Cutting down trees (how much, houses, buying)

[angelkitten]

Does anyone know if people ever cut down trees in their yard if they are too close to the house and block light or if there are just too many and not enough grass? Is it allowed without a permit? And any idea how much it costs. I have been ruling houses out on the basis that there wasn't enough of a lawn for my liking and now I am wondering whether felling some trees may be the answer?

Or is this a dreadful thing that nobody ever does?

ANy experience welcome

Thanks

[danielbmartin]

Originally Posted by angelkitten

Does anyone know if people ever cut down trees in their yard ...

I felled a tall pine which was close to the house and was being used by squirrels as a "highway" to get onto the roof and thence into the attic.

Is it allowed without a permit?

Permit? I never thought to ask.

And any idea how much it costs.

Tree services will be happy to quote the job. The fee depends on the size of the tree and whether they are required to remove the tree. Grinding the stump costs extra. Really large trees require the use of a crane and that increa$e$ the co$t.

.

[behan]

It's your land at the end of the day.

But I've seen people buy houses in heavily wooded areas and then proceed to butcher the land just so they can have a bigger, more open, 'conventional' suburban-type lawn. I think it looks disgusting and is about as classless as you can get.

This is a heavily wooded area at heart. We do enough damage as it is. I'm not a hippie by any stretch but the idea of cutting down old, beautiful trees just to have an artificial looking lawn to waste water on doesn't sit well with me.

[angelkitten]

I sort of agree with you behan - it doesn't seem like the right thing to do. But I can't imagine my boys playing under trees with no grass to run around on. And then there's the snake habitat. You see, foreigners just shouldn't be allowed to move to these parts....

[angelkitten]

oh and why I asked about permits is that in the UK trees have preservation orders on them if they are old enough and you will end up in serious trouble if you try to remove on - maybe need that here too.

[carcrazy67]

Don't know of any permit requirements but I have lived in a subdivision with restrictions on cutting down any tree greater than 3" in diameter.

[lamishra]

we cut down 16 trees in our yard when we moved in (and still probably have over 30 on our .4 acre lot).
its not cheap, it depends on how accessible the trees are and the cost usually goes down per tree.

[angelkitten]

Could you tell me roughly what 16 trees cost?

[RedZin]

Some HOAs won't let you cut down hardwoods unless they're diseased or in danger of damaging your property.

[behan]

Originally Posted by angelkitten

I sort of agree with you behan - it doesn't seem like the right thing to do. But I can't imagine my boys playing under trees with no grass to run around on. And then there's the snake habitat. You see, foreigners just shouldn't be allowed to move to these parts....

When I was little I lived in a very heavily wooded area so I have a different view. It's all perspective. I spent hours and hours exploring the woods, climbing trees, armed with countless sticks & acorns/pinecombs to throw at my sisters, creeks to play in and look for crawfish, and mulberries & crab apples to eat. A grass lawn doesn't seem all that hot.

I might have taken my fair share of oatmeal baths though

I get that it's black and white to compare the woods & suburban living and that there's a grey area in many different parts here. But with all this rapid development occurring here in the Triangle and many areas completely unrecognizable to just 15-20 years ago, I don't see the point of buying land with lots of trees (and maybe that being part of its charm?) and then cutting them all down. Seems like a shame. There are plenty of plots where the developers have already done that for you.