Put in an offer on a house that has upwards of 20 mature trees in the back yard most being above 50 feet. I love trees so don’t really want to cut any down if necessary but some seem close or are tilting in concerning directions. Do I need to be concerned at all?
by theeeetechkid
46 Comments
If it gets accepted, then during your due diligence just have an arborist come out.
There are a lot of steps to happen before you should ever need to worry.
Try r/arborists
Those trees look nice here
As someone who had a tree fall in our home (neighbors tree) , yes I would be concerned. Maybe get an arborist come out and check them out. But even then those reports don’t catch everything…tree that fall into our home uprooted and apparently was diseased – super small roots but the trunk was HUGE .
Not saying it will happen but just sharing my experience. Also storms are a thing so that’s something to think about
How many can fall on your house? There’s the risk
With these interest rates!? Now I am concerned /s
A couple of options. I’m at TRAQ certified arborist. What you are looking for is a TRAQ Certified Arborist. TRAQ is tree risk assessment qualification. You are looking for a level one inspection of the trees on your property. They will do a walk-through and do a visual inspection. If they see any that needed level two they will note on their report. You can you use a certified arborist which can give you a base of tree safety understand you are looking for at least a certified arborist not Bob the tree guy. 70% of the places are going to send out a sales guy. You need to verify their credentials by their name not their company. A lot of companies say certified arborist on staff. All that means is there’s somebody in their company that has the certification basically doesn’t mean s***. The upside of a TRAQ certified armor says they have extra training to be able to identify risk in trees
Meh. You don’t even own the house yet.
Will you be responsible for paying to have them trimmed every year for fire reasons? I have one large tree that costs about $5,000 a year, but I’m in a fire zone.
Don’t buy it. Find a house with no trees and let someone who appreciates the naturally beauty of matured trees buy that house. ✌️
I wouldn’t think so, as long as they are healthy. I think it looks beautiful!
The previous owner has been limbing them up—they want to send out branches (green leaves on the trunks) and you should let them. Also, leave the leaves beneath them, or at least in a pile nearby on the property. They need the nutrients from their fallen leaves, and the trees have lots of relationships with all the life that lives in the leaves, fresh or fallen. The soil quality will improve with leaf cover. Just watch out for invasive plant populations and weed them out when young or keep them from reseeding
Concerned about how little you’ll want to go back to work after you sit under them trees
As climate change gets way worse in the 2030’s those mature trees will be way more valuable in so many more ways than our current climate change denialist society could comprehend. Buy it as fast as you can and fill it up with lots of beautiful plants and wildlife so it grows into an oasis of thriving survival amidst the destruction of overheating planet.
I’ve got 2 larger ones than that….even closer to my house on each side and I’m in hurricane territory. Been fine for years now. If that makes you feel any better.
Also depends on the areas water drainage and tree health situation! 🙏 Arborist not Bob the tree guy is good advice above.
They look… menacing!
I love trees, no way would I cut them down.
Would kill to have trees like that in my backyard bro
I love them! Great lot! Just make sure you’re prepared to keep them pruned and also to do regular maintenance to keep your sewer pipes clear of roots. Make sure they’re healthy enough to withstand storms and not come crashing through your roof.
For the most part most conifers roots grow laterally, which when they are grown in groups like this their roots interlock and help stabilize individual trees, it’s not foolproof, but if they’re healthy looking it’s an encouraging sight. Hopefully you got some cool mycorrhizal fungus that’ll pop up over the season as well.
It’s a very nice looking yard overall, hope you enjoy yourself in it! 👍
I LOVE having a bunch of trees in my yard and they keep my house significantly cooler in the summer months!
I’d be concerned that my back yard is gonna be too nice
Like others said, find a consulting arborist not working for a tree removal company. Someone who does risk assessments and so on. Not someone who stands to profit off a removal. Ask for a tree risk assessment of your yard and get a couple of them from different arborists. I have done this. Someone will do it and not break the bank.
Yes. Not in the way you think. You’re going to get accosted by an army of ‘tree guys’ who will be knocking on your door trying to convince you that they need to go. Cutting down trees and turfgrass maintenance are two most profitable ventures in the business.
It is your responsibility to be a steward to the property. And that will include specifically leaving fallen leaves (for soil health and wildlife value like pupating caterpillars and fireflies), removing invasive plants, maintain fire safety (remove vines near the house and stack dead wood near the house in clusters), assess the tree for debilitating diseases and pest (ie ash borer), assess the trees for limb falls. That little forest took a couple of decades to get to that point. It only takes a couple of days to irrecoverably destroy it. Once you start removing them, the chances of the others failing increases. They provide each other storm protection, soil stability, and structural stability. You get to enjoy these benefits in turn plus property value and temperature regulation (cooler in the summer, warmer in the winter).
Looks like one of my yards. They look healthy, nothing to worry about. Brush clearance is more of a PitA
Should you be concerned? Only if you get a wind stronger than the trees can take blowing towards your house. And of course, if your mother-in-law refuses to rake the leaves. Growing up my father wouldn’t let me in the house until I finished my chores, just saying.
This is the perfect backyard
Most of them look OK. A couple of them look dodgy but can’t really tell from this photo.
Agree with the advice to get an arborist.
Ideally you would get the arborist in during the inspection period, with that many trees, so you could bargain with the seller about any that need remediation, and at least go in knowing what kind of costs for removal you have (if any)
At any rate do it now, and come to realize that forestry management is part of the routine maintenance you have to do when you have this many trees around
See the tree in the middle with two trunks sprouting fairly close to the ground? Had an arborist warn me 40 years ago that one of my trees that had three trunks was a risk. It never split. Never became diseased and still stands at least 60 or more feet tall.
