Oak tree - worth much?

[Vet Tech]

My neighbour has a fairly big oak tree on our common border which has to come down as it is causing subsidence to both our properies. It is about

24 metres high. It is very well proportioned and the main trunk and branches are all pretty straight.

The question is - is the timber worth much for resale and if so what lengths should it be cut into. Any other recommendations also?

I'm prompted to ask, because when we lived for a time in India, we had to get a tree removed and we were pleasantly surprised to find that the contractors paid us money to do the job as the timber was worth much more than the labour for doing the job.

Wish it was like that here.

VT

[Tim Watts]

Oak - bloody hell, yes - try to get a buyer if the tree is healthy!!! There will be some serious cu-feet's worth in a tree that big.

Have you got a timber mill or even a yard (who knows of a mill) in your area that deals with hardwoods? It's worth talking to them first because they may prefer the tree cut down in a certain way (eg minimum lengths of trunk and major branches) whereas by default a tree surgeon will cut it down in little lumps as makes his life easiest.

They may even be able to arrange the contractor to do this. I would certainly expect a net input of money in your neighbour's general direction (and a cut for you if you arrange it).

If you draw a blank, at least buy a log splitter - you and your neighbour could make some decent beer money selling seasoned firewood next year, but that would be a bit of a waste of a good tree....

[stuart noble]

This beast is 1000 years old and was only 16 metres high in 1990

access is like etc

[fred]

Mills don't generally like 'Domestic' timber due to the risk of embedded objects. New teeth on one of those giant resaws work out very expensive, never mind the down time.

Paul Mc Cann

[stuart noble]

I wonder if shrapnel from WW2 still gives them problems

[dom]

Yes that's a valuable-for-timber tree.

But don't get too excited - standing timber or even a recently felled trunk isn't a whole lot of money (I wouldn't know about pricing).

There may be rot in the heart, twisted grain etc. - and not apparent until it's milled.

After conversion, and significantly after it's been seasoned into high quality straight-grained useful boards, the value rises.

Someone has to pay to have it lying around in their yard for quite some time, for the costs of kilning, and to insure the fire risk.

[Tim Lamb]

Chap I use has a Lucas mobile mill. Cuts up to 8" x 8". The motor/trolley can be carried by two strong blokes and the rest is ally extrusions. Charges 300 ukp/day.

Sawn green Oak is around 30ukp/cu.ft.

regards

[Davey]

If it's dangerous, then this should not be a problem. Note the 'should' part of that sentence. So what happens if you cut down a tree that would have had an order if you had asked, but didn't?

--=20 Davey.

[Phil Everett]

Obviously the tree pre dates both your properties. If the tree is causing subsidence now, if you remove the tree you may well experience heave as the ground moisture will increase and cause the soil to swell. This may actually give you more grief than the subsidence particularly if you are in a heavy clay area.

Phil

[The Natural Philosopher]

Very little IME.

They cant ask you to put it back..can they?

And I would guess that the fines are minimal.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Indeed. This is generally the time you got for pollarding, tree root truncation and serious deep underpinning.

[NT]

the fines for TPOs are beyond sanity

NT

[charles]

round here it's a few thousand pounds. That might be minimal to some

[Nick]

the fines for TPOs are beyond sanity

Last year a local bloke took out an ash tree, about 80ft high, that had a TPO on it. This was reported by the parish council to the local kremlin (council) who reprimanded him. No court, no fine, no issue whatsoever. Just a meekly slapped wrist, and this in a supposed conservation area. The tree was supposedly shadowing his abode. Although it was 20m north of his/her dwelling. I'm not a member of any council and would never want to be. Honesty still works for me.

[Weatherlawyer]

Wouldn't cutting it down leave the stump to regrow?

I went with a small timber mill owner to look at some storm falls. Not oak. He had a book to assess the value. It worked out only a couple of hundred quid, maybe =A3220 -I don't remember exactly. The owner was so amused he just said that after all that time growing it he'd only get that? (About a pound for every year it had been in his family.) He said he'd let it rot.

Taking a tree down in an urban environment would probably require its destruction piecemeal. It would come down as logs only useful for small work. But you could make decent stuff out of it if you wanted (think desks, chairs and tables not ships, houses and saloon bar-tops.)

[Huge]

FWIW, we had an 80 y/o oak removed a couple of years ago because of subsidence issues (the arboriculturist said oaks are second only to willows in this respect - they should be 2 or 3 times the drip line away from the house and this one touched our house...) and haven't had any problems. And we're on the claggiest clay soil in the world.

[km]

Have been through this. No-one interested in purchase. Tree feller couldn't suggest anyone who would buy either.

Up to £20,000 fine per tree if felled without authorisation in our area which has TPO on every tree over 20 years old.

Initially authorisation was refused. On appeal another, senior, council official called and agreed that the trunk was touching the building and would cause damage soon. Immediate agreement given to felling.

It turned out that the officer who refused removal was on his last day in the job - clearly said "no" to avoid getting involved in last minute paperwork.

km

[Vet Tech]

Just to provide additional detail, we are in South London and access is via a 1 metre wide passage down the side of the house.

Because of the subsidence issue, permission has been granted to have it removed but given the prospect of heaving, I'm more inclined to be receptive to the idea of pollarding rather than cutting it down completely.

VT

[PeterC]

A friend in Reading had a pine tree removed from her back garden. The soil isn't heavy (I had to dig a post hole, so I know) and the tree was about 15 yards from the house. The chap who did the job took it down in 3 pieces over about a month. If it had been a deciduous tree he would have semi-pollarded it then pollarded the next year then finished off, as it wasn't near the house and wasn't urgent. He went to a lot of trouble to avoid damage to a holly sapling growing by the trunk - one of the few who care about trees.

[Huge]

What does the insurer/loss adjuster/structural engineer/arboriculturist say?