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| The tree guys - Dixie Tree Service - (whom I could not recommend more highly) came at 7am yesterday, to begin cutting the lower branches off the downed oak tree. |
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| At 8am, the 40 ton crane arrived. we were concerned that it might crumble our already cracked driveway, but they were careful and we suffered no more damage there. The crane was used to help Alex cut the upper branches off and haul them to the front of the house. |
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| Alex riding the crane made me think of how I rode the zip lines in Costa Rica. Believe it or not, I would have enjoyed riding that thing up and over the house, as Alex did several times. He was extremely careful; looking at the tree before making each cut. He had to be sure he did not do anything to dislodge the broken chimney from its precarious perch against the edge of the roof. |
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| After the final cut of the top of the tree was made, the trunk section fell back into the hole, with a loud "whump." |
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| After the tree was removed, we could easily see the extent of the break in the chimney, as well as the damage to all the gutters on the rear of the house. |
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| We were very surprised that the deck railings held, even though one of the tall 4x4 light poles was broken. That tree was very heavy! I suppose it is a tribute to the original builder of the deck, Tom Buzzard, and I might let him know how good of a job his crew did.If you follow the link, you'll see that Tom now has a roofing company. He put the current roof on our home and did a fine job. Luckily, there was no damage to the roof that we can tell, except a few shingles were broken, and they can be easily replaced. The chimney is another story. It was originally thought that they could use the crane to lift it back onto its axis. The 40 ton crane used for the tree was deemed not strong enough to lift the broken chimney (estimated to weigh between 5-6 tons). So, they went back to the drawing board, and they are submitting two options to the insurance company, one of which is to take the broken portion apart brick by brick and build a new chimney. At this point, we don't know exactly how the problem will be solved. |
