Tree service in Knoxville

Five pines, all of them trimmed at some point in the past, growing in the pinch between the power lines and the back wall of the house. Four of them came out. The fifth one is still there, and that was the right answer.

That last tree sat furthest from the corner of the roof, with the lines on one side of it and the roof on the other, and nowhere to set a lift that would let a climber work above it. Every way of taking it down put weight over one or the other. The crew said so and left it standing rather than find out.

The four that could be reached were worked from a lift, sectioned from the top and rigged down piece by piece so nothing swung toward the conductors or the shingles. Brush was chipped on site. The hardwood was hauled off, disposal included. One day.

If a tree on your property cannot be taken safely, you will hear it while we are standing in the yard with you — not after a truck is already parked in your driveway.

Two trees on one property, quoted as two separate jobs, and done on two separate visits. They were not the same kind of work and it would have been dishonest to price them as though they were.

The front tree stood near the power line at the road side of the property. It could be taken without a lift, so it went first — down, branches cleared off the property, stump cut flush.

The back tree was the difficult one. It sat just outside the fence at the rear, big enough that the size alone was a factor, and positioned so the driveway was the only place a truck could work from. That tree waited until a lift was available to put a climber above it. Same finish: everything off the property, stump flush cut.

A septic field and an overhead line between them set most of the decisions on this job — where the chip truck parked, where the tractor could cross, and which direction a stem was allowed to land. Neither one is visible in a photograph of a tree. Both change the plan.

One more thing worth knowing. The hardwood off the back tree carried a real disposal cost, and that cost is in the number you are quoted. If you burn wood, or you know somebody who does, say so before the work is scheduled. Wood that goes to a neighbor does not go to a landfill, and you keep the difference.

Three large trees stood in the strip of yard between the house and the backyard shed — two cedars and a walnut. There was no open ground to fell any of them into. The house was on one side and the shed was on the other, and the gap in between was the whole of the drop zone.

So none of them were felled. A lift went in and the crew took all three down from the top in sections, rigging the limbs that could not be dropped clear and lowering them by rope. Ground protection mats went down first so the lift could cross the turf without cutting ruts into it.

The brush all left the property. The trunk wood was the homeowner’s decision, and it is one worth making before the saws start: hardwood can be cut to length and stacked for you, or it can go out on the truck. This one went out on the truck.

A little over a day on site, start to raked.

A maple in the back yard had grown into the roofline and was working its way into the gutters. That was the tree that mattered, and that was the tree that came out.

It was taken from a lift rather than felled, sectioned down over the roof so no limb ever had to swing toward it. Brush was chipped on site, the hardwood was hauled off, and the stump was cut flush with the ground. One day.

There were two other trees on the property — a second maple beside the first, and a smaller dead hardwood in the corner of the yard. Both were priced on their own instead of being folded into one number for everything. That way you can take the roof problem now and decide about the rest on your own schedule. A dead tree in the corner of a yard is worth dealing with. It is not worth being rushed about.

A large walnut had grown up in the narrow ground between the house and the property line. The roof was above it. The backyard fence was behind it. And there was a vehicle on the neighboring side, parked close enough to matter.

That is three things to miss and no room to miss them by, so the tree came apart from a lift instead of coming down in one piece. Limbs were rigged and lowered rather than dropped. Mats went under the lift to keep it off the lawn.

The stump was left standing at about four feet. That was the homeowner’s request, not an oversight — some people want one for a post, a feeder or a carving. Ask for it and you get it.

Brush was chipped on site. The hardwood was hauled off. One day.

While the lift was already in the yard, the silver maple out front got a light trim at no charge. Silver maple grows fast and holds weak wood, and it is one of the first things to come apart in a storm on a Knoxville street. Keeping the long limbs shortened is cheap work compared to what it prevents.