My neighbors HUGE water oak fell last night. Caught the edge of my back fence but mashed the guys rv behind me. Who fixes this? Been worried about that tree for years. It leaned toward the neighbors behind mebut a strong east wind could have pushed it onto my outdoor fireplace. Glad it's down.

Common sense says the home insurance of the owner of the tree.

The law generally says if the tree was apparently healthy, and there was no apparent reason to expect it to fall suddenly, it is sn act of God or random happenstance and the property line determines who pays for what, even the tree removal.

If the tree was already dead or dying or had been observed to be increasingly leaning over time where the threat of a fall was elevated, or someone had majorly disturbed the ground supporting the roots recently, increasing the odds of a fall without mitigation, then there may be some liability.

I had a healthy pine tree in my yard get blown over in a hurricane and the top damaged my neighbor's roof. It ended up being cut at the property line and we each paid for our part of removal and his insurance covered his roof damage.

ontherocks said:

---

Common sense says the home insurance of the owner of the tree.

---

Common sense, home owner, rv, and insurance are all things that do not belong together…

Send pics please. I always like to see a good mashing.

I have a l dead pine tree in my front yard that is about 50-60' tall. This thread has me inspired to take care of the issue before it ends up in my living room with a strong west wind.

There were several articles and stories about this after the recent ice storm in Central TX. The earlier poster basicall has it right. If tree was healthy and damage is the result of a serious storm it is each owners responsibility to fix their damage. If the tree was in poor condition and falls due to a more typical weather event, they will likely be at fault. Depending on how good their insurance is will dictate how big of a hassle it will be for their neighbors.

I also wouldn't be too surprised if their insurance company refuses to pay or drops them due to lack of preventative maintenance.

Curious, what is the going rate for taking down a potentially troublesome pine tree? Purely precautionary.

What about dead oaks?

As old Bill Zak said many times on KTRH Garden Line "YOU CANNOT BRING DEAD BACK TO LIFE, IF IT'S BROWN TAKE IT DOWN."

Sea Speed said:

---

Curious, what is the going rate for taking down a potentially troublesome pine tree? Purely precautionary.

What about dead oaks?

---

Around here (Mandeville, LA) the reputable, i.e., insured, tree guys will not climb a dead pine. You're going to pay for a truck and basket at that point.

ETA Get two or three estimates from insured and bonded tree services. That should give you an idea of the going rate in your area.

Pines are all alive. Oaks are dead but I could fell all but one without feeling like I was going to break something on my house or smoosh power lines.

If you have a neighbor with a tree that looks like it's dying or might fall, best thing to do is to notify the neighbor in writing or by text or email where you have some record of it. That could come in handy down the road as far as liability if it ever topples over and does damage to your property.

Check with your power company to cut for free any trees threatening the line and the easement.

Cost is about $800 to climb and cut 90 foot tall pines. Incudes hauling away. Better price with more trees to cut.

Where are you able to get that price? Cost will be heavily dependent on how close the tree is to structure or power line and how far crew will need to drag debris. Just felling a pine without climbing and then hauling off debris might be under $1,000.00 in most of the Houston market-but typically more if climbing is involved. Unless you go with uninsured contractor.

I only mention the pines because a risk averse friend came over and said he would get rid of the pines around the house before they randomly fall. I'm not currently worried about any but would have to thread the needle on one and maybe 2.

Power lines are from the street to my house and I dont believe there is an easement since they are just running to my house but I will have to look at my survey again. I cleared most of that the other day with my pole saw and unsafe ladder placement. Dead trees are out in the open and of no concern or rush, but should cut them down to stop branches falling and to keep termites away i reckon.

Wait until a nice storm blows in or from the Gulf like Harvey. Those pine trees will snap and come down. Several years ago in Hurricane Alicia a healthy 60 ft. pine fell across my garage damaging two vehicles and home.

The large winds that hit my home town of Gladewater about two months ago did tremendous damage. The cost to clean up large trees for my friends was over $2000 per tree. Still hundreds of trees down that will never be addressed in my opinion.

Several years ago = 40 years ago


My, how time flies!!

Please don't remind me, flies faster each year. 1983 was a bad year, first the hurricane and then the big freeze of 1983 in December. Five straight days of below freezing but no rolling blackouts. However, busted pipes all over and no plumbing parts to be found. Plumbers made lots of money for several months. Seems like history keeps repeating itself. I learned the Boy Scout motto the hard way "BE PREPARED".

buddybee said:

---

…"IF IT'S BROWN TAKE IT DOWN."

---

We had a similar saying growing up poor, but for a different fixture inside the house.

OP, like MouthBQ mentioned, as long as there were no documented concerns or known issues with the tree search party will pay to deal with whatever was impacted on their respective properties.


September 2020... I had just come off furlough. Memorial Day, so I was sitting at home drinking coffee on a beautiful cobalt blue sky morning. A post oak just across the fence in my neighbor's yard decided it was done with life and just came crashing down through the fence and onto/into my detached garage.

My insurance helped, but all in all the I wrote checks through the nose and my deductible was as much or more than intended ended up covering.

Insurance will also NOT help with the expense of removing problem trees before they crash

Huntsville Livingston area