When removing an unwanted tree in a tight space near a house or utility lines, significant care is necessary. You need professionals offering tree services in Sandy Springs, GA, who can deliver safe tree felling. Learn about the techniques experts use to make a tree fall a certain way and protect your infrastructure with our directional tree cutting guide.
Determining When a Tree May Fall
If you have a dead, leaning, or diseased tree on your property, it could fall unexpectedly at any time. Even professionals may struggle to accurately predict when a tree could fall and potentially hit your house or other nearby structures.
For a tree that cannot be saved, removing it protects your property. Rather than risking a fall in the next storm, the professionals would cut it down now and remove the worry over having it crash to the ground.
Techniques for Directing the Fall of a Tree
Professionals follow specific steps when cutting a tree in a tight space.
Understanding the Felling Hinge
Using the felling hinge technique is the key step when figuring out how to make a tree fall a certain way. This is not a hinge as you’d find on a door. Instead, the felling hinge is the section of the trunk that the tree felling expert would not cut.
The felling hinge is about one-third of the way from the edge of the trunk on the side where you want the tree to fall. By making the proper cuts on either side of the felling hinge, the tree’s weight forces it to fall in a particular way.
Failing to estimate the proper location of the felling hinge in the trunk would cause the tree to fall at an unexpected time or in the wrong direction.
Making the Directional Notch
The directional notch involves cutting a V-shaped notch in the direction you want the tree to fall. The bottom cut is horizontal, while the upper cut occurs at an angle. The directional notch should involve about one-quarter of the width of the trunk.
Managing the Felling Cut
The felling cut occurs horizontally from the side opposite to the direction you want the tree to fall. It will go through almost two-thirds of the trunk. The felling hinge begins to collapse while making the felling cut, allowing the tree to fall in the direction of the notch.
Managing chainsaw safety for tree removal requires making a truly horizontal felling cut, or you risk getting the chainsaw’s bar stuck.
ATL Tree Work Focuses on Protecting Your Property and Family During Tree Felling
Learning how to make a tree fall a certain way requires precision and the right equipment. At ATL Tree Work, our professionals take every precaution to protect the infrastructure of our clients as we work. We can explain the hidden dangers of a standing dead tree when doing tree removal in Sandy Springs, GA.
At ATL Tree Work, we provide a free estimate for any services we provide. Call us today at (470) 357-3741.