how do you rule out the tree tree grew to balance itself all out to overcome gravity..

and all you would accomplish would be to screw up its own symmetry ..

those quotes seems extreme ... how many quotes did you get?

ken

I had trees all around and partially over the house while living in a wooded area (oaks) in VA for near 20 yrs -- never worried about it myself.

how do you rule out the tree tree grew to balance itself all out to overcome gravity..

@ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5 , it's mainly based on the other trees around it. You can see heavy growth on the outer perimeter of all of them, with minimal growth in the areas blocked by other trees.

those quotes seems extreme ... how many quotes did you get?

Three. There aren't a lot of insured companies in my area that do this, and the ones that are insured charge a premium!

One quote was $4,000, but his plan was to hook up a chain and cut it while pulling the chain with his truck. Which sounds all fine and dandy, but that's EXACTLY what the guy did that dropped the tree through my roof! So... thanks, but no thanks.

The $14,000 quote involves bringing out a bucket truck, removing all of the limbs, then taking it down in 8 chunks from the top. And then grinding the stump away. Minimal risk and damage to the surrounding land, but I don't have that much to spend on it.

I had trees all around and partially over the house while living in a wooded area (oaks) in VA for near 20 yrs -- never worried about it myself.

@bengz6westmd, I grew up in this area, and always had trees around like that. I've always loved the shade and seclusion of it! Not to mention the wildlife :-)

But in the last decade or so, we've developed a new "hurricane season" (which also includes at least one annual tornado). That never existed before! Our buildings are rarely built to hurricane standards, so we have a LOT of property damage every year.

I've seen a lot of fallen trees on my property, so I feel like it's a gamble now to have trees close enough to the house to do damage if they fall.

I don't worry about the oaks as much as I do the field pine (very shallow roots!), but this one is close enough and big enough that if it were to fall, it would definitely fall towards the house! And that's about 10 tons coming through the roof, right into the bedroom :-O

Is the yard area in front section of photo accessible by equipment? If so, I'd look for a tree service that has a Merlo to remove it. I would think there's a company near Greensboro with this equipment. The quote seems exorbitantly high. I recently had a 70' tall (3' diameter) oak removed for $1000 with this equipment. It took about 2-hours to complete, including setup.

Is the yard area in front section of photo accessible by equipment?

There's a paved driveway, so it IS accessible but with weight limits.

I looked up the Merlo you mentioned, I think this would be the same thing that we call a cherry picker; a platform with a 100' boom. That's what the $14,000 quote was going to use.

I would think there's a company near Greensboro with this equipment.

I'm actually in Wilkesboro, about 1 1/2 hours to the West of Greensboro. I just put "near Greensboro" in my name because it's the closest city, as suggested by... I think @ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5 , honestly, when I first started posting about gardening :-)

I don't know where I put the quote, so this is just from memory. I'm pretty sure it was quoted as a 2-day job with 6 guys, which would include cleanup and removal, and grinding the stump and any exposed roots. And when we talked about it, he was going to bring a bucket truck, logging truck, and dump truck for the limbs and grindings. And, of course, he has a $1 million insurance policy, of which he left a copy with the quote.

I think it's too high, too, but this is the most reputable company in town. The other people that have quoted seem a LOT less professional, and frankly, that just scares me. So I'm stuck in that position of knowing what NEEDS to be done, but just don't have the money to do it :-/

'My experiences with is with a similarly place tulip poplar. It also a tree about 14' at the base,that spent most of it life surrounded by other trees. The the lot was cleared and the house was built in 2008. When we bought the lot about 12 years ago the tree had no branches for the first 20 feet. After 12 years the tree has filled out and now has substantial branches down to about 12 feet from the ground and is becoming nicely symmetrical.

From the looks of the hedge row behind you house it looks like your tree spent most of its life in a woods, and became a stand a lone tree when your house was built. Unless there is obvious structural weakness in the trunk, I would not touch the tree.

If you take the tree out and living in Greensboro NC you will truly miss the shade of that tree in the summer when the temperature in in the low 90's and the sun is baking you house. I live about 20 mile east of Raleigh and am quite familiar with the summers.