Too many trees equals potential trouble.
I lived in the Woodlands TX and we had lots of trees like this in our yard. A hurricane even came through at a car 2 and we were good. Right before closing two trees fell but it was brand new construction at that time and they had left some trees that were not healthy
I’d be concerned about keeping them healthy for my lifetime. Gorgeous! I kind of wish my lot was bigger so I could have even more trees. And, considering the heat waves sweeping the US, you will continue to be grateful for the shade…
As others said, get an ISA-certified arborist out and then ensure that you budget for follow-up visits every couple of years.
Lots of good advice in this thread, and I wanted to just add one comment: these trees have no desire to fall over. They have lived for as long as they have by not falling down and unless something is wrong with them, they’ll continue to 🙂
No, as long as they are mature trees you’ll be fine. It’s the immature trees you need to worry about.
Buy a chainsaw
Have an arborist come in and look at those trees. There may be a few that should go because they are too close to each other and may be crowding each other out. I can’t really judge from your pictures. I will tell you the area under those trees will be much cooler in the summer. It will be a wonderful area to have barbecues, put up a hammock, and just relax. If you have kids maybe call treehouse masters it could be amazing to have a nice treehouse in there.
Just pull them if your worried
You will be raking
Mature trees add so much charm and shade! 🌳 Just make sure to check their health and roots to avoid surprises. Good luck! 🍀🏡
Do you have gutter guards?
Because if you don’t, yes be concerned.
At least until you have gutter guards.
I also have a yard full of trees
1. Agree on the ISA TRAQ arborist as part of your inspection process. Ask them to evaluate immediate risk and also note anything that might be good to know for the future. (For example, trees that are ok now but may be in decline.) Have them teach you about root flare and what to do about small girdling roots. My arborist has helped me save a few of my young trees with that information. (Root girdling is often a problem with trees from pots, but you also get it with densely planted forest trees). I have a giant red oak I’m going to have take down soon because a pine tree girdled one of its big roots a couple of decades ago (before the house was mine) and contributed to its decline. I regularly glare at that point tree and call it a murderer.
The rest of this advice is for if you end up buying the house.
2. Start asking around for tree removal services. And if you do buy this house, make sure to have some money saved up to help with that. Trees will die or become dangerous and they’re expensive to remove, so just plan for that cost as part of your maintenance. If you have neighbors with yards like this, ask who they use. They’ll probably know a guy that does good work for a reasonable price and it will save you a fortune.
3. Get a good leaf blower. Even if you are leaving the leaves (my personal recommendation), you’ll want to do things like blow them away from your foundation. And you will have enough that they won’t all break down over winter so you’ll want a way to move them around. I really don’t like gas, and I’ve been really happy with my Ego leaf blower (and I’ve got about an acre that looks like this that I take care of). People haven’t lived on a lot like this can’t really fathom how many leaves we get in a single season. You have to have some sort of management plan if you want to be able to enjoy your yard and/or grow things in it
4. Get a mulching lawn mower (again, I have an Ego and I love it. A riding mower just would make sense with the number of trees, dead branches, and spontaneously generated rocks we have around our property). I’m sure I look like a lunatic out there mowing the leaves, but it helps them break down faster and feed the soil. I don’t mulch all of them because they’re important to native bugs, but I mulch some just to get and keep the leaves from getting too deep on our pathways and social areas.
5. Identify a part of your yard where you can like brush. There will be brush. You’ll need a place to put it. When you have tree guys on site for tree work you can usually get them to chip out and then, hey, “free” woodchips!
6. Learn to do a tick check. Short of spraying pesticides (please don’t), there’s really no great way to get rid of ticks in this setting. They are a fact of life. However, anecdotally, I can tell you that planting native plants that encourage diverse insect life and then recruits larger wildlife to my yard (who eat ticks), and blowing leaves away from social areas seems to keep things under control. In fact, I find I’m much more likely to find a tick on myself after time in my mom’s yard (sunny lawn) than after working out in mine. Permithrin treated clothes for when you’re going to go do a bunch of yard work will also keep the ticks off. You can do it yourself, purchase treated clothes, or pay a company to treat a set of clothes. I have never found a tick on myself if I was wearing my treated clothes while working out there.
7. Learn about native woodland plants. They’re beautiful, they’ll thrive in your shade, and once you get them established, they’re low maintenance. You can absolutely have a fern bed back there too. Consider planting some understory type plants as well, but you may have to cage them for the first couple of years until they get established so deer don’t kill them. Don’t be shy about planting the occasional oak or maple sapling either. Eventually, the big trees will die, and you’ll want to have the next generation ready to go.
8. Take time to observe the land and how rain affects it. This will affect any planting you do.
9. Absolutely get a hammock. I just got ours up this season (after five years in the house) and it’s wonderful.
Don’t forget about plumbing. Roots & drain pipes, especially if an older house. If there’s a septic system, roots also can be problematic.
Lucky!
No idea about your question, but damn, i would kill to live here.
I would make sure that the fence extends the entire perimeter of the property. Next, I would remove all the trees, eliminating the winter wind barrier and summer shade. Imagine sitting on that patio looking at nothing but the fence while the sun blasts you in the face.
Most of the time you will enjoy having the trees. Here are the times you will not Fall when the leaves make there way to the ground. Tip mow them. During a thunderstorm, Tip go to basement. Birds. Tip covered patio.
The last reason when one falls. Tip get comfortable using a chain saw.