Tree Cabling And Bracing Serving Asheboro, NC

What you'll notice before we call it

Most of the time the homeowner spots it first. There may be a crack running down the trunk that wasn't there last year, or a fork that has started to open. A limb may sway more than the rest of the canopy, or you may hear creaking on windy days. Humidity here already works on siding and roof edges, and a split fork hanging over the roof is one more reason not to wait on it.

What's going wrong in the wood

A tree with two main stems growing too close together can get bark pinched into the joint between them. That bark is not wood, and it doesn't hold the two stems together. A fork can also split in a storm and never knit back. Either way, every pound of crown above the joint pulls the stems apart. A cable limits how far they can spread, and a brace rod ties the two stems across the joint so they move as one. The hardware doesn't repair the defect. It shares the load so the defect isn't carrying it alone.

How we decide if cabling is the right fix

Before any hardware goes in, we look at how far the split runs and whether it is still opening. We also check whether the stems have enough sound wood above and below the weak point to hold the hardware. If the split runs through the trunk or one stem is already decaying, cabling is the wrong answer, and we'll tell you so rather than bolt a dying tree back together. Removal is a different job with a different price, and we'd rather you hear that now than after the install.

What we install and how we work

We climb on arborist climbing line, tied in with a safety harness and saddle, so both hands stay free for the hardware. Cable goes across the weak fork at an angle that cuts the strain on it. Where one stem leans away from the other, we add a rigid brace rod through the joint. Any dead or damaged wood we find up there gets cut out in the same visit. For that we plant our footing, keep a two-handed grip on the saw, and use a proper notch, hinge and back-cut so the piece goes where we send it. Whatever comes off goes to the chipper. Nobody feeds it by hand or foot, and nobody stands in front of the in-feed.

What it costs

Cabling runs $200 to $400 per tree. Height, how easy the fork is to reach and how many weak points the tree has all move the price within that range. A low fork you can reach from a ladder sits at the bottom. A tall crown with several weak crotches and dead wood to clear sits toward the top. We confirm the number once we've looked at the tree, because the defect sets the labor.

After the install

The tree keeps growing and adds wood around the hardware. We can come back to check that the cable hasn't gone slack and that nothing is rubbing or corroding where you can't see it. If you have other canopy work stacking up, such as dead limbs, clearance over the roof or cleanup from the last storm, we can handle it on that visit.