Trees are great for the exterior of your home, but they can undergo a catastrophic injury, infestation, or even die. If you have no other choice than to remove the tree yourself, you need to take several precautions to ensure that you do it safely. Trees are massive and can cause severe damage or injury if they fell on someone, power lines, or buildings. To avoid all these risks, you can hire a professional tree removal service to assist, but with the right steps and precautions, you can successfully get rid of a tree.
Get the right safety gear
To prevent injury or accidents, put on protective clothing depending on the size of the tree. Get a long-sleeved shirt and pants to protect your skin from chips, gloves, helmet, goggles, hearing protection, and a respirator. If the tree is much larger, put on steel-toed boots with ankle support and protective chaps.
Clear the surrounding area
Get any toys, furniture, mats, or any other outdoor stuff away from the area within the tree’s height’s radius. Also, tell children to get away from the area and keep your pets indoors. Also, be sure to have an adult supervising the children and pets, and keep everyone at least at a distance twice the tree’s height away from the area. If the environment is too cluttered or so small that the tree may fall into your neighbor’s compounds, then you need to remove it in chunks. You can start with the main branches, smaller branches, and finally the trunk. Such a process is more complex, and hiring a tree removal Rome Ga professional is recommended.
Decide the direction in which the tree should fall
The direction should be most natural for the tree; for instance, if the tree is bending leftwards, the tree should fall to the left. The direction to which the tree falls should keep the rest of the compound accessible after the tree has been felled, and should offer sufficient space for chopping it up.
Plan escape routes in case of an emergency
At times, the tree may fall in the opposite direction to your plans due to the wind or other factors. Make the first route for when the tree falls in the right direction, and two others in case it does not, so you are safe either way.
Make the first angled cut
Position yourself so that your left shoulder is against the tree and make a 70-degree cut facing the direction in which you want the tree to fall. Keep cutting until the depth is up to ¼ of the tree’s diameter. From there, turn your saw sideways and cut horizontally through the opposite side of the tree where you made the angled cut. Keep this horizontal cut as flat as possible to keep the fall predictable, and stop when you are at about 1/10 of the tree’s diameter. The small hinge you leave will help you control how the tree falls.
Make your escape route
Once you have the hinge left, pull out your saw and take your first exit route away from the tree. If it starts to fall towards you, take the next exit route. Do not return to the tree until it has fallen completely. If the tree was smaller, you can push it towards to direction you want it to fall.
Take the stump out
If you had a smaller tree, you can easily dig the stump out with a shovel and expose its roots. Cut the roots away with an ax, then pull out what is left of them with a grub hoe. If the stump is rather large, you can use a chemical stump remover. Use a drill with a large bit to make small, evenly-distributed holes on the stump, after which you can add the chemical into the holes. The chemical will degrade the stump so that it rots, and within 4-6 weeks, the stump will be easier to remove with an ax.
If your local fire department allows open fires, you can also burn it. Place wooden debris over the stump and set it on fire, ensure that you have a working fire extinguisher at the ready to stop any stray fires or emergencies. Keep the fire burning and add debris until the stump is completely burned out. You can use a shovel to remove the buried roots and remove ash from the hole.
A stump grinder is the easiest method to remove a tree stump. You can rent one from a DIY company near you and remove the stump in seconds. Place it near the stump and turn it on, its cutters will grind up the stump into chips that you can reuse as mulch for a new tree or a flower bed. Ensure you also put on safety gear and follow the manufacturer’s instructions to avoid injury or damage to other parts of your compound.
