Tree Damage Archives - Page 2 of 3

Insurance Considerations for Fallen Trees With Property Damage

Property damage from a fallen tree

Many homeowners who face the unfortunate occurrence of a tree that has fallen and damaged their property are frantic and unsure what to do.

Here are the typical questions asked in this situation:

Should I call my homeowners insurance company? Is this covered by my insurance company?
Is this my neighbor’s tree or my own?
If my tree falls into my neighbor’s yard, am I responsible and liable for the damage?
What about damage to my own property – am I covered?
Is a local tree service available immediately to remove the large tree that fell on my house?
How long will it take to fix the hole in my roof?
Who is responsible for fixing the hole in my roof, and at whose expense?

These are all very good and common questions that arise during an emergency tree removal situation. In most cases, it is the insurance company that will be responsible for footing the bill for these expenses. For more information, see our post on what to do if your tree falls on your neighbor’s property.

Some local reputable tree companies are on the insurance company’s list for handling emergency tree removal. In many situations, a homeowner will call their insurance company and the insurance company will provide the name of a local tree service to handle the emergency tree removal.

Here at Barts Tree Service, we’ve been removing fallen trees for years. We know how to get even the most dangerous trees off your property so that you and your insurance company can quickly fix any damage.

Give us a call at 203-240-1302 – we’ll get you back on your feet ASAP with our Emergency Tree Removal services. Available 24/7 to respond to your emergency.

Salt Damage to Your Trees and Landscape

Many trees and shrubs can be disfigured and killed by road salt (Sodium Chloride or Calcium Chloride). Sodium Chloride is used primarily since it’s less expensive but it’s also more damaging to plants. Late season applications of salt are more harmful to trees since there is less time and run off to leach salt from the soils near root zones.

The worst damage occurs to sensitive tree species planted near heavily salted roads with high traffic, especially when they lie downhill, downwind, or have poor drainage.

Salts cause tree damage two ways:

Direct contact with foliage (spray zone damage) which is typically seen on evergreens along roadways.
Through chemical modification of the soil where plants uptake salt ions through the root system which then reaches toxic levels and scorches the foliage.

Uptake of the salt ion also slows tree growth and increases stress by interfering with nutrient availability.

Salt damage on sugar maple

How to Recognize Salt Damage on Trees

Winter: Look for “witch’s brooms” (cluster of twigs growing out of branch ends) on deciduous trees, yellow tips on evergreen needles.
Early Summer: Look for marginal leaf scorch on deciduous trees, and yellow, brown, or fallen needles on evergreens–especially on the side toward the road.
Other problems can produce the same symptoms, so examine the whole plant and site carefully to rule out other causes.

Trees Commonly Damaged by Road Salt

red maple (Acer rubrum)
sugar maple (A. saccharum)
hackberry (Celtis occidentalis)
black walnut (Juglans nigra)
Norway spruce (Picea abies)
white spruce (P. glauca)
white pine (Pinus strobus)
Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)
pin oak (Quercus palustris)
littleleaf linden (Tilia cordata)

Salt spay on evergreens

What to do About Salt Damage on Trees

Plant salt-tolerant species such as ashes, callery pears, ginkgo, hawthorns, honeylocust, London plane, tolerant maples (Norway, hedge, or sycamore), English and red oak, tolerant pines (Austrian, pitch, or Japanese black), Sargent cherry, or Scholar Tree.
Reduce salt application rates, lower the throwing distance, and apply before roads freeze.
Use a less harmful product such as CMA or Iceban^TM, and mix in inert materials like sand.
Wash salts off foliage with fresh water soon after exposure.
Avoid piling snow containing salt around plants or where runoff will effect plants.
Raise the planting site, or block off the trees from the road with a barrier.
Improve drainage or adjust grade, so salt is easily leached away from trees.
Leach salts from soil in root zone area by repeating applications of fresh water after the ground is no longer frozen. This is probably the most effective way to reduce soil salinity problems.
Incorporating organic matter like gypsum or activated charcoal has been found to reduce salt damage in some cases but is a slow process.

For further information on this subject the CT Agricultural Experiment Station published a paper on this. Click here

Prevent Winter Browning on Pine Trees

Winter injury on pine tree

Winter browning or winter burn of conifer (evergreen) shrubs and small trees around the house is best prevented by making sure the roots have adequate water late in the season. The browning, called desiccation, results from wind removing more moisture from the needles than can be replaced.

Browning or bleaching of evergreen foliage during winter occurs for four reasons:

Winter sun and wind cause excessive transpiration (foliage water loss) while the roots are in frozen soil and unable to replace lost water. This results in desiccation and browning of the plant tissue.
Bright sunny days during the winter also cause warming of the tissue above ambient temperature which in turn initiates cellular activity. Then, when the sun is quickly shaded, foliage temperature drops to injurious levels and the foliage is injured or killed.
During bright, cold winter days, chlorophyll in the foliage is destroyed (photo-oxidized) and is not resynthesized when temperatures are below 28° F. This results in a bleaching of the foliage.
Cold temperatures early in the fall before plants have hardened off completely or late spring after new growth has occurred can result in injury or death of this nonacclimated tissue.

Foliar damage normally occurs on the south, southwest, and windward sides of the plant, but in severe cases the whole plant may be affected. Yew, arborvitae, and hemlock are most susceptible, but winter browning can affect all evergreens. New transplants or plants with succulent, late season growth are particularly sensitive.

