Tree Takedown (First Round) – I Remove Trees from My Front Yard
- nvilu7
- Jul 28
- 7 min read
Updated: Aug 12
This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend what I truly use and love.
I started having nightmares about the trees in my front yard. In them, I could hear the roots growing into my foundation. The trees leaned over my little ranch house until the house almost disappeared beneath them. I tried to start a garden but all my plants withered and died.
So I declared war earlier than planned.
A friend referred me to Bob, her Tree Guy. I called him to schedule an appointment.
We ended up talking for over an hour. By the time we hung up, I had a feeling I'd found my Tree Guy.
When Bob and his crew showed up two weeks later, Bob climbed out of his truck, looked around the yard for about three seconds, turned to me, and said, "Jesus Christ, you've got a lot of trees."
I started laughing.
He wasn’t wrong.
Not Every Tree is a Good Tree
In the front yard alone there were ten trees surrounding a house of less than 1,000 square feet. An English hawthorn had wrapped itself around the utility lines. A horse chestnut was lifting the garage floor. Three Chinese elms stood within ten feet of the foundation. Three more mature elms crowded the front yard, two sickly pear trees were hanging on for dear life, and two giant stumps sat just outside the front door.
“Well,” said Bob, “Where do you want to start?”
“What do you think?” I asked.
Bob started pointing. “That English Hawthorn needs to go before it pulls down those lines.”
Next Bob pointed at the Horse Chestnut. “Who the hell planted that so close to your garage? It’s probably lifting your foundation. It’s gotta go.”
Bob’s gaze swept to the right. “Those three trees next to the house should go, too. Is your foundation OK?”
“So far,” I said.
Bob snorted. “You’re lucky. Are those fruit trees?”
“I think so,” I said.
Bob squinted, “I think they’re pear trees. Crappiest-looking pear trees I’ve seen in a long time. The elms are killing them. We can put them out of their misery today if you want.”
I sighed.
Bob continued to scan the yard. “These elms that are closer to the street aren’t as much of a danger to your house. We won’t have time to take everything down today. I’d leave them for now.”
Then Bob’s eyes landed on the giant stumps near the front porch.
“Holy shit! I bet those are a tripping hazard.”
I rubbed my forehead.
Bob said, “I just got a new stump grinder. It is a monster. I haven’t used it yet. I’ll grind those stumps for you for free so I can try out my new toy.”
I sighed again, this time with relief at finding a Tree Guy who recognized—like me—that not every tree is a good tree.
Bob folded his arms and rocked back on his heels. “OK, here’s what we can get done today."
"We’ll take out the Hawthorn, the Horse Chestnut, the three elms closest to the house, and those poor sad pear trees. We’ll grind all the stumps for the trees we cut, remove all the tree debris, and grind these massive stumps.”
“Sounds great to me,” I said.
Bob laughed. “I bet,” he said.
I had to laugh, too.
Bob turned to shout instructions to the crew. He turned back to me. “Your house looks good. I can see you’ve done a lot to it. It’s going to look a lot better without all these trees.”
“You’re in Washington County, right? Not Multnomah County?”
“Yes.” I said.
"Good," he replied. "I don't work in Portland or Multnomah County anymore. The permitting process got so bad I finally decided it wasn't worth it."
Bob turned and headed for the truck. The Tree Takedown had begun.
Tree Removal Process
Having never seen the removal of a standing tree, I had done a bit of research on the process in preparation for this day.
1. Before the first chain saw ever starts, the crew clears a safe drop zone around the tree and positions the bucket truck and chipper.
2. Bob climbs into the bucket with his chain saw and eases into position near the lower branches.
3. Working from the bottom up, he removes the lower limbs while the crew below cuts, sorts, and feeds branches into the chipper almost as quickly as they hit the ground. The larger limbs that can’t be digested by the chipper are thrown aside.
4. Bob moves around the tree, methodically removing branches and tossing them to the ground.
5. When the tree is reduced to a very tall stump, Bob moves to the top and cuts the trunk in sections. The crew underneath drags the trunk pieces away from the tree and if needed cuts them into sections.
6. Any parts of the tree that didn’t go in the chipper are loaded into a truck to be carried away.
7. The remaining stump is ground down to slightly below ground level.
8. Repeat for each tree.
This sounds like mayhem. And it is incredibly noisy, with a wood chipper and several chain saws operating at once. There is a lot of shouting, too.
