USNRET Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 Storms rolled thru our happy lil' ville on Monday morning. I had a tree that blew down into my left neighbor's yard, no damage to his property. He called me at work and asked if he could get into my garage to get the chain saw and start cleaning up. I told him to hold on, the alarm was set and I would be home shortly. Arrived and my two left side guys came over and we cut and hauled everything away, hard work but was done in little time. Good guys! My son tells me to look across the yard and I see that my right side neighbor has a tree blown over into my power and phone lines. He's home, no answer at door. Go back over today after work, wife and kids obviously home, dogs barking inside, ring bell several times, no answer. This guy built 5 years ago next to me and has yet to mow his yard. If you want to know what he has bought lately just check out the back yard the boxes and packings will be thrown out over the deck in the the bush country. County marshall has given notice of weed growth violations a couple of times. Me and the good neighbor went over one day and asked if we could help him cIean up, not only NO but told me to quit cutting any of his weeds while I'm mowing my lawn (I admit that I tend to 'cheat' into his yard to try to keep the weeds out of my bermuda). I did not report the error of his ways to the marshall, but he might very well suspect that it was me as I built a 10' privacy fence down the back side on the recommendation of a real estate agent. Now to the point. I assume I should call the phone and power company and tell them of the impending damage that is sure to create issues with the next rain of high wind as the wires are supporting the tree. Possible damage to anything plugged in at the time and a hassle being lost comm and dark. Question for you folks: what do you think the utilities' cutomer service will tell me (will they clear it?); if I go cut the tree out and pile the debris on my neighbor's lot or even haul it away will he sue because I touched his tree. Ain't life beautiful. No, we have no home owner's association. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 i've been told that if a tree in a neighbors yard falls into your yard and does damage to your property you have to pay for it. anything on your property is yours to deal with. i would cut the part of the tree that is on your land and stack it on your land. if the power company does it they will charge you for the work. don't do it if its in the electric wires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USNRET Posted April 14, 2009 Author Share Posted April 14, 2009 i would cut the tree that is on your land That's just it, it's not on my property..yet. It's leaning over from his yard and is being held up by the power and phone line running overhead to my house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mungkiman Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 You don't want the HOA. I would definitely talk to the utility companies before wasting more breath on the neighbor. The utilities have an interest in the lines not being damaged. In this part of the world, the utility gives the homeowner notice that: a) the homeowner has X days to comply with removing the hazard, or after X days, the utility will remove the hazard and charge the homeowner for the work. Your neighbor may not need a land line, but I bet he wants power. Please don't do the work yourself. Also, don't have anyone (other than the utilities) do any work on his property. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islander Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 If a tree is leaning on a power line, the utility will want to know about it right away. That could cause a fire or electrocution, as well as a power outage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 i have called the power company because a tree was screwing up the lines and they came and did some work on it for free, BUT they said the rest of the work was to be done by the phone company. called the phone company and they said if you are not having phone problems they aren't fixing it. guess they never heard of prevent maint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coytee Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 Here in my metropolotian part of the world, I too, think they'd want to be called RIGHT NOW. I mean... stop reading and go pick up the phone and see if they have an emergency number... No way would I or anyone I know go near something leaning on/near power lines. I was at work once, maybe 2 years ago. Heard a LOUD KABAM and the lights went out. I then heard the loudest and strangest kind of buzzzzzzzzzzing... and some weird lights in the hallway... Went to the end window. Seems a power line had somehow broken and was laying on the ground live and arcing. It was an amzing spectacle. As it continued to ark it seems the wire got more and more hot or perhaps the tree simply didn't like being electrocuted... after 5/10 minutes, the entire upper half of this tree started to smolder and finally began to ignite in places. (insert Ed Sullivan's voice) It was a really big show!! Also, if you were using a chain saw...or anyone you know... I really hope you have some chainsaw chaps and wore all the proper equipment.... remember, one oops with that blade and someone is in the emergency room. Perhaps a pair of chainsaw chaps for $100.00 might have prevented it. I speak from a bit of experience as I was once going to jump on my backhoe, grab a cedar log and make two