There are several ways to minimize winter injury to evergreens. The first is proper placement of evergreens in the landscape. Yew, hemlock, and arborvitae should not be planted on south or southwest sides of buildings or in highly exposed (windy, sunny) places. A second way to reduce damage is to prop pine boughs or Christmas tree greens against or over evergreens to protect them from wind and sun and to catch more snow for natural protection.

Winter injury can often be prevented by constructing a barrier of burlap or similar material on the south, southwest, and windward sides of evergreens. If a plant has exhibited injury on all sides, surround it with a barrier, but leave the top open to allow for some air and light penetration. This will also help keep the deer away from their midnight snacking when winter food gets scarce.

Cleanup from Hurricane Sandy

The day after the storm is going to be a busy one since the phone has been ringing all night. Emergency tree removals from several houses in Brookfield, Newtown and Ridgefield along with removing a tree from a day old jeep in Danbury. Then we move onto opening access ways and removing hurricane damaged trees and limbs from wires so the service can be put back up.

Hurricane Sandy Storm Cleanup

Barts Tree Service has already been out removing hazardous trees that clients were worried about hitting their houses with the hurricane coming our way. We wound up removing 19 trees across Danbury, Ridgfield, Wilton, Brookfield and Weston all day Saturday and Sunday before the storm.

It looks like we might see gusts up into the 80mph range and large amounts of rain which obviously could lead to many downed trees from soil saturation and uprooting to wind damage which could be significant since there are still many trees with damage from the last two storms.

All 5 of our trucks are loaded up with equipment to respond to any emergency tree removals during or after the storm and will be on call 24 hours a day. We have vast amount of experience removing trees from buildings and working with insurance companies.

During a storm like Sandy we administer a triage system with 3 priority levels

1) Tree on/in the dwelling – we will remove the tree from your structure and generally leave debris yard. Then we tarp the damaged area so as to stop the flow of water from coming in and causing more damage. Then we come back later to chip and remove all the debris.

2) Opening access way to dwelling and/or clearing way for electrical service. Here we will open up your driveway or walkways so there is safe access to the house and if the electrical service was downed or ripped of the dwelling we clear the way so it can be reattached. (Note if your service is pulled down CL&P will just cut your lines and then re-attach once you have cleared the way and fixed the electrical service). With this in mind we also have two electricians who usually follow us during the day and put electrical services back on the houses once we clear everything out of the way so that when power comes back on you don’t have to wait.

3) General storm cleanup. This is where were are doing all the chipping and removal of logs and debris from your yard or business

Be safe and stay indoors during the storm, watch for hanging limbs when going outside and never go near hazardous wires.

Call us at 203-240-1302 for any hurricane emergency tree removals or hurricane storm damage removal. Additionally we offer free hazard assessment after the storm.

Cleaning Up Storm Damage After Thunderstorms

Funnel cloud was spotted on Candlewood that cracked this 50″ diameter oak

The last couple weeks brought several rounds of bad storms that we have been cleaning up after. Barts responded to emergency calls with 2 crews across Ridgefield, Danbury, Bethel and Brookfield and wound up working all weekend to remove trees from wires and roof tops.

Be careful when we have these storm warnings. I know we seem to get the warnings constantly but we had a couple clients with near misses from large falling limbs so please take shelter and stay there until things calm down.

There are a lot of trees with cracks and hanging limbs (widow makers) as a result of these recent storms so be very careful and assess your trees from all angles or give us a call and we will provide a free hazard assessment.

Emergency Storm Damage Tree Removal in CT

We have yet another storm upon us here in CT which could leave up to a quarter inch of ice in its wake. This condition could bring down trees and limbs so be very careful outside and park the car away from any suspect trees.

Barts Tree Service is staged and on call for any emergency tree removals or storm damage cleanups in the area so give us a call 24/7 and we will expeditiously take care of your needs.

Removing Tree Downed by Storm in Redding

This client came home from an international trip to her home in Redding CT and could not even get in the driveway because a large three trunk beech tree that fell on the house and driveway during a wind storm. SSince this was an emergency tree service we shifted around the schedule and arrived within a couple hours to opened up the driveway and secure the tree so it did not roll into the house causing further damage. Once all the brush was chipped we setup a rigging line to pull the trunk that was teetering and wanting to roll into the house toward a large picture window. With the truck and some pulleys we then winched it away from the house so we could finish limbing it out.

Click on image for larger view:

Removing Large Dying Red Maple in Danbury

Here are some pictures of a large five foot diameter red maple that Barts Tree took down in Danbury CT. This tree had a lot of rot on one trunk and has been slowly falling apart for some time. The client finally had enough with all the recent storm damage in the area and wanted to be able to park in the driveway again and not be bombarded by dead branches so we took care of it though I’m sure the large ant colony living in the center of the tree was not very happy we showed up.

Click on image for larger picture.

Identifying Wood Decay

Here’s a great educational video on identifying wood decay that was put together by the University of Minnesota.

If you observe any of these conditions in your trees or have suspect trees, contact Barts Tree Service at 203-240-1302 for a free consultation.

Tree Decay Detection from University of Minnesota Duluth on Vimeo.

Call us today at 203-240-1302

Insurance Considerations for Fallen Trees With Property Damage