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If you are buying a home... pay attention to the "Trees".
How big and how close are they to the home, if it has lots of big trees close to the home, it may look great when the weather is great.
But, it can become a nightmare if there's a storm, tornado or hurricane.
I live in an areas where there are lots of trees, it makes the community look really good and mature, but some people have large trees very close to the homes.
I have a neighbor and see others who has maybe 20 large trees surrounding their home... they dump leaves and pine stray that don't fall in their yard, but into the neighbors yard and on the neighbors roofs.
Left on the roof, it deteriorates the roofing material over time, and there is no recourse to deal with the neighbors trees that dropped all the leaves on your roof or yard, you are left to clean it up and try and keep it clean.
It might be a good idea, if one is planting Trees, to learn something about what type of trees to plant in your yard. Or if buying a home, consider the type and size of the trees and the proximity to your home.
Because it is very expensive to have those trees removed in you live in a areas that is subject to tornado's, high winds, and hurricanes.
I live in an old city with overhead power lines that run down my side of the street. Every couple years the utility company comes around and whacks the street side of the trees planted in that part of my lot that's not 'mine' but I'm responsible for. They look like hell, and I wish they'd just cut them down.
Your post isn't wrong! I live in the land of tall trees, and I love them and wouldn't want to live anywhere else, but I lived for years in a forested rental (where I didn't have a say) surrounded by trees that would have taken the house to the ground. I feared them so much that we actually spent a couple severe storms out in a camper we bought and parked in the middle of the pasture, out of tree range.
Here in the PNW, we get "high" winds of 50-60 in severe winter storms... not high enough to flip a camper... not hurricane or tornado strong, but strong enough to blow over our 200+foot evergreens.
The first thing I did when we bought our own property was log all the trees that could reach the house. I wanted to feel safe during storms. We have lots of trees left on the property, we have 19 acres, but none that can reach me. It's hotter now in the summer, I miss the shade, but I do feel safe during storms.
We look at homes all the time in wooded areas, and in open areas, in wildfire areas, and grass fire areas, and we try talk about these risks with clients, particularly since taking a firewise class awhile back. There are lots of different ways to measure and control risk, and in the end, people like what they like. Some want to live in the woods. For wind safety, it's better to be in thick woods amid tight groups of trees, than it is to be in a development where everything was logged except a few tall stragglers.
If you are buying a home... pay attention to the "Trees".
How big and how close are they to the home, if it has lots of big trees close to the home, it may look great when the weather is great.
But, it can become a nightmare if there's a storm, tornado or hurricane.
I live in an areas where there are lots of trees, it makes the community look really good and mature, but some people have large trees very close to the homes.
I have a neighbor and see others who has maybe 20 large trees surrounding their home... they dump leaves and pine stray that don't fall in their yard, but into the neighbors yard and on the neighbors roofs.
Left on the roof, it deteriorates the roofing material over time, and there is no recourse to deal with the neighbors trees that dropped all the leaves on your roof or yard, you are left to clean it up and try and keep it clean.
It might be a good idea, if one is planting Trees, to learn something about what type of trees to plant in your yard. Or if buying a home, consider the type and size of the trees and the proximity to your home.
Because it is very expensive to have those trees removed in you live in a areas that is subject to tornado's, high winds, and hurricanes.
Great post and I have experience with all of it. We live in Florida, and have had trees come down and damage our home on more than one occasion, as well as a truck. Happened at different residences. Also a tree dropped so much vegetative matter on our flat roof that it compromised the roof and started leaking. Learned the hard way that you really DO NOT WANT trees too close or overhanging your home. And I say this as a HUGE tree lover!
Our current home has no trees anywhere close to the house; however our neighbor has several overhanging and on his boundary line, and last year during a hurricane one of them fell onto the neighbor's in back's roof. Very expensive to take down.
If you are buying a home... pay attention to the "Trees".
How big and how close are they to the home, if it has lots of big trees close to the home, it may look great when the weather is great.
But, it can become a nightmare if there's a storm, tornado or hurricane.