cuts. one cut to remove the dirty end and another cut to create a 4-6" thick slice for a stepping stone. Made the first cut and somewhere during that, my chain jumped the blade and hit me just above the kneecap. Rather than slice my jeans and leg to smithereens (I did NOT have my chaps on), it seems I got very lucky...the chain jumped the bar and the chain catcher stopped the rotation of the chain...net result is, the chain "slapped" my knee and left me a nice warning bruise for several days afterwards. We had another large tree fall about a year ago. Fell right across the road. Wifes cousin (next door neighbor) was going to get saw out and cut tree to pieces and put in truck and dump it... I said don't touch it... Jumped on backhoe & drove to site. Took saw and made I think, 3 cuts along the entire length of the tree. Backed hoe up and pinched it with bucket and carried away. Took all of maybe 15 minutes, rather than 5 hours like it would have taken if done by hand. [Y] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macho Nacho Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 What? You mean grass does not grow to be just 2 inches tall? You actually have to cut it? I say BS on that one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted April 14, 2009 Moderators Share Posted April 14, 2009 The power company will definitely want to know, we had a neighbors 100' pine tree leaning toward the street where the power lines run. We called and they came out and looked at it and said they would like to cut it but it was a little far from the street/lines for them to just do it without contacting the neighbor, they were supposed to contact them but the tree is still there ? The neighbor can't really see it from their house and probably wouldn't care if it were cut so I guess when it takes out the line the power company will be out to fix it. They sounded really interested but I think it just got lost in the paperwork ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olorin Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 I think calling the utility is step one. We can guess what they might say, but a guess is just that, so get them engaged and go from there. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddvj Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 I think calling the utility is step one. We can guess what they might say, but a guess is just that, so get them engaged and go from there. Good luck. Wow. Really? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macho Nacho Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 how about a gun fight? Does Hatfields and McCoy ring a bell? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DU73 Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 dont get me started about neighbours and tree saga [8o|] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USNRET Posted April 15, 2009 Author Share Posted April 15, 2009 Called power co. they listed it as a safety issue and can not guess when a crew will be dispatched. This I understand as storm clean-up is underway. I do like the Hatfield / McCoy analogy, the good thing is that with the other folks on the street we have the bigger clan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coytee Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 the good thing is that with the other folks on the street we have the bigger clan. That's cool until you find out the perps have the bigger guns... [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oscarsear Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 It sure would be too bad if something happened to the neighbors house that resulted in them having to move, or some such thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Richard Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 Do whatever you need to do and don't worry about offending the bad neighbor. It seems that they couldn't be any worse than they are. If it comes to a feud, aim your Belles at his house and play the most irritating music you can find at loud levels, during the times where local noise ordinances would permit that, 7 AM to 10 PM where I live[6] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USNRET Posted April 15, 2009 Author Share Posted April 15, 2009 Do whatever you need to do and don't worry about offending the bad neighbor. It seems that they couldn't be any worse than they are. If it comes to a feud, aim your Belles at his house and play the most irritating music you can find at loud levels, during the times where local noise ordinances would permit that, 7 AM to 10 PM where I live OH, I don't want them to move! What with them planning a swimming pool over their septic tank and the wife promising to wear her thong to sun bath...ALL 300 pounds of her. RETINA BURN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.4knee Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 If they are leaving boxes and such around and not maintaining their property try looking into local zoning requirements to see if you can get any relief from that venue. That type of behavior or lack of regular sanitary activity could be a health violation as it will likely attract rats and other vermin. But as indicated HOA's are nothing but a PITA. As for the power line thing you did it right let the power company handle it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CIGARBUM Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 Hey Mikey, got some guns you can borrow. CB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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