Storm damage

Is it a bad appreciation on my part or does it seem that the trunk of the tree was partially rotten???

MauricioB wrote:Is it a bad appreciation on my part or does it seem that the trunk of the tree was partially rotten???

Thank You Mauricio! I think you may be correct about the tree's base being rotten. There was no indication of this beforehand unfortunately. A company will be here shortly to remove the tree. I suspect they will cut as much as they can.. and use a crane to lift what's remaining, off the roof. That section of the trunk is at least 35cm in diameter. If they try to "pull it off".. it will surely collapse the walls.

If they do not use a crane empty the shed first. Heck, empty the shed of the easy to remove stuff anyways.

Phil

Yeah that thing was very rotten. No telling what is going on inside that bark. I am surprised it didn't fall sooner. Judging by that photo there was hardly any good wood. Luckily nobody was hurt and the shed looks repairable.

I really like the look of that shed BTW.

roddie wrote:Thank You Mauricio! I think you may be correct about the tree's base being rotten. There was no indication of this beforehand unfortunately. A company will be here shortly to remove the tree. I suspect they will cut as much as they can.. and use a crane to lift what's remaining, off the roof. That section of the trunk is at least 35cm in diameter. If they try to "pull it off".. it will surely collapse the walls.

I wouldn't mention anything about tree decay. Let them make their own determination. Prior to accident, it appeared healthy. Otherwise, they could deny your claim, stating you didn't care for the tree or removed it prior to damages. I'm not saying this for sure, but just as a precaution, as you might be placing yourself in the position of an authority of which you don't have the education or training for, to make that determination, which they may take your word for. Anyway, just a few thoughts.

Oh man!! I am sorry to see that damage. But, I an very glad to see nobody was hurt. I hope the recovery and rebuild goes as quickly and easily as possible.

Thanks for the replies guys.. There were two companies here today; both sent by the insurance company. A gen. contractor and a tree service guy. The gen. contractor made the determination that the shed is too far gone and will be completely replaced.

George (GallopingGhostler) made a good point. I asked the arborist if he thought that the tree looked rotted at the base where it broke. He put a finger to his lips and said not to even mention that possibility for the same exact reason that George wrote in his comment. Fortunately the contractor wasn't within earshot.. not that he would have raised an issue with the claim, but better safe than sorry.

There is another equally large Oak standing to the left of the shed which is now unprotected by the one that fell. It splits-off in a "Y" with a large limb overhanging the shed that the arborist said would likely come down in a heavy snow.. so that limb will be cut-off as part of the claim.

Let me tell you; it's surreal... looking at that 75 foot downed-tree sprawled-across our yard. Luckily it was sunny and warm today.. and is forecast to be the same for the next few days. Seeing that we have no garage.. (or bulkhead for basement-access) They're having an 8' x 8' storage container brought in tomorrow morning.. which is when the tree-work is scheduled to be done. It could be weeks before the actual replacement of the shed happens.

Ouch! That shed held up fairly well for the size of tree that fell on it. Glad to hear no one got hurt and that everything inside the shed survived.


Do you have enough room in your yard to maybe replace the shed with a garage? Even if you cannot get a car back there it would make a nice workshop.

We've thought about replacing our shed with a garage just for more storage space, workshop space and maybe a place to put a classic car. We have a 2 car attached garage, but it doesn't leave much space to work on projects when 2 cars in pulled in. It's something I'd still like to have, but it would take up yard space and I would need to take down at least 2 trees and expand the gate if I ever wanted to get a car back there. I'd like to buy some land sometime on the next 10-15 years, so I'll probably just wait for that.

I have helped cut down some seriously large locust trees with my Dad. It is very surreal looking at a very large tree on the ground when just before it was NOT on the ground.

Phil

Ouch! Looks like a whole bunch of work in your future!!  Do you burn wood? If so, you have lots of BTU's laying down across your shed!   It would be a shame to have all that nice oak tossed into a dumpster   I was just wondering what the final result of your mid winter pool implosion was. Did it stay up the remainder of the winter 1/2 full of water? Did you fill it back up and let Your wife have full use of the pool this summer?  Very glad you didn't have any major loss of airplanes or items of value in the shed.....or did you??  
Reminds me of long ago the place I worked for sold kitchen cabinets, cupboards, sinks and stuff. During one strong summer storm the roof in the "old" warehouse sprung a major leak. The Owners son, VP, CFO, instructed the warehouse manager to move all the "old stock" poor selling kitchen cabinets into that section of the building. Which they did, and wrote off as water damaged a boat load of ugly inventory to the insurance co.  

roddie wrote:George (GallopingGhostler) made a good point. I asked the arborist if he thought that the tree looked rotted at the base where it broke. He put a finger to his lips and said not to even mention that possibility for the same exact reason that George wrote in his comment. Fortunately the contractor wasn't within earshot.. not that he would have raised an issue with the claim, but better safe than sorry.