I live in an areas where there are lots of trees, it makes the community look really good and mature, but some people have large trees very close to the homes.
I have a neighbor and see others who has maybe 20 large trees surrounding their home... they dump leaves and pine stray that don't fall in their yard, but into the neighbors yard and on the neighbors roofs.
Left on the roof, it deteriorates the roofing material over time, and there is no recourse to deal with the neighbors trees that dropped all the leaves on your roof or yard, you are left to clean it up and try and keep it clean.
It might be a good idea, if one is planting Trees, to learn something about what type of trees to plant in your yard. Or if buying a home, consider the type and size of the trees and the proximity to your home.
Because it is very expensive to have those trees removed in you live in a areas that is subject to tornado's, high winds, and hurricanes.
No, this would mostly be an example of tree paranoia. Storms occur anywhere, extreme storm damage is highly localized unless it is a very strong hurricane or tornado.
In low income parts of the Louisville, KY metro area, there is almost a COMPLETE LACK of tree cover anywhere, meaning the summer climate is unlivable in my book. I specifically looked for a property with the greatest density of trees I could find. I found it in the Indiana Uplands, at around double the elevation of the Ohio River.
I look for any signs of trees that are diseased or with broken branches regularly on my property, even though it is less than an acre. The old growth trees keep the area 5-10F cooler than the asphalt/concrete heavy areas of the metro area. I have massive 90-100 ft. tall trees within 5-10 ft. of the foundation, I keep all trimmed back away from the roof. No issues with roots, foundation is rock solid, home was custom built in 1979. I'm the 5th owner. No water issues in the basement ever.
I will shelter in place in the basement with severe thunderstorm winds occur at 60-70 mph outside just in case a larger tree branch comes down.
The trees increase my property value at least $100K compared to the other beyond ugly newer developments near me where the clear cut everything and plopped all the houses on more open lots with next to zero landscaping. Completely inexcusable for an area that gets 50'' of precipitation a year.
... The trees increase my property value at least $100K compared to the other beyond ugly newer developments near me where the clear cut everything and plopped all the houses on more open lots with next to zero landscaping. Completely inexcusable for an area that gets 50'' of precipitation a year.
Florida home has a number of mature oaks that are next to the house or within striking distance. They're healthy and kept trimmed on a regular basis. I will say that a large oak that's on the corner of the house has clearly gone under the foundation as well as run roots paralleling the house for almost one whole side. I'm not worried about it coming down as it has a very good, solid root structure and has been properly trimmed and thinned to lessen any impact from wind. It's been that way for almost 30 years.
The stupid developer planted oaks all along the "devil's strip" between the sidewalk and the street. They've caused the sidewalks to heave and now require replacement. While they look beautiful and provide loads of welcome shade, they were a poor choice.
AZ house is on 1/2 acre in the middle of the largest contiguous Ponderosa pine forest in North America. We have over 60 second-generation Ponderosa pines averaging about 50'-60' in height. Darned things are always dropping something, or so it seems. I had an arborist come by last week to survey the trees and give me a quote on making everything right, such as taking out dead or diseased trees and de-limbing all of the trees, as pines like this develop growth in their crowns, and lower limbs will die off and eventually fall off the tree.
It's going to be about $6500 to do it all, which didn't seem bad to me. That's taking out about five mature trees, grinding stumps, and trimming all of the remaining trees. They will also get everything up to FireWise standards, which is a protocol for protection from forest fires as far as clearing trees a certain distance from the house and making sure there's no ground source fuel.
This will be a one-time expense that should clean things up for some time. Next time I'll have them here will be far easier and less expensive. Understand that this property is about 50 years old, and there's nothing that indicates the trees have been properly cared for over the lifetime of the property, so a lot of catching up is being done.
Part of owning a home. We knew this had to be done when we bought the house, so it was no surprise.
I’ve done wood lot improvements outside mostly myself, Zillow and Redfin generally agree that the current value is greater compared to most comps- especially to the ugly plopped houses that are newer where the greedy developer is too dumb to ever build around any existing tree cover at all.
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