A silver maple off Union Street split at the crotch in a July storm and took the gutter with it. Normal call here. Village lots are tighter than they look — street maples with roots under the sidewalk slabs, garages a few feet off the line, and plenty of dead ash still standing. We stage the chipper early on Union or Rt 31, before canal season fills the towpath.
Out in Ogden it's a different job. Along Big Ridge Rd and Colby St the farmhouse yard trees stand alone with nothing breaking the wind, so they don't snap — they lean, then go over roots and all.
What the canal and the village lots change about the work
Do you have to block Union Street to take a tree out?
Usually not. Most village removals run off the driveway with the chipper behind the truck and cones out. If a crane has to sit in the lane, we'll say so up front and plan it around towpath traffic.
My ash has been dead a couple of winters. Is it harder to remove now?
Yes. Dead ash goes brittle and sheds limbs without warning, so it stops being a climbing job and becomes bucket or crane work. Still removable — it just wants a different setup than the live maple next door.