But the process I witnessed was anything but mayhem.
The Takedown Begins
It took just five minutes for the team to get started on the Hawthorn tree. As soon as Bob got in the bucket and started moving, I could see him assessing the tree and its proximity to the utility line.
By the time he got the bucket in position near the tree, he had his plan in place. He started moving around the tree with a confidence and ease that comes with 30 years of practice.
As Bob cut tree limbs, the crew sprang into action, dragging limbs to the chipper, expertly cutting them down to size, and feeding them in.
No one got in anyone else's way. It wasn't mayhem. It was choreography. Somehow, Bob always dropped limbs where his crew wasn’t. One branch landed within a few feet of a crew member, who never even looked up.
He already knew exactly where Bob was going to put it.
The crew effortlessly sorted limbs into “chippable” and “choppable” while keeping up with Bob’s progress.
I stood in my yard jumping up and down with glee—a combination of relief that the trees were finally coming down and admiration for a crew performing dangerous work with the ease that comes from years of practice.
After the Hawthorn was down, Bob descended and came over.
“You good?” he said.
“Oh, yes,” I said.
“Hey, do you mind if I take out that stand of trees in the empty lot next door?” Bob asked.
“They look like Chinese elms and they’ll be 30 feet tall in a year. That would be a shame after getting that Hawthorn out.”
“That would be great,” I said.
I went inside to check my work email and have a grateful little cry. Bob and the crew calmly took down the Chinese elms invading my yard from the abandoned lot next door.
I found Zoey on the living room sofa, front and center, watching Bob and his crew through the front window. The cat who never came out for anyone but me couldn't take her eyes off the action.
I returned to my front yard to watch the Horse Chestnut takedown. I had spent weeks worrying about the horse chestnut because it stood only five feet from the garage.
Bob didn't seem remotely concerned.
The crew simply moved to the empty lot next door and Bob dropped every piece exactly where he wanted it.
Piece of cake.
Over the next few hours, Bob and his crew took down the three Chinese elms on the right side of my house with similar elan. Bob took the poor pear trees down with a chain saw.
Zoey didn’t budge off the sofa.
Tree Triage
Looking out the front window, I saw Bob looking at the biggest of the four remaining elms in the front. He was shaking his head.
I went out.
Bob turned to me. “This tree is in trouble.”
“How?” I asked.
“One of the front limbs is torn at the trunk.” Bob said. “Probably from the garbage truck.”
“It should be removed before it rips off and damages the tree.”
Bob squinted and looked up. “These Chinese elms grow too fast. This one has a lot of limbs rubbing on other limbs in its interior that should be removed so they don’t become diseased and weaken the tree.”
Bob looked at me. “I figure you’re probably going to get rid of these other trees at some point, right?”
“Yep,” I said.
“Well, let’s keep this one healthy until you do decide to remove it.”
“Go for it,” I said.
I went back inside. Bob shouted to the crew, got in the bucket, and triaged the elm.
Enter The Monster
Finally, it was time for Bob to unleash his new stump grinder. He knocked on the front door, grinning.
I opened the door. Zoey remained on the sofa.
“Hey, I’m going to get the monster out and start grinding stumps,” he said. “I want to start with the big ones in front.”
“Can I watch?” I asked.
“Sure! Just from inside, OK? Sawdust is going to fly.”
I stood in the living room and watched Bob and crew roll the stump grinder off its carrier.
It was huge—6 feet high and 12 feet long. Much larger than Bob.
The blade was the size of a garbage can lid.
Bob stood next to it, grinning ear to ear. He walked around it.
He looked through the window at me.
“56 horsepower engine!” he said.
I suddenly noticed that it was spotless.
“Bob!” I yelled through the window. “It’s so clean!”
“I told you I just got it!” Bob said. “First time using it!”
Then he started it up.
The monster growled to life. Bob started pressing buttons on the control panel and it lurched toward the huge old stump.
Zoey fled.
I ran to get my phone to document the event.
Bob and his favorite monster reduced the stumps to sawdust while the crew finished with the chipper and loaded the remaining wood in the truck.
It was getting dark when they left. I waved them goodbye from my stump-less front porch.
That night was nightmare free.
The following morning I walked out to the street and saw my house.
My neighbors asked why I took down all those “nice trees.”
I just smiled. And smiled.
Up Next
I start planting my own foundation garden.
Comments