How long are you planning to stay in the house? At one point of time house turned over about every 6 years to a new owner.

It is hard to count the rings, but it looks like the tree was at least 30 years old (probably more). Also those same ring pattern seems to indicate there were possibly 3 original trees and then two that grew up between those trees.

I think what I am saying is that it would not be worth the effort. First you will never see the results you want., and the next owner may cut it down as he may see it as a defective tree.

While not quite the same we bought a house and spent a years considering what colors we wanted to paint it. We final decided on one color the house and a complementary color for the trim. We finished painting by fall. The next spring I received a new job offer, and we sold the house. We went back several years later and the new owner had painted it all white.

Thanks. I think the tree was about 25 years old when cut down. We bought this house 15 years from a guy that built a house just down the road from me. He planted that tree when he lived here I think around 1995 or 1996. At one time I thought it was 5 trees planted together but the guy who cut it down for us said it was one tree that must’ve died back when it was little and had several sprout coming out everywhere.

Not a large silver maple as far as these go of course. As would be expected with a specimen that young. Comparatively low forking into several trunks or main branches seems fairly usual with these and will otherwise be frequent among trees of various species on sites that have conditions promoting this growth response - many times all it takes is for a young tree to be developing in an open position where there is no side shading by competing trees. A presence of which that would otherwise promote the development of a tall crown perched on one or two trunks. So it might be that all you have to do is plant a replacement silver maple nearby and a similar shape to the one that was cut down will appear on its own.

Here's a picture of a silver maple (Acer saccharinum) tree my BIL planted about 45 years ago. Left to themselves, in the open, they tend to grow with multiple trunks. This particular one has 7 individual trunks.

Thanks Bill_minn_3b. I have a few more silver maples in my yard and I have noticed they do have a suckering habit. Thats a huge tree.

Here's some shots of actual large silver maples.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=champion+silver+maple&qpvt=champion+silver+maple&form=IGRE&first=1&tsc=ImageBasicHover&scenario=ImageBasicHover

Are you specifically looking for a clumping tree? Why don’t you chose one that grows that way naturally, like a clumping birch?

Thanks Ken. Thats actually what the guy said who cut the tree down for us. It was growing next to our patio and was planted pretty close to the house. He said it had the potential of falling on the house. If I did plant another one like that I’d plant it out away from the house. Thanks everyone.