Another Chester village, another big willow. This one was in Guilden Sutton, and it had been dead for some time — a mature weeping willow standing right alongside the customer’s outbuilding, with the whole of one side of the crown hanging over the roof and the solar panels.
Dead willow is not a tree you want to leave standing next to a building. The timber goes brittle quickly, the smaller wood starts shedding on its own, and the first proper winter gale usually decides where it lands for you. The customer had spotted it, made the sensible call, and asked us to take it down before it caused any damage.
Working over the roof and the solar panels
There was no option to fell this one. The building sat directly underneath, so the tree came down in sections, with our climber working from the stem and taking the crown apart piece by piece.
The awkward part was the run of limbs directly over the roof and panels. Those were rigged out on ropes and lowered under control rather than dropped — the branches never travelled where gravity wanted to take them. Everything landed on the grass in front of the building, well away from the slates, the guttering and the panels. Not a mark on anything.
Once the overhanging side was clear, the rest of the crown came off, then the stems were dismantled down to the base and the trunk was cross-cut on the ground.
All the wood and chip stayed on site
The customer has a log burner, so rather than tipping anything, we left the lot. The trunk and the bigger limb wood were cut to length and stacked ready for splitting and seasoning — a very healthy pile of firewood for the winters ahead.
The brash went through our mini chipper and filled six bags of fresh woodchip, which the customer wanted for the garden beds. Willow chip works nicely as a mulch and it costs nothing when it’s already sitting in your garden.
The site was raked off and left tidy, and the whole job was finished in a day.
Another happy customer
Another happy customer in Guilden Sutton — delighted with the tidy finish, and pleased to have the firewood and the chip out of it too.
If you have a dead or dying tree near a building, driveway or set of solar panels, it is worth getting it looked at before the winter winds arrive. We cover Chester and all the surrounding villages, we are fully insured, and quotes are free with no pressure.
Give us a call on 07874 825599 or email tim@halfacretrees.co.uk and we will come and take a look.
