Holy Canoli--We Have a Snow Level Above Our Garage Window (homeowners insurance, house)

[normie]

The wind must have blown it against our garage. Can't believe I'm looking out the window into a wall of snow!

LOL, good thing I got that jumbo pack of toilet paper, we may be buried in here for awhile. And forget getting the paper, today I'm reading it online!

[Caladium]

Snows about 2, maybe 2 1/1 feet at my house. One scary thing happened. A very tall pine tree bent over in the weight of the snow and the top of the tree is now laying on top of a roof that's part of my neighbor's first floor bump out.

It doesn't look like there's any damage, but a tree on a roof cannot be a good thing. I'm not sure if we should try to shake the snow off the tree and get it to bounce back up, or if that would cause more damage. Oh boy, I don't want to see what this is going to do to our home owner's insurance.

On a positive note, that snow thunder last night was awesome!

[themommy]

Part of our neighbors' Bradford pear broke out under the weight of the snow last night and fell into the street. They're such fragile trees.

[gingerbreadgirl]

I was missing my morning paper...I didn't think about reading it online...duh. Thanks for the reminder Normie. Our newpaper delivery person does a great job getting the paper here, but today would have warranted a bigger Christmas tip than I could have afforded!

While my husband was trying to get the dogs to do their thing in snow over their heads, he saw a huge tree go down. Fortunately it was in the woods and away from anything that would have caused damage. If the snow brings down a tree that does property damage, would homeowners insurance cover it?

The snow novelty is over, I'm ready to get back to normal now.

[normie]

Originally Posted by Caladium

On a positive note, that snow thunder last night was awesome!

We heard the snow thunder last night. I've never heard anything quite like that before, I was wondering what it was.

Hope your tree didn't cause much damage. That's no fun.

[Caladium]

Here's the tree that hit our neighbor. It doesn't appear to have broken, it's just really, really bent. The little roof and the deck seem to have broken it's fall. From here I can't see any damage.

My big question is, should I offer to shake the snow off? If I shake the havy snow off and the tree suddenly springs back up, could it cause even more damage? Any opinions?

[normie]

Originally Posted by Caladium

My big question is, should I offer to shake the snow off? If I shake the havy snow off and the tree suddenly springs back up, could it cause even more damage? Any opinions?

That looks like a pretty heavy tree. Plus the snow is heavy. I doubt you could lift it enough to shake it. Hope you have a chain saw, you're going to need it.

[normie]

Originally Posted by normie

That looks like a pretty heavy tree. Plus the snow is heavy. I doubt you could lift it enough to shake it. Hope you have a chain saw, you're going to need it.

Oh, and I'd use a few ropes to make a pulley and control where it falls and how hard to falls.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by Caladium

Here's the tree that hit our neighbor. It doesn't appear to have broken, it's just really, really bent. The little roof and the deck seem to have broken it's fall. From here I can't see any damage.

My big question is, should I offer to shake the snow off? If I shake the havy snow off and the tree suddenly springs back up, could it cause even more damage? Any opinions?

Follow up: We got the tree off the house. It took about 6 neighbors and two chainsaws, but we managed to get it off without damaging the house or anyone's backs. I'm new to the neighborhood so it was my first time meeting some of the neighbors. Actually, I was impressed with how everyone came over to help considering they had their own snow problems to deal with. It was like being in an episode of the Waltons or something. Of course, we'll see how I feel when I get the bill from the insurance company.

[InLondon]

Originally Posted by themommy

Part of our neighbors' Bradford pear broke out under the weight of the snow last night and fell into the street. They're such fragile trees.

Yes they are, during a thunderstorm or heavy wind these trees just can't take it. The larger they are, the more vulnerable they are to damage from wind. There was a large one at work that damaged several cars from a simple thunderstorm last year. The wind may have been 35 mph. I highly recommend no one plant the things. Although they are beautiful during spring.