from the kitchen and saw that tree – it had fallen across our parking space, both cars would have been trashed …
The next day I took my chainsaw out – got enough wood for our fireplace! 🙂
And now the good news:
Here in Hungary right now we’re having really nice weather – max temp 30 Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) – my wife’s planting and watering plants all day …
And I mowed the lawn and cut some bushes over the weekend.
George 100 inches of snow really is a lot – hadn’t realised that Niagara/Buffalo is so far up North until we saw the “FRozen Falls” on our holiday there 9 years ago – an unforgettable experience!
Wolf, believe it or not, we’re enjoying 60 degree temperatures today! Woo hoo!
Plenty of cars were damaged in the latest wind storm when trees toppled onto them! You were smart to move your cars!
Glad it missed your house!
Clean up is always the worst part of this stuff – especially since it “wasn’t your fault.”
Beth, the Landscape Guy we hired should make quick work of removing the downed tree. Plus, he’s going to mulch all the beds and clean up the yard. There are plenty of downed limbs in the backyard. If the temps stay above freezing this week, the lawn will need mowing this weekend.