I have a 45-50 foot tall Silver Maple tree over my 2 story home and bedroom. I am concerned about one of the limbs crashing through my roof in a storm or high wind as the tree is 65+ years old. I would like to reinforce the roof/wall structure. I have a typical 1980 build wood frame home with trusses in the attic. I believe the weight of the branches could easily crash through the entire 2nd story and framing. Any thoughts? I was considering adding 4X4 framing in the attic along with a heavy duty military cargo netting to distribute the load among the entire truss system in case a limb falls on the roof. I would like to avoid a few thousand pound limb falling on me while sleeping. We love the tree - so cutting it down is not an option. I have pictures if needed to understand the situation.
2007-01-21 01:45:04 · 4 answers · asked by Rules Court 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Engineering
I've used a formula I found to estimate the entire weight of 32,800 lbs. With 3 big limbs and a large trunk, I estimate the entire weight of the limb of greatest probability to fall into the house to be 6000 lbs.
2007-01-21 02:28:35 · update #1
Do you love the tree more than your life, family & home? Take the branch off -- you cannot re-inforce enough to make a difference.
2007-01-21 01:50:27 · answer #1 · answered by celia17 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Reinforcing your house will only give you false hope.
Just imagine the forces that can cause the tree to fall down or break any of the branches, you add that to the weight of the tree, you got a lot of forces to stop.
What you can do is trim the branches, so the wind can pass through without much resistance. This approach is not a guaranty, if the wind is very strong it can uproot the tree.
Also remember there is still a possibility the tree will be hit by lightning (then you have a flaming falling tree on your house).
And love can move mountains, if you love the tree move your house away from it, its a win-win solution (thou you may need to construct a new house).
2007-01-21 02:09:48 · answer #2 · answered by civilestimator 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can't accurately predict weather and which way branch will go/or if part of tree will go, say from lightning hit. Cables if installed correctly may help, but no guarantee,once again weather is highly unpredictable, and you have to think of Mr. Murphy.
My choice trim the tree, if you are going to keep tree use a local company which specializes in liquid fertilization at the drip line once every other year, this will help to build strong root system and healthy tree. Be sure to look at several companies for bids on pruning the tree.
2007-01-21 07:50:59 · answer #3 · answered by whattheworldcoming2 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Geeeze... why reinforce the house? Much easier to reinforce the tree. Some strategically places cable stays will either stop it from falling or direct it's fall away from the house???
2007-01-21 02:14:01 · answer #4 · answered by Gunny T 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