Redwood Trees

3 parent questions ▼
Archived Q&A and reviews ▼

Parent Q&A

Select any title to view the full question and replies.

  • Consulting arborist for redwood tree?

    –
    Mar 22, 2023

    Hi BPN! I’m looking for recommendations for a consulting arborist who has expertise in redwood trees. We have a large coast redwood in our backyard that was topped many years ago, long before we moved in, and we’re concerned about the long-term health of our tree, both for the sake of the tree and for the sake of our house. In the storm yesterday, it dropped 5-6 enormous branches, all of which landed in basically a big circle around our house. Would appreciate having an arborist come and take a look at the tree for us. Many thanks!!!

    Mar 22, 2023

    We had a gentleman from Arborist Now come check out our redwood when we were worried about it, and he seemed very knowledgable and helpful. https://www.arboristnow.com/ 

    Mar 29, 2023

    We have used Tree Sculpture for consultation and also tree removal. Really nice, professional company, and their arborist Dan is great, takes time to explain everything, and knowledgeable. I tried going through another company and their rep didn’t even bother to come to my house to look at my tree, and their bid was much higher. Another company sent an arborist but he never bothered to follow up with a quote and didn’t reply to emails. Tree Sculpture was by far better. Highly recommend Tree Sculpture. 

    Apr 5, 2023

    We were impressed by Traverso Tree Service. We had an ailing redwood, too.

    Apr 6, 2023

  • Tree Trimmer for 2 very large redwoods

    –
    Feb 27, 2023

    I have 2 VERY tall redwood trees that need to be trimmed and given some long overdue attention. I will need to have permits drawn and probably large equipment.  I will not be able to be present to oversee the work so looking for a very reliable, independent and considerate company.  I saw recommendations that were several years old so hoping someone may have a more recent experience with such work. Thank you

    Feb 27, 2023

    We had Complete Tree Care trim our very tall redwoods just a couple months ago.  They did a great job - we were not here to oversee to work either. They were incredibly reliable and left the place looking great afterwards. 

    mbcompletetree [at] gmail.com 

    Mar 1, 2023

    Hello, we've had good luck with Ponderosa Tree Service in Berkeley. We got together with our neighbor who had very large Eucalyptus trees on the property boundary which had been shedding sizeable dead branches onto our back patio. They had a lot of expertise with this type of thing, provided good advice and delivered excellent work. I don't know if they can serve up large equipment, but I would trust them with their opinion what needs to be done and whether they can do it.

    Mar 1, 2023

    We used Elite Tree and they did a great job: https://www.elitetreeinc.com

    Mar 1, 2023

    I have had good experiences with M & M Tree service in Richmond. Mike Menges is an arborist with his own company. He will come to your house and give you an estimate and you do not have to be home when the crew arrives. Have used  M & M bianually for about ten years.

    Mar 1, 2023

    You might check out Complete Tree Care in Berkeley at 510-883-1748. I have hired the owner, Matt Bowman, a bunch of times to both trim and remover trees. He and his crew are great, take care of the project and clean up well after they are finished. I have recommended him to others and they have always been please with the work.

    Mar 2, 2023

    Just had our ~80' Live Oak pruned beautifully (and affordably) by Limb King. Owner Kingman Limb is a certified arborist and has a wonderful crew of skilled climbers working with him. They kept the site safe and tidy during the 6 hours of thoughtful pruning and were happy to leave us with a  driveway full of nice mulch.

    If you care about the long-term health of your trees (which can be a large investment and costly liability), you'll go with a Certified Arborist with an understanding of tree biology. You can find one at the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) website.

    Mar 10, 2023

  • Harvesting redwood tree for furniture or other woodworking?

    –
    Sep 13, 2022

    We have to fell a 100 foot redwood tree in our backyard, and are wondering about whether it makes sense to harvest any of it for potential furniture or other purposes, either to give away to a craftsperson or commission something with one of the sections. Has anyone done this, or know of any local woodworkers who would either want some of the tree or might be willing to work on creating a table from some of the trunk? Thanks in advance for any tips.

    Sep 13, 2022

    There is a local woodworkers group on Nextdoor that is interested wood like this, including at least one person who I think has a portable mill and cuts trees into slabs that would be good for a table.  I don't know what his availability is, but look for "Urban tree salvage and woodworkers connection" on Nextdoor.

    Sep 14, 2022

    Hi, my spouse knows about wood and told me some things that might be helpful to you. First, kudos for trying to use the wood instead of wasting it! But it might prove difficult. Spouse says that when people take down a big tree in a city, it's usually cut into small pieces, because there is no room for large pieces that might weigh a thousand pounds or more. You'd have to have the tree-felling-people allow some 8-foot sections, that will then be impossible to move given the weight. Then you have to get a chainsaw mill that two people operate that runs across the trunk cutting it into slabs of whatever thickness you set, and you need enough room for the people to do this, and the ability to haul the wood afterwards. Sometimes there is a portable mill that one person can operate (but it's still big and heavy). Then, because the wood is "wet", it should be dried/cured in a kiln, and it might be hard to find someone with a wood kiln in our urban area. Lastly, the process of drying the wood can take several months to a year in a kiln, or a few years if you dry it naturally. A resource might be to go to Macbeath Hardwood in Berkeley on Ashby Ave, they might have good advice or connect you to someone who wants the wood and will do this. Good luck to you!

    Sep 14, 2022

    My sister found a tree company that cut their redwood for free and kept the wood as payment.

    Sep 14, 2022

    Sounds like a lovely idea! There used to be a lovely reclaimed wood furniture store in Berkeley that used to work with reclaimed redwood, called the Wooden Duck. The store has since closed, but one of their guys went to open his own shop, called UCHI furniture. Maybe call them and see what they can tell you? I believe that it can take years for wood from a tree to be dried and ready to be turned into furniture, and a quick google search suggests that you need to start that process once it has been chopped down. So call the furniture store and ask. Good luck!

    Sep 14, 2022

    Hi there,

    I would recommend Stephanie Shipman, who's an excellent local carpenter that's done several projects with me.  She builds custom furniture and other wood items. I'm not sure how busy she is but it would be worth checking. I'm trying to paste her website and can't get it to work. Google her and you'll find it.

    Sep 14, 2022

    I would recommend reaching out to Jeff Traeger (jefftraeger [at] comcast.net). He runs the Diablo Woodworkers Association and will be able to point you to resources who can use the wood from the tree.

    Sep 19, 2022

Archived Q&A and Reviews

Diseased Tall Redwood Tree on Neighbor's Property

April 2016

I recently had my trees including a redwood tree assessed by three arborists. All gave me unsolicited feedback about the redwood tree in a neighbor's yard. That tree, without being able to directly look at the tree or its roots, said it was either diseased or had root damage given that the canopy that does exists covers top 1/3 of the tree and is in poor condition and the lower 2/3s is dead branches. This 90 foot tree is surrounded by several homes in a dense environment that also includes a synagogue.

I contacted the City of Berkeley to see if there's something they can do or if they have programs about helping property owners but have not heard anything.

Does anyone have any familiarity with this kind of situation. I don't know this neighbor since it's not someone who lives on my block. Their property abuts several properties on a perpendicular street (the yard is behind my yard). I would like to talk to the neighbor but think it would be best to be able to present helpful information to the neighbor.

Thanks! Anon

Go talk to your neighbor. In the time it took you to post this you could have already been done with the conversation. Tell the neighbor what you learned. DO NOT get the city involved until you know for sure that no action will be taken by your neighbor. If my neighbor had information like this, I would want to know it. And I would be horrified if my neighbor sicced the city on me instead of talking to me herself. Just knock on the door

Call your homeowner's insurance agent. They have a vested interest in this situation. They may be willing to approach the neighbor, if you would prefer not to.

Alternatively, you can get the names and some contact information for all the abutting neighbors either from the tax assessor's public records or by asking a real estate agent who does business in your neighborhood to look up the owners' names, after you provide the addresses.

If your property, and other properties, are at risk for damage if this tree falls over, perhaps the affected parties could share the cost of mitigating the situation. Amelia Sue

Sounds like you have a ticking time bomb. Are you living in a location where the tree could fall and kill you or one of your neighbors? This kind of stuff does happen. If the tree is as bad as you describe you should move out until it is safe. I would notify ALL of your neighbors including the folks at the synagogue.

Make sure the city knows and takes action including contacting the mayor and city attorney if needed.

Trees do fall. We had a huge 100 foot tree just topple over one afternoon. In December a falling tree branch injured someone in Oakland.

But let me share this. We have two friends in Oakland hills who had tree problems. One family had a 100-foot tree Redwood tree unexpectedly fall. These people had amazing luck as the tree just happen to fall exactly between there house and their neighbors. Had it fallen a few feet to the left or right it would have taken out either house. All they lost was a car and their mailbox.

Our other friends were not as lucky. They had a tree fall right through the middle of their house "cutting" the living room and master bedroom in half like a giant chainsaw. The entire family was at home at the time and had anyone been in the living room there is no way they would have survived. Had the tree fallen a few degrees in any other different it would have landed in the kitchen or kids rooms.

Not trying to scare you but treed in urban areas do fall and it's all a question of where it's going to land.

As far as I know the city doesn't have a program to help homeowners. They do have a responsibility to protect the public. ANON

Is the tree in danger of shedding branches, damaging property? If so, have an arborist give you a quote for what it would cost to have the tree cut down, and have them put in writing that the tree is in danger of causing damage. Then give this information to your neighbor. You say you don't know them, but if the tree causes harm to a neighbor's property they could be liable -- so it's probably better that they know.

I am going through a similar situation with a neighbor's tree, and likely we will wind up sharing the expense of having the tree removed. Though not a great solution, your neighbor might finally act if you and the other affected neighbors offered to contribute to the cost of having it removed.

chop it down!

Write them a letter, expressing your concerns. You might ask a City Arborist to weigh in. Taking a big tree down is expensive and emotional; to make it work you might have to (eventually) offer to split the cost with them. You could try mediation...

How to measure the height of a redwood tree

Aug 2009

We have a rather tall and very healthy-looking redwood tree in our neighborhood and the topic came up several times among the residents of how to measure its height. I suggested using el-hi math (measure dist to base, and angle to top), but the idea didn't take with the group at large. Anyone been in a similar situation -- did you hire someone to do this? Maybe you used a special tool? Nel

I like your suggestion. This is a simple trigonometric formula. Ht = base times tan of angle.

Another way, which might sit better with your non-mathematical more visual neighbors, is to use proportional triangles. Imagine a small triangle near the corner you are using for your angle. Measure the base and height of your small triangle and the base of the large triangle. The height will be proportional (H/B=h/b).

Of course both ways assume a 90 degree angle from the tree to the base line. Both will be quite accurate if you get a transit from the tool lending library to help. Andus

You could in theory use similar triangles. Put up a 10 foot stick next to the tree. Measure the length of its shadow. Measure the length of the tree's shadow. The ratio of the two shadows lengths is in theory the same as the ratio of the stick and tree heights. anon