Which way is safest?

[JanH]

There's a 90 foot high pine between two houses, 15 feet apart.  A bucket truck can't get get near it.  There are 2 pines of almost equal width 15 feet away.  What's the safest way to take down the pine between the houses?   Winch it over and hang it from one of the nearby pines?  Climb and take down a piece at a time?  200 foot crane?

[Kevin]

The crane is costly but faster.
Both methods require a climber.
Both methods are safe if the tree is sound and the climber is experienced.

[rebocardo]

The houses are only 15 feet apart,  the branches are probably at least that long, and there are probably a lot of them, so the crane might be the best and safest option.

Dropping even a 2" limb from 70-90 feet is going to smash boards and put holes in the roofing. I have seen people put 3/4 plywood on the roof and drop them, not what I call ideal.

[Buzz-sawyer]

Chunck it from the top down and rig (In other trees)  8) ropping to rope it down to the alley...............works every time 8)

[sandmar]

Safest way? I'll be the one sitting in the truck down the block watching...not much on the climbing stuff :-[

Sandmar

[DanManofStihl]

me neither I hate cliumbing trees I will take them down If i can do it on ground level but climbing a 100ft tree thats out of the Question I have other people on my crew to do that type of work.

[Oldtimer]

One good climber, two good groundmen, several good ropes, and lots of labor. Be prepaired to pay.

[Furby]

With those close spaces, I'd think even a crane would have some trouble.
Why does the tree need to come down???
Best bet, just let the wind take it down and let the insurance company cover the damage.
If ya really want it down, what Buzz-sawyer and Oldtimer said works great, IF the crew knows what they are doing.

[rebocardo]

back in 1998 at my old house, I had a locust tree that covered three houses. I thought about how long it would take me to take it  down myself (a month of Sundays) and what would happen if I dropped a 1,000+ branch through a roof and killed someone.

So, after getting estimates I ended up hiring a guy that was in the tree business for something like 40 years. His estimate was not computer designed and most of it hand written, though something said "this guy knows his stuff". It was not the cheapest estimate.

He came back with three of his sons, put a crane on it, lifted it by sections into the street where it was put into a full tree chipper that sat in the back of a big dump truck.

1.5 hours and $750 later he was gone with nothing to clean up. Some of the smartest money I spent and I think it was a deal and 1/2.

fwiw.