A tree fell on my house!

[pmh013]

Thursday, July 14, at 12:30 am local time, the 40' maple tree in my front yard succumbed to high winds, and fell onto my house.Damage includes at least 2 rafters, wet insulation, roof sheathing, shingles, chimney and satellite dish, in addition to the gaping hole in my lawn.Clean up efforts will continue well in to the weekend. I did manage to make it onto the front page of this week's paper!Here's a link to the photos: http://photobucket.com/albums/...2004/I should also say that the Vibe is fine. No one was injured. We were home and awake at the time.

[millster]

Wow! That's no good.Looking at the size of the tree, it's a good thing the damage wasn't worse. I guess on a positive note, you seem to have a well constructed house. Good luck with the repairs and thankfully nobody was injured.

[joatmon]

that sucks, but I too am glad there were no injuries. I have a bunch of really tall poplar trees around my house, occaisionally a storm will push one over. It is surprising how small the root mass is to hold up such a large tree. think it will be dry enough by winter to use as firewood?

[pmh013]

Yes, we have insurance. Surprising how many people ask that! You can't have a mortgage without proof of insurance, so yeah, we're definitely covered.The reason why the remaining maples don't look so great is because the big one (that fell over) was taking up all the light. We don't have a photo of it from before, but it didn't look so bad, LOL. Further, all the maples in town look like that. They grow all crooked-y, if that's a word.

[pmh013]

Quote, originally posted by joatmon »think it will be dry enough by winter to use as firewood?I doubt it. Firstly, it generally takes a year. Secondly, I would never burn maple in my house fireplace/wood burning stove. My parents made that mistake once, and we paid dearly when we came home to a house full of smoke. Too many knots! Thirdly, I don't have a fireplace.I will probably keep some of it to burn in my outdoor firepit, though.

[joatmon]

Quote, originally posted by pmh013 »Yes, we have insuranceQuote, originally posted by pmh013 » Thirdly, I don't have a fireplace.wow, how terrible that the tree destroyed your fireplace. Hopefully the insurance will be adequate to get that really nice fireplace replaced.

[cohocarl]

You got some wind!! We have a huge box elder tree real close to our house that I have been trying to talk the wife into letting me cut down so something like that doesn't happen. Thank You! I showed my wife your pictures, and she said "Ya, go ahead and cut it down".Look at the good side......you won't have to dig out the stump.