Tree ownership problem.

[Mike Hibbert]

Hello all,

I need to paint the side on my house, it's a bungalow with a loft conversion, so the top point of the roof is about 6 - 8m tall (can't get up there to measure!) . I have a fence that runs down the side of the house a little over 1m from the house. I wont be able to get up there with a lodder as it is too steep an angle, so I thought about hiring a platform. Hss seem to do one to fit ok so thats fine, except the old boy at the side has a couple of old conifers about the height of the house. They are right on the boundary by the fence so half off them are onverhaning my fence, given the tighness of the fence for getting the platform up there, this is gonna be a pain. Whats the legal position on this? I assume I can just legally prune them back off my side, but this is going to decimate half the tree, and probably kill it. I dont want to piss him off as I'm going to have to live next to him and want to put the steadying legs to the platform over his side!

Any ideas?

Mike

[Ian Stirling]

I'd be wondering about HVLP paint sprayers, so you don't need to get at all of the wall, but can stand back a bit.

(these have a vacuum cleaner blower, into which is atomised a stream of paint)

Start off with a pressure wash, then paint.

If the trees get a bit painted, then it'll wear off in a few weeks/months.

[Jimbo]

You could try asking a REAL question AFTER you have talked to him.

[the q]

The Q

>

[Peter Crosland]

Take a look here Mike.

should answer most questions. Remember that what you may legally do may not be the best thing in practice. Rule 1 is never fall out with your neighbour. Rule 2 is see rule1!

Gee Six Jay N Ess at spamcop.net

[Peter Stockdale]

permission to base a lodder on his land perhaps involving some minimal pruning between trees. Pete

[Richard Sterry]

Why not do what I have always done, and that is have a nice friendly chat with the neighbour? Explain what you need to do, and the problems that you will encounter, (you can go on a bit about how tricky it all is, and maybe stir his interest and sympathy), and hopefully you will be able to enlist his cooperation. I know that some neighbours can be a bit 'funny' about these things, even if they are far from being the proverbial neighbours from hell, but I've certainly had nothing but cooperation over the years. Maybe I've just been lucky, but hey, what have you got to lose? If he is going to be a bit awkward about this, at least you will know what you are up against before actually starting the job.

Even if he does get a bit awkward when you talk to him, stay calm, reasonable and friendly, and just let him go away and think about it a bit. People can get a bit defensive when things are first put to them, and they need time to reflect.

I know it sounds a bit naff, but there is some truth in the BT ad slogan "it's good to talk".

Bye from Rick

[Mark]

A lot of conifers will not re-grow if cut back to old wood, so you could end up looking at dead branches your side forever. Not the best resale point if you ever intend moving.

[mike ring]

"Mark" wrote in news:Co14d.203$ [e-mail]:

Neither is having bloody great conifers by the fence.

If that didn't put me off entirely, I'd find vandalised conifers more acceptable.

Ivy helps a lot cosmetically, and as it would be your side it would be tough for him to remove

mike

[Tony Williams]

[snip]

I think many/most will grow back if pruned in spring, otherwise forget it.

[Paul Mc Cann]

I think this is an old wives tale. We regularly cut the s***e out of a mixture of conifers in a hedge and it still grows back

[Rick Dipper]

Go have a chat with him, you can get platforms thay might go up his side of the fence, and lift you to your roof, else a tower scaffold that you carr in in bits.

Rick

[Peter Stockdale]

Surely it depends of the type of conifer. Certain types such as Leylandi will not regrow from the trunk below the canopy if the side branches are lopped back severely. Many forest Pine branches die back lower down the trunk and will never recover below the canopy.

Pete

[Mark]

From

Conifer Tip: Conifers typically grow with an outer layer of green needles (the outermost part of the plant). There may be several years worth of green needles at the outermost ends of branches. As a general rule, the interior of conifers (where there are NO green needles) should be thought of as a "dead zone." What this means (unlike most deciduous plants) is that if you prune a limb back so there are no green needles left on the branch, you have killed the limb.

But as I said "A lot of conifers" There are exceptions to this rule.

-- mark

[Kevin]

I have always wondered, why does rule 1 always apply to you but never to your neighbour. This rule stikes me as being a bulleys charter.

Kevin

[Tony Williams]

We took down a couple of conifers a few years ago, leaving one in place, which was totally dead up one side due to growing too close together. There were various opinions about whether anything would grow back or not, but one old codger advised me to wait 3 or 4 years and see what happened.

Sure enough 3 years later it has grown back and tidily regained it's proper shape. But the new growth was not from the dead area, the alive-growth each side of the dead area has grown inwards to fill the gap, adopting the proper overall tapered shape.

The Old Codger also remarked that there was one thing that you couldn't do to a mature conifer, and that was to slice the top off. That exposes the innnards to the weather, and it will eventually die.

[Tim Mitchell]

In article , Tony Williams writes

I did that to some at the back of our garden 4 years ago and they have not died, in fact they are now growing out at the sides and top more than before. The top/inside is still exposed to the weather though, if you climb into the middle of one it's like looking up a tube.

[Huge]

[27 lines snipped]

They all die eventually...

I've topped out loads of conifers in our garden (where someone filled in gaps in a deciduous hedge with Leylandii) and they've all been fine for some 10 years. How long is "eventually".

[Tony Williams]

Old Codger said "the first serious snowfall".

[Ian White]

Our experience with a Leylandii hedge that had to be taken down from about 8ft to 6ft was that the top remained bare and empty for 3-4 years.

However, with the help of some Bobby-Charlton-style combing over, it is now re-growing inwards from the outsides, and is once again looking quite decent from above.