Hi all,
Would anyone know how I can get a Cottonwood tree cut down in my yard for free by having the wood donated, I'm in Chicago IL?
Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
I don't believe it is possible that a qualified, insured outfit will do this. Sorry.
Good luck.
About the only way is if the tree were a danger to overhead power lines - then the power company would take it down.
If someone had a good cottonwood log (straight, clear, already on the ground and cut to length with no obvious signs of rot, metal, or ring shake) I'd come by and pick it up for free with a trailer if they had a way to load it for me and if it was close by. Otherwise I wouldn't be interested. Cottonwood is about as lowly as they come.
And more than that I don't think anyone would take down any yard tree for free in exchange for the wood. Even for something like walnut, which can produce very valuable lumber, it would likely be a loser in that situation. A sawyer would likely be money ahead to just buy a good log from a logger/mill/tree service as opposed to spending the time and taking the risk of cutting one down.
While finished lumber can be quite valuable the value increases in each stage of the product's progression. A standing tree has by far the lowest value. There is a ton of work (and equipment) ahead to turn it into a finished product and there are many unknowns as to the quality of what's inside the log. Once the tree is on the ground and turned into a log(s) the value increases. It increases again when it's sawn into lumber, again when it's air dried, again if it's kiln dried, again when it's planed and straight edged, and finally again when it's turned into flooring, cabinets, furniture, etc.
Not only do each of these steps require more equipment and labor but each of them can reveal defects that weren't obvious in the previous step, which will either require more work to correct or reduce the value of the lumber.
Alan
There is a wealthy & chincy couple here in town that tried to give away a big old Cottonwood for about 5 years. They even tried to get the town to take it down cause the branches hung over the side walk and street.
The town did have an arborist inspect the tree and that resulted in an order to the owner from the town to remove the tree as it posed a hazard to the side walk and street and the town also included notice of property owners liability in the event of the tree coming down and causing damage and registered a caveat on title subject to tree removal. They also offered to remove the tree for $3000,00.
The root ball was about 7 feet laying on the ground and id guess the trunk at about 5 ish feet at breast height.
The couple did nothing but argue with the town for a few years.
Well last summer we had a storm with very high wind shear nearing tornado strength and the tree came down and blocked 3 major traffic streets.
It totaled 2 cars that were stopped at the light, pulled up/broke off a fire hydrant and a light standard and damaged the Fiber Main communications cable. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt.
I don't know what the bill ended up at but I can guarantee it was a lot more than $3000 dollars.
Cottonwood has a low value partially because it tends to have ring shake which makes it a lower strength wood. Cottonwood is not rot resistant, though it does dry pretty hard. It can be used as a low value utility wood. Color-wise, it can be pretty plain, though once in awhile you can have mineral stain which makes it look better. The wood is also fast growing and has wide growth rings, and thus is not as strong as many hardwoods with tighter growth rings.
Being a yard tree adds additional problems. Someone is likely to have driven some nails in a yard tree, or worse yet a clothesline hook. The tree usually grows around them. Inside the tree over time the metal corrodes and turns black. As water moves up and down the tree it carries the black stain with it. So you'll have areas of black stain within the log which will give you lumber with stain defects. Metal in logs also damages the blades on the saw mill when you hit them. And you hit them a lot on yard trees. Everybody things there's no metals in my trees, but there usually are. The only yard tree logs I think are worth milling are Walnut. It's worth losing a few blades if you're getting the logs for free. You also have the cost of bucking the logs into lengths for moving, the cost of moving the logs to a position to load them, getting them loaded, and hauling them and the invested cost in equipment to do all of these things. This is why it's usually not worth it to deal with low value logs that are likely to have metal.
You need a professional tree crew that is properly insured. They'll also need the proper equipment to get up high and lower the limbs in sections safely, and you'll have to pay for that. There is a lot of liability taking a tree down in the city like that. You need to cover yourself. Get a copy of the tree service insurance certificate. If you let some non-insured yokel in a rusted out van come and start cutting, they can quickly do damage, get someone hurt, hurt themselves and sue you. You could lose your home over something like that. Although we hate the high costs of tree service work, it might be small compared to the alternative.