Roddie, back in the early 1990's, we sold our home on the west coast. We had some paint peel in the past, built in 1926, I asked about lead based paint. Our realtor said not to bring it up. Without paint chips being sent to a laboratory to determine content, for all practical purposes, I would not know truly what was contained. There's no need to open a can of worms when it is not required.

This is where expert testimony comes into play. Unless one really knows, it is better sometimes to not speculate, even though there is a good likelihood according to common sense.

There was a paper the realtor wanted me to sign that stated there were no code violations with the house. I didn't know if there were or not when we sold it. I declined to sign and they didn't push it any further.

Roddie, I was wondering if the base of that tree is rotten, there may be another tree in the same situation and in any case it is a potential risk. In case you say that the fallen tree is rotten and the others are in the same environment, what I would do would be to make sure to check with someone trained in the subject in which situation is the rest, in order to avoid a major accident!

Man I hate to see that strong building coming down after it took that Wack !! Heck you know they will put you one of those nice Dutch Barns in its place BUT ; they are not built with the construction you had . Yes Rotten for sure and is hard to tell sometime without taking an axe to it and checking , we have ants and beetles here that cause habit on the wood . As said glad nothing else was damaged , best of luck with the replacing and removal of the remains . PS ; outside fire pit would bee nice this fall with some of the remains

Too bad about the shed... Looks like some sort of insect damage on that oak. The light color of the wood and sawdust (insect poo?) would suggest that.

Are you going to fix that shed or tear it down and get a new one? It looks nice and sturdy, most likely repairable.

Hope it all turns out well with the insurance.

Thanks once more for the replies fellas'.. It means a lot to me. Yes.. the tree had some hidden disease/rot at the base of its trunk.. and the winds were fierce last Monday night. It makes us a bit nervous.. because we're surrounded on the sides and back of the property with several more big Oaks that are within striking-distance of the house.

The old shed wasn't worth rebuilding.. according to the contractor that came to assess the damage.. so the disposition is to replace it. Lynne is elated.. but I am a little skeptical. If the replacement is built as sturdily as the original, I would feel better about the whole thing. I may need to stress that when given options. We're prepared to "upgrade" to a larger building at "our" extra cost.. but not if it's built cheaply. The old shed was quality-built.. or it would have sustained much more damage. It is; in-fact.. re-buildable.. (anything is re-buildable..   )

Check out these photos I shot this afternoon.. post tree-removal.





Most of the damage is to the right-rear section of the roof and header.. all other components in the vicinity were "sprung".. but not broken.




Right-side loft.. (our pool-ladder survived being directly beneath where the limb struck)




The shot below shows the broken header.. and one back-wall stud that sheared beneath it.



The tree may have fallen slowly.. which would account for less damage.. but this old shed bore the weight of it.. and did pretty well.

It's going to be replaced.. SWMBO will be adamant about that.. (she's been shopping designs since yesterday morning.. ) I have mixed emotions. My brother has offered to repair the shed.. and he's quite qualified to do that. He's done "framing" a good part of his life.. and just 3 years ago; I helped him build a small cabin that would rival most. It is however; VERY important to keep SWMBO happy..

A storage-unit was delivered this morning.. after the tree-service people did their work.




The arborist removed what he deemed to be a hazardous large over-hanging limb from another big Oak directly to the left of the site, that he said could come down with a heavy snow-fall.. and possibly wreck the new construction.



I'm quite impressed with the work that the tree-guys did. You can see from the before/after photos.. that they did a good job. We plan to write a letter/review to that effect.

Stay tuned..   I will have updates as the work progresses.

You can intelligently "re-kit" that shed and have a kit for someone else to build. Similarly you can rekit this shed and look for a kit with matching frames so you can rebuild a new larger shed.

Don't forget to look at prefab roll-off sheds being dropped onto your lot. There are some nice buildings available.

Phil

Man! that sucks, Roddie. How long have you had that shed? It looks like a great place to work. But, on the bright side, since you can't build in there until it's replaced, that means you have all kinds of time to go out and fly...

The Lemon Mark

batjac wrote:Man!  that sucks, Roddie.  How long have you had that shed?  It looks like a great place to work.  But, on the bright side, since you can't build in there until it's replaced, that means you have all kinds of time to go out and fly...

The Lemon Mark

You mean.. make lemonade?? I plan to brother! We've owned this property for 6 years this Spring. The shed was here when we moved in. IDK how old the shed is.. but I would guess at least 15-20 years. The roof's ridge-vent leaked a little bit.. which I tried to seal a few years ago.. and small rodents have had their run of the space. It's hard to stop that from happening. I tried to weather/rodent-seal the doors.. but they find their way in regardless. We basically live in the woods.. but we have a respect for nature.. and all the good and bad that comes with her.

