A Question Concerning the Tall Pine Trees in many Triangle Area Neighborhoods (Raleigh: home owners insurance, chapel)
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
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I love all the trees that can be found in many neighborhoods in the area. That being said, whenever I see those really tall stand alone pine trees (30'-50' of trunk before any branches) I always wonder about how "stable" these individual trees are. I know these tall pine trees are probably very stable when they are growing in a large stand of trees, but I often see just one or two all by themselves and I wonder about their stability. I would love to have one of these trees in my backyard one day, but I would hate to see one fall on top of on my house! Some of these trees are located a mere 15-20'' from the back of homes. In the past when Raleigh has been subject to ice storms or hurricane weather are there a lot of instances where these trees fall over? It would seem like a catostrophic situation to me.
I love all the trees that can be found in many neighborhoods in the area. That being said, whenever I see those really tall stand alone pine trees (30'-50' of trunk before any branches) I always wonder about how "stable" these individual trees are. I know these tall pine trees are probably very stable when they are growing in a large stand of trees, but I often see just one or two all by themselves and I wonder about their stability. I would love to have one of these trees in my backyard one day, but I would hate to see one fall on top of on my house! Some of these trees are located a mere 15-20'' from the back of homes. In the past when Raleigh has been subject to ice storms or hurricane weather are there a lot of instances where these trees fall over? It would seem like a catostrophic situation to me.
We lived in Richmond during Isabelle in 2003. My neighborhood had lots of tall pines. Many of our neighbors had extensive damage from the pines. Also when they fell if they did not touch part of the home's structure (which I understand includes fencing) home owners insurance doesn't cover the cost to have them removed (which was very expensive after Isabelle). My memory was that 2003 was a very wet summer in Richmond so when Isabelle came through the ground was saturated which made the situation worse.
That last huge ice storm we had (some six years ago I suppose), we were in a house with pines in the backyard. It sounded like we were being bombed by our own trees. Kept us up most of the night.
They do tend to break off and fall during severe storms as well. We lost many a treetop after hurricanes. Not to mention, the sap and pine straw messes.
When I first moved here, I was scared to death of these trees. Guess that is what happens when you come from a flat, no tree area. Every time the wind picked up and the pines would sway...my stomach lurched.
I have grown accustomed to them now.
I was sooooo happy to be away from those awful pine trees at my last house!!!
They are a nightmare during ice storms. Especially when its dark out and the power is out, all you hear is "snapping" and then something large falling. Never know where it is going to land.
And in the summer, all the dried up pine needles that just cover your yard...ugh. Kills the grass, disgusting when they are wet and lot of these enormous spiders live underneath them.
N_R_G, have you seen that scrawny "bent" pine near the Dunn/Falls River circle in Falls River? It looks like its just begging for a good wind to blow it over.
I've been amazed at how the pines flex during storms. I can sit on my sofa and watch the treetops through second story windows overhead and its always entertaining. Outside of a few extreme situations (like Hurricane Fran), I've not seen too many blow over completely. Certainly there's damage from ice storms, but the branches generally fall straight to the ground then so you know about where the damage could be.
I have lived in the south amidst its pine trees all my life and I can't say that I have seen any more pine trees fall than hardwoods. I know during Fran it both types of trees came down in our old yard. I know in that last big wind/rain storm we had a couple of months ago, the only trees I saw down where two huge oak trees along Anderson drive...Not standing alone, not at houses where there had been construction.....just two huge oak trees. So, I am not sure that it is the fact that they are pines that you see them fall, just that there are more of them.
To respond to your first question, however, I do wonder about any tree that is left standing alone after major construction in an area. We have a whole woods behind our house, so there is some degree of wind "disperment" for all the trees, hardwoods and pines, which helps during storms. However, if there is nothing to break the effect of the wind on that one trees, I think that could cause a problem. I quess that the builders leave those lone trees so that they can say the area is "wooded" to raise the prices, although I am not sure they are doing any one any favors. I know that allowing ivy to grow up a tree and weigh down the top also can cause it to be more likely to fall.
Pine trees...............our last builder (the house in apex) left these scrawny but tall pine trees in the middle of our yard.......we think they were suppose to be appealing. But during the ice storm in 2001, they fell, missed everything, but they did fall.
That being said, I grew up in the woods near chapel hill and I remember the a couple of very good ice storms and the pine trees would bend almost in half with the weight of the ice, and never snap.......they have some amazing sway ability.
I think the pines struggle when the builders come in and nick them, or the roots when they are planning for the spot for the house. They are certainly not my favorite tree but I don't necessarily worry about them unless they look suspicious!
I've lived here my whole life surrounded by pines and I would have to say I'm WAY more scared of large Oak trees falling from the root ball than pines. Oak trees have extrememly shallow roots for trees that size. I remember after Fran and the ice storm being AMAZED at the ginormous oak trees and the root balls that were laying all over the inner beltline!!!
Pines are very flexible and under normal circumstances bend easily in high winds rather than snap. They can however be dangerous in ice storms, but ice storms like that don't come around that often.
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