Tree Removal in Alpharetta, GA

Tree removal on a North Fulton lot is a planning job before it is a cutting job. A 90-foot loblolly pine standing beside a two-story house cannot be felled in one piece, so it comes down in sections: limbs first, then lengths of trunk, each one either dropped into a clear space or lowered on a rope. What the tree stands over, the slope of the yard, and whether the wood is still sound decide how a removal is done and how long it takes. In Alpharetta, the permit question comes first.

The Alpharetta permit step

The City of Alpharetta requires