What really sucks........ is that this has been one-more distraction that's taking away from me getting some airplanes ready to fly. My heart is SET on that this Summer. The "fourth" is on a Tuesday this year... so I have the previous Monday off through my employer. I'm taking the 5th, 6th and 7th off.. and will have airplanes ready to fly that week, come Hell or high-water....

Roddie, costs are relative. Probably why the shed was considered non-repairable is the cost using skilled labor to repair (to include materials, overhead, permit, taxes and bond) are more than the shed is worth. A similar built prefabricated shed would be cheaper.

If you were doing it, because it would be your labor at no additional cost and only for materials, under those conditions it could be repaired. You'd probably salvage some of the wood and renail in place, which would cut down on costs. (I've done cost estimates for up to $600k for small facilities construction contract procurements / modifications to big contracts.)

A friend's 2013 Yamaha V-Star 1300 tourer had a noisy rear wheel. He asked me to look at it. I put it on my bike jack. Rear axle was frozen in place, used a sliding pull autobody hammer to pull the axle. A grenaded inner wheel needle bearing by the belt pulley was partially welded to the axle. By carefully filing the axle, remaining bearing axle spacers, aluminum wheel hub housing, was able to salvage them and reuse. That took time. I was able to put it back on the road for cost of a new bearing and two nearby bearing axle spacers other parts for a little over $100.

If a dealer mechanic did it, because of their high shop rate, would have replaced most of the parts I managed to salvage. Given OEM dealer parts costs and labor, It would have cost $1,200 for them to do.

For those who kid about Harley's having problems don't realize that all motorcycle brands have problems. This was a new unsold year old motorcycle that its factory warranty had just expired prior to the bearing completely failing.

roddie wrote:The old shed wasn't worth rebuilding.. according to the contractor that came to assess the damage.. so the disposition is to replace it. Lynne is elated.. but I am a little skeptical. If the replacement is built as sturdily as the original, I would feel better about the whole thing. I may need to stress that when given options. We're prepared to "upgrade" to a larger building at "our" extra cost.. but not if it's built cheaply. The old shed was quality-built.. or it would have sustained much more damage. It is; in-fact.. re-buildable.. (anything is re-buildable..   )

Yeah, of course the contractor's assesment leans towards what is most profitable for him, which would be to set you up with a pre-fab Now that the tree is removed, it looks like that big old oak hardly made a dent to that old shed... On the other hand, now is a change to build/upgrade the shed so that it best suits your needs and wants.

And, as you implied in a paragraph that I didn't copy, "Happy wife, easy life"

Looks like plenty of room on the property to have two sheds

Insurance is going to provide the removal of the tree and a NEW shed--- Probably off site built.

So ask them to leave the damaged shed in place and if the insurance claims they have a stake in the salvage ask how much to leave it, then decide

remind them "leaving in place" saves a few bucks on the claim

It is not a living space for humans, so they have no liability to leave it--- except it will be excluded from any future claims

This all presumes you have a good or better Home property insurance company or at least a seasoned adjuster who has done this modification in the past

I never ever want to see another 19~23 year old adjuster on my property....not that they are NOT professional and competent...just too young and have not yet seen a lot of unique situations and know how to help the customer


The been there done that
Fred

The way it works for me is Allstate cuts a check to me and I do whatever I want.
Get rid of contractor, leave old shed, buy new one, I can sometimes pocket some dollars and get better outcome.

C bender... I have had several different insurance types and there is a good argument for the ones like you relate just cutting a check... Other times I did appreciate the WE FIX IT ALL (no matter the cost)

Two quick stories... insurance claim on storm damage...not bad and I tended to think the adjuster estimate was fair to (maybe very good for us)... they cut check in my driveway... by accepting, I was limited to ONLY that amount and we did not already have some independent contractor bids

ALL local contractors demanded about $2K above what I got paid out
In this case I could NOT effectively do the work myself and work within city codes....yada yada yada
So lost ass considering the deductible, and the actual cost above claim adjustment====just to make the repairs need for future sale of the property
Went back to Dairy-land with the 9 bids and they would not budge... I had accepted their adjustment check... They were fired!

We were covered by AllState for a bit..no claims so no experience

Progressive was the WE FIX IT ALL...minus your deductible
Property was $203K with 1% deductable ($2003.00)
Uninsured motorist missed a curve and plowed in through the fence and living room... Adjuster estimate $75,000
Do you want a check?, Or do you want us to do all the repairs up to to max, and you pay us $2003 in the transaction

I paid the $2003...three contractors later the cost over run was $9800 and Progressive paid it without pestering me

Switched to USAA when they started accepting prior Enlisted (used to be ONLY OFFICERS)... 27 years and NO claims history.... but I do know that with all my hobbies and out buildings we are badly under-insured... They will rider Jewelry, guns, and fine art...but between wife and I --are more valuable items in the hobby shops than in our empty nest home