Removing a Hazardous Tree

Project: Basement Finishing and Family Space, Episode 6, Part 2



Bob is in Melrose, Massachusetts, where salvaged granite is cut, pieced, and set in trenches to create a granite curb that runs along the sidewalk. The old concrete walkway and stairs are replaced with granite steps and a fieldstone walk. Out back, stone walls are complemented with granite terracing and a fieldstone walk dry-set in a gravel base topped with stone dust and set with compacted pea stone. Ruth Foster joins Bob to recommend the removal of a “hazard tree” that is large, rotting, and threatening to the house. Cranes hoist tree cutters who cut the limbs and ready them for lifting over the ridge of the house to the chipper in the street. In back, a new triple-panel sliding door is installed after they remove the old windows and door, discover wood rot and insect damage, and rebuild the sill with pressure-treated lumber. In the basement, a borate solution is injected into the walls via plugs inserted every four feet to saturate the walls and sill and prevent damaging insects or fungus from attacking the home. Bob closes with custom trim that is replicated to match existing trim by copying the profile and creating a knife to custom mill the lumber.

Part 1: Building a Retaining Wall, Front Steps, and Backyard Patio With Stone
Part 2: Removing a Hazardous Tree
Bob talks with Ruth Foster, landscape designer and former Assistant Tree Warden for the City of Boston, about a problematic maple tree in the backyard. Foster explains the tree is a potential hazard as it is leaning and could fall on the house if there is a bad storm. The tree has a double trunk with a narrow crotch with rot in the middle, all of which make it highly unstable. The tree has also grown with a distinctive lean to better make its way towards the sunlight. The tree service company, Maltby & Co., was called in to take the tree down. A crane truck was jacked up and leveled and a police detail was called to direct traffic around the site. A man was attached to the crane's line and hoisted to the top of the tree. He then cut large branches from the tree and attached them to the crane's line to be lowered to the ground. Pieces of the branches were then fed into a wood chipper while larger sections were separated out for future use. Several smaller trees were also removed, bringing a lot of sunlight into the backyard.
Part 3: Replacing Sill, Repelling Insects and Rot, and Installing Sliding Doors With Custom Trim Molding

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