4 Reasons Not to Cut Up a Fallen Tree Yourself

When a tree falls on your property, it can be tempting to take care of it yourself. Why go through the time and hassle of calling a professional? Well, DIY tree removal is more dangerous than you think. The smallest mistakes can lead to major injury, property damage, and financial burdens.

As a general rule, if you can’t break down a fallen tree without tools, don’t. There are four major reasons why it’s better to call a professional, like Stumpy’s Tree Service, than to cut up a fallen tree on your own.

1. Property Damage

Fallen trees move unpredictably. It’s hard for the untrained eye to identify a tree’s center of gravity and predict how it might shift as it’s being cut up. Additionally, if a tree is pinned under other debris, it could be under tension, which would cause it to go flying when that tension breaks. Stored tension like this can be sneaky and hard to anticipate.

If a fallen tree starts to roll away while being cut up, it can crush your landscaping and damage anything in its path, from cars to buildings. Professional arborists have a better understanding of how trees may move, enabling them to anticipate and mitigate risks.

2. Personal Injuries

For the same reasons that fallen trees can cause property damage, they can also cause personal injuries. If a heavy tree trunk rolls into you at full speed, you might just break some bones. The same goes for unsuspecting passersby. If you aren’t used to lifting heavy blocks of wood, you could strain your body, leading to injuries. We won’t even mention what happens if you drop a chunk of wood on your foot, or have a mishap with power tools.

3. Legal and Insurance Consequences

If a fallen tree has already caused injury or property damage, the worst thing you can do is try to clean it up on your own. Your insurance adjuster will want to assess the scene exactly as it was when the incident happened. If there is any evidence that you altered the scene, it could be a reason for your insurance to minimize payouts.

More than that, your insurance likely won’t compensate you for additional injuries or property damage caused by DIY tree removal. In the unlikely event that a professional removal results in injury or property damage, the tree removal service likely has insurance coverage.

4. Lack of Professional Tools

Without the state-of-the-art equipment professional arborists use, tree removal is a painstaking, potentially dangerous process. Spending hours and hours chipping away at a tree with a hacksaw is more likely to exhaust and injure you, while ruining your hacksaw.

Even if you have power tools, such as chainsaws, you’re more likely to injure yourself than to make significant progress on a fallen tree. Tree removal services have the tools and experience to do the job quickly and effectively.

Call Stumpy’s for Emergency Tree Removal Services

For comprehensive tree removal services from local experts, call Stumpy’s Tree Service. We offer 24/7 emergency support, so you don’t have to choose between risking DIY tree removal and feeling safe on your property.

Winter pricing—our best deal of the year—ends in March, so don’t wait! Call Stumpy’s Tree Service today and experience the professional difference.