Crane_vs_House: Crane Wins!

[BX2230Dude]

This will be old news to you Sonoma County TBN'ers but check this out from todays newspaper:

Crews working to lift boom from wrecked house | PressDemocrat.com | The Press Democrat | Santa Rosa, CA

This crane was helping remove an 150 year old oak from someone's backyard when a large section of the trunk snapped off putting a "shockload" on the crane cable. That was enough to tip the crane on its rear supports and send the boom right through the house. Nice pics.

 

[Thomas]

Dang..think someones slide ruler was tad off.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Now that would be a drag to have happen. I have been tempted to hire crane's for some of the tree work in the past. From the angle of the boom it appears they reached over too far versus the amount of weight. I am not an expert in those kinds of lifts at all though.

 

[FlaDon]

Cranes like to work with steady loads. Shock loads are what get you into trouble. Which way the crane goes over depends on if the cable snaps or the load drops suddenly. The latter looks to be the case here.

 

[Scooby074]

Reliable Crane and Rigging was the company in question.

I can think of at least 2 things wrong with that name

Glad nobody was hurt.

 

[RadarTech]

I just had a co-worker get a tree removed in this same kind of situation...

They chose not to use the crane...
I sent this to him...

Will be interesting to hear his response...



Jim

 

[mjncad]

A little caulk and paint, and the house will be as good as new.

Seriously though, it's a good thing no one was hurt.

 

[powerstroke444e]

Bet he didnt price that in the bid.
In late 90's a local crane company dropped one on a house while setting a fiberglass pool in the backyard of home. It was a new crane and had wrong software in the computer which told Operator that he was safe. Long gone are the days of a slide ruler.

 

[JoelD]

Funny how people react, home owner said he expects to get a brand new house out of the deal from the ground up. OK maybe the piece they crushed, but the entire house??

I get it that accidents happen and someone could've been hurt, glad no one was.

But an entire new house. With that sort of mentality no one will perform any work anywhere near anyone's house for fear and cost of being brought to court.

I can't imagine a tree that size being anywhere heavy enough to give a 175 ton crane a hard time.

They just over extended the boom at a low angle. I wounder how much weight it would take to tip the crane back like that with a fully extended boom at a low angle, I'm thinking not a bunch.

Joel

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Some where in the post or news article it was mentioned a piece broke off which bounced the crane. So that would have contributed. For the piece to break off was an error in how it was hooked up. Either take off a smaller piece if it looked rotted or damaged. Or sling it from a section that was not questionable. I wondered at what appears to be a pretty low lift angle also. That would be a lot of leverage on the base of the crane.
I don't think Joe Homeowner is entitled to a new house though. He is entitled to a repair that is as good as the original "section". That looks like a little ole rambler house so I doubt if there is much damage other than some wiring, wood and sheetrock. Heck some of the guys on here would have that repaired in 2 days..
FYI: Make sure who ever you have do that kind of work is licensed and bonded. Have them show you that stuff. Some of the services out there say they are licensed and bonded when they aren't.

 

[BX2230Dude]

I wounder how much weight it would take to tip the crane back like that with a fully extended boom at a low angle, I'm thinking not a bunch.

The paper said the section of tree that fell was estimated to be 6000 lbs. The crane had a capacity of 7900 lbs extended 130 feet over the house. I'm no expert but 1900 lbs seems to be a pretty small margin for error. When that section fell it easily added 1900 lbs and down she went.

 

[kthompson]

Well it does prove the owners were right about one thing, their concern the tree might fall.

 

[gpflepsen]

I think they both lost... Do you realize the expense to replace a damaged boom section and to do a full inspection (dismantling) before the equipment can be used again?

I used to do concrete pumping, so when a competitor in town laid one over on a house, the pictures made their way to me.

I never heard what happened, but from my study of the photos, it appears the operator never extended the rear outrigger, and perhaps the front wasn't fully extended either. The truck was OK until the load of concrete began getting pushed through the boom pipe shifting the cg outside the outrigger footprint.

 

[JoelD]

The paper said the section of tree that fell was estimated to be 6000 lbs. The crane had a capacity of 7900 lbs extended 130 feet over the house. I'm no expert but 1900 lbs seems to be a pretty small margin for error. When that section fell it easily added 1900 lbs and down she went.

WOW, even 7900lbs seems like crazy little weight to upset a 175 ton crane. Goes to show you how heavy those booms are and how tipsy when fully extended.

Hard to imagine a couple ton would upset such a huge, heavy crane. Man leverage can do some crazy stuff.

Joel

 

[Matt_Jr]

Well it does prove the owners were right about one thing, their concern the tree might fall.

And damage the house....

 

[powerpace]

In Oregon the home owner would have called two or three friends and neighbors and a couple of relatives for an afternoon of firewood cutting. The cost would of been about 2 gallons of gas for the chainsaws that they used. Two cases of beer and a pot of chile afterwards. Oh and everyone would have a half cord or more of wood for next year.

 

[California]

Wow!!! Good find BX2230Dude! I just got back over here and hadn't seen that. The Bee article I saw didn't do justice to how big that thing is!

Here is an earlier PD article. The mast missed the guy in the tree by four feet.

The articles have a link to a page with a couple dozen photos. Here are a couple.

 

[mjncad]

Looking at that last photo, I don't understand why the homeowner didn't have a tree service come in and remove it without the expense and drama of a crane. A few experienced crew members with chain saws and the tree would be gone, and the house still intact.

 

[irvingj]

Glad no one was in the house at the time.

Gee, it's handy that the helpful neighbors live so close, isn't it?

Each to his/her own, but I just don't think I could live in a place with other houses that close.

 

[dmccarty]

...
Each to his/her own, but I just don't think I could live in a place with other houses that close.

I think the closeness of the houses is why the crane was brought in to remove the tree. The houses don't appear to have much room between the houses/fences.

It is funny what the definition of "close" is and how it changes. Our nearest neighbors are at least 1/4 mile away and that is about right though if they were farther away that would not be bad either. But not closer. The other "neighbor" is about 1/4 mile away through the woods and is a church. I can hear them on some nights. They need to be farther away. Music is too loud.

We visited family a few weeks back who live in a small town. Their house and the neighbors have pretty good separation of 100 feet or so but that was too close for me. Our city house was built back in the 70s so it was not built like todays houses on zero lot lines. We had about 20 feet between houses. Which was pretty good for the price of our house.

Later,
Dan