Tree removal in West Carson City (89703)

West of Carson Street the houses are older, the lots are established and the ground rises toward the Carson Range. Trees that have stood since before the neighbors were born are a big part of why people like it here, and also why removal takes planning.

At a glance

• About 13% of homes in ZIP 89703 date from before 1960
• About 78% of housing units are single-family detached homes
• Crane and 75-foot boom truck kept at our yard, about 6 miles away
• Right-of-way trees: check with Carson City Public Works first

What makes a west side removal different?

Age and closeness. The American Community Survey shows about half the homes in ZIP 89703 were built before 1980 and roughly one in eight before 1960. About 78% are single-family detached houses, each with its own yard and usually its own large tree. Decades of additions, fences and landscaping have grown in under those crowns.

So the question on most estimates is not whether the tree can come down, but where each section goes on the way.

When does the arborist call for the crane?

When a tree stands over a roof with no clear spot to lower limbs, when the trunk is too decayed to trust a climber's weight, or when the only way out of the back yard is up. The crane sets up in the street or the driveway, lifts each cut section over the house and sets it down by the chipper. We call it a no impact removal: less time on site and less disturbance to the garden.

Our West Carson City crane page covers set-up room and what we check first.

The hills behind the houses have burned before

Fire perimeter records list the 1988 C-Hill Fire (1,799 acres) and the 2004 Waterfall Fire (8,765 acres) among large fires mapped within about 10 miles of this ZIP. ZIP codes have no wildfire rating of their own, so the figure to use is the city's: the USDA Forest Service ranks Carson City's risk to homes higher than 98.5% of US communities.

On lots that back onto brush and open slope, dead trees and trees crowding the eaves are the first candidates for removal. See defensible space in West Carson City.

Is removal always the answer for an old tree?

No. Old does not mean finished. Our arborists often recommend dead wooding or cabling and bracing for a mature tree with a sound trunk. Removal is the call when there is decay at the base or in a main fork, large dead sections, storm damage, or roots pushing on the house or its pipes. The estimate explains which it is and why.

Clean-up on an established lot

Older gardens have things worth protecting: flagstone, irrigation, mature shrubs. Brush is carried to the chipper at the curb, logs are moved with the track loader where it fits, and the yard is cleaned before we leave. Ask about stump grinding at the estimate if you want the spot back.