Last month a big oak limb came through my roof because I ignored the warning signs

I had this big red oak in my backyard in Portland that I kept meaning to trim back. About three years ago I noticed a crack in the main crotch where two big limbs split off, but I figured it would hold. Last month we had a moderate wind storm and that whole section came down, punched a hole in my garage roof and took out a gutter. Cost me $4,200 to fix the roof and remove the rest of the tree. Has anyone else had a tree fail way sooner than you thought it would?

2 comments

2 Comments

rowangonzalez16h ago

Honestly I gotta push back a little bit on this. A $4,200 bill hurts for sure but a moderate wind storm taking down a limb you already knew was cracked? That's not failing way sooner than you thought, that's you ignoring a pretty obvious problem for three whole years. Trees don't really have a timeline you can count on, they just rot and break when they feel like it. I mean my neighbor had a huge cottonwood that looked totally healthy, then one random calm Tuesday a massive branch just snapped off and crushed his fence. So yeah yours was probably gonna go eventually but three years is a pretty good run for a cracked limb honestly.

beth_stone16h ago

You said "they just rot and break when they feel like it" and honestly that's kind of my whole point. Trees are unpredictable. So yeah a cracked limb hung in there for three years, that's not "failing way sooner than I thought" that's pretty much on schedule for something that's already damaged. I think people take these tree timelines way too seriously like they're supposed to follow some warranty. A $4,200 bill sucks but acting like the tree somehow lied to you is a stretch. Stuff breaks, you pay for it, move on.