Invasion of the house snatchers! They’re not teenagers but they’ll eat you out of house and home!

Invasion of the house snatchers! They’re not teenagers but they’ll eat you out of house and home!

It happened here. At a million dollar estate, a beautiful house in semi rural ‘horse’ country. With big beautiful evergreens towering behind the home. Picturesque. 

The Tree -Up close; -It’s away from the balcony deck, 10′ from the house wall, so not perfect but OK.

 

-Shallow root system – low plumbing or footing interference risk, OK

-Within range to hit the house if toppled but healthy free standing tree, seems low risk, but:

  

I see dust, like saw dust, at the base, now I see holes, ant holes and……….WOW a HUGH carpenter ant infestation. I could see holes in the trunk as far up as I could see. (Last photo is eye level.)

Clearly a not so healthy tree and actually a severe risk to the home!

The ants had to be exterminated first. Taking the tree down with out destroying the insects first risks inducing a mass migration into the house.

Second the near walls opened and examined by a specialist for ant colonies and extermination done as required. Third the compromised tree has to be taken down. I recommended the wood be removed from the property (Ants can live in and re-infest fire wood just fine, thank you).

So this picturesque beautiful tree that looked so healthy was actually a big threat to this home.

 

 

Original blog post on ActiveRain: Link to Blog Post