The Damage

Tree guy came by today to talk about the removal.  $2500 to remove it.  The tree guy felt pretty bad the insurance company denied our claim, but he had to bring in a 30 ton crane to hoist the tree out over my other trees and get the tree off the neighbor’s house.  That doesn’t come cheap.

The insurance company said my house and property are insured for damage.  Acts of God are covered only if said act causes damage to my property.  Isn’t the tree my property?   To me, the Act of God was the wind, and the wind caused damage to my property (the tree).  But apparently the tree is not covered by the policy unless it falls on something of mine and damages it.  Any damage to my neighbor’s property is on their insurance.

The half of the tree that fell on my property fell into another tree.  I had the tree guy come out all quick because I was afraid of it falling and damaging something.  Apparently the smart, but perhaps not proper course of action would have been to let it fall, and smash into my deck.  Then the insurance company would have paid for a new deck, and to remove the tree.

Essentially the insurance company was betting the tree wasn’t going to fall and damage something, and I was betting it would by removing it.  I didn’t give the insurance company the chance to lose the bet.

11 thoughts on “The Damage”

  1. Read your policy. Many policies have tree removal amount like $500. If the tree had damaged your structure then your policy may have had an 80/20 split. You would have paid the deductible and 20 % of the cost. Some policies do not have that provision.

    Only if you were negligent would you have been responsible for your neighbor’s damage. Since you had no knowledge the tree was damaged and would fall in a storm, you are not negligent.

    Check under named perils like windstorm and read the provisions and the excusions. Homeowner policies give in one hand and take away with another.

  2. You’re such a hater! Denying the “economic recovery” like that by preventing damage to your deck. Admit it, you hate poor working class people.

  3. That is a lot of money for removing a tree. Had you been in my neighborhood I would have removed it for half of that. There might have been some sawdust and some ruts in the yards but it wouldn’t have cost nearly as much.

  4. $2500 is a lot, because it was an emergency job that required a big crane. He’s removed trees for me before for way less than that, but those weren’t leaning precariously on another tree.

    Risk in doing it myself is all my trees are at risk of damaging property, so I’m willing to pay the money to have someone who has insurance do it for me.

  5. Stump? Did someone say “stump”? I know what to do with stumps!

    That is where I first got experience with explosives when I was about nine or ten years old. When I was growing up on the farm we blew about 500 stumps out of the ground with explosives. I’d be glad to do the same for you. But you’ll have to assume liability for any of the pieces that deorbit in an antisocial manner.

  6. It would probably treat my foundation, which is only a foot or so away from the stump, in a fairly antisocial manner. House was built on a treed lot. The neighbors who’s house part of the tree fell on insisted to the township that no more trees be removed than necessary to put up the slab. Bad idea. Trees that close should have been removed. Karma’s a bitch I guess.

  7. My father had a method for stumps. He used liquid oxgen. A cigarette dipped in liquid oxygen for small stumps and a cigar for large stumps. Stuck a wire and ran it back to battery. It worked a treat.

  8. Tree’s have value. Talk to an arborist about replacing the tree and what it would cost. Maybe get an estimate. See if your insurance company wants to pay for the lost value of the tree. Might be worth a try.

    Near my home town, the state was widening a highway. They sent out a crew to cut some trees by the highway. As the crew starts cutting, the home owner came out mad as a hornet after they’d gotten one down. The home owner was a retired state forester and the trees weren’t in the right of way. Long story short, the state paid to have the closest match replacement tree that could be found shipped in and planted at considerable expense. Trees have value.

  9. Houses are expensive. If it ain’t trees falling, its sewers clogging, its roofs leaking, its women redecorating, etc.
    I miss my days in a one-bedroom apartment. Something breaks, call maintenance.

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