Storm Damage Tree Cleanup
Trees across the drive, tops broken out and hung in the next tree over, a fence flat under a pine. We clear storm-downed trees from the ground with an excavator and loaders, wherever a machine can reach.
Storm Cleanup, Start to Finish
The wind does in ten minutes what takes a week to clean up. A line of pines laid over across the pasture. A red oak across the driveway with its root ball stood up taller than the truck. Tops snapped out and hanging where nobody wants to walk under them. Fence down and the cows looking at the road. Storm wood is not like a tree you fell on purpose. It is bent, loaded and waiting to move.
We handle storm clean-up and storm debris removal with machines, from the ground. The excavator has the reach to pull a hung-up top down and to lift trunks out in one piece, and the track loaders move, stack and clean up behind it. A tipped root ball gets pulled or set back, and the hole is filled. The work is part of our tree removal service, and it suits drives, fence lines, pastures, yards with room, wood edges and building sites.
What you are left with is a drive you can use, a fence line you can rebuild and ground that is level again. The wood is piled and burned where burning is allowed, or hauled. If you burn firewood, ask about the wood when we look at the job. Call or text (205) 535-6376 with photos. After a big storm everybody calls at once, and we will tell you straight where you fall in the line.
What storm cleanup covers
- Trees across drives and access roads
- Downed trees lifted off fence lines
- Hung-up and broken tops pulled down
- Tipped root balls pulled, holes filled
- Wood burned on site or hauled off
- Ground graded back level afterward
Why storm wood is machine work
A tree that blew over is holding energy. The trunk is bent, limbs are pinned under it, and the root ball may want to stand back up the moment the weight comes off. People get hurt cutting that with a saw. An excavator changes the job. The operator sits back from the tree in a cab, takes hold of the trunk, eases the load off and lifts it clear. A top hung in another tree gets pulled down from a distance, with nobody standing under it. Where a machine can get to the tree, that is the safer way to take it apart.
Before we get there
If a tree or a limb is on or near a power line, stay away from it and call the power company first. Nobody should touch it until they say the line is dead. If the tree hit a house, a shop, a vehicle or a fence, take photos before anything moves, since your insurance company may want to see it as it fell. Then send us the same photos, with one that shows how a machine would get in: the gate, the drive, the wet spots. Not sure a machine can reach yours? Call or text and ask.
Burn the wood or haul it
Storm debris is mostly clean wood, and there are two main things to do with it. Piling and burning on site costs the least, but the Alabama Forestry Commission issues burn permits and a county can be under a burn ban, so check first. Our guide to Alabama burn permits for brush covers the rules. Hauling is cleanest and does not wait on a burn day. If you heat with wood, ask about the wood when we look at the job. We price the choices before you pick. Tuscaloosa is the largest city in our service area, and we take storm cleanup around Tuscaloosa.
Real Job Photos
Phone pictures from real jobs, captioned with what they show. See more recent work.
Who do I call to remove a tree that fell across my driveway?
If it is touching a power line, the power company first. If it is blocking a public road, the county or the city. For a tree down on your own drive, fence or field, call or text us at (205) 535-6376 with a photo. An excavator can lift a trunk off a driveway in one piece and set it aside, which opens the drive long before the whole tree is cleaned up.
Does homeowners insurance pay for storm tree removal?
It depends on your policy, and only your insurance company can answer for certain. Many policies treat a tree that hit a house, a fence or a building differently from one that simply fell in the yard. Call your agent before the cleanup starts, take clear photos of everything as it fell, and keep them. Estimates are free, so you can tell your agent what the cleanup will run.
How do you get a broken treetop down that is hung in another tree?
From a distance, with the excavator. The operator reaches up from outside the fall zone, takes hold of the hung-up top and pulls it down and away, then lays it where the loaders can deal with it. Nobody stands underneath. How high the machine can reach has a limit, so send a photo showing the whole tree, and we will tell you how we would go about it.
What happens to the root ball and the hole when a tree blows over?
Once the trunk is cut loose, a tipped root ball either drops back into its hole or stays standing. Either way it is dealt with: pulled out and hauled or burned with the rest, or set back and cut flush, depending on what you want there. The hole is filled, packed and graded so you are not left with a crater in the yard or the pasture.
How soon can you get to storm damage after a tornado or high wind?
It moves with the weather, the ground and how many people are calling. After a big storm the whole county calls at once, and jobs blocking a drive or holding stock in tend to be the urgent ones. Call or text with photos and your location, and you get an honest answer about where you fall in the line, not a date we cannot hold.
How a Job Runs
Tell Us What You Have
Call, text or send the form. County, rough acreage, what is growing on it and how a truck and trailer gets in.
We Look at the Ground
Close by, we come and look. Farther off, we can go over it with you on satellite first, then see it on the ground before the work starts.
A Number to Plan Around
Estimates are free and priced off the property. Small jobs carry a minimum, and you hear the figure before you commit.
The Machines Go to Work
We settle what comes out and what stays. Mark the trees you want kept, or walk it with us and point them out.
Finished, Not Just Knocked Down
Holes filled, ground pulled back to grade, and the fall set so water leaves the site instead of standing on it.
Storm Cleanup Near You
Based in Berry, in Fayette County. Eight west Alabama counties. Pick your county or town, or call or text and ask.
Towns
Pages for your town
More services
Tree Removal
Dead, leaning and storm-damaged trees taken down by machine, stumps pulled, ground left level.
DetailsExcavating
Footings, trenches, culverts, stumps and the digging jobs that have no name.
DetailsSite Work
Access, drainage, culverts and finish grade, so the rest of the job can happen.
DetailsNeed Storm Cleanup?
Call or text, or send a few details. Estimates are free and priced off the property.