The Hazards of DIY Tree Removal
When arborists or “tree surgeons” take down a tree, they make it look easy. Equipped with pulleys, ropes, cherry pickers, and chainsaws, tree removal might even look fun for some people. It’s neither easy nor fun. About 100 people per year die while trying to take down a tree. This includes professionals, but the loss of life of DIYers doesn’t have to happen at all. The following are some of the ways tree removal is unsafe.
Trees Are Unpredictable
An arborist can help guide a tree into falling in a certain direction. Despite this, large, old trees, especially those that have been sick for a long time, are unpredictable. A tree with rotted wood has a different center of gravity than the same size and species of tree that is healthy. Still, even healthy trees fall wherever they please, despite guidance. This can be onto a home or other building, onto a vehicle, into electrical wires, or onto the person trying to cut them down.
DIYers Don’t Have the Right Tools
Many DIYers think all they need to take down a tree is a ladder and a chainsaw. Arborists know to use a great array of tools that protect them and enable them to take down a tree without danger. Some of these tools are available only to professionals.
DIYers Don’t Have the Right Protective Gear
When taking down a tree, it’s not enough to put on a hard hat, goggles, and the Wellington boots and gloves you wear to tend to your garden. Professionals use personal protective equipment (PPE) to stay safe. They also ensure that everyone else nearby is safe, too.
DIYers Don’t Know How To Clean up After Felling a Tree
Cleaning up after someone takes down a tree is still a demanding job. It can actually take weeks for a non-expert to clean the area up to the point where no one can tell that a tree once stood there. A team of arborists often takes a few days.
Felling the Tree May Need Authorization
Not only must a person have the right equipment and expertise to take down a tree, but they may also need to get authorization to do so. This is true even if the tree is on the DIYer’s property. Professionals make sure they have all the permits, licenses, and insurance needed before they remove a tree.
Contact Our Professionals for Tree Removal
If you have a large tree on your property that needs removal, don’t remove it yourself. Removing trees is risky, and professionals should take care of it. Give our arborists at ArborTech of Hayward, CA, a call to remove your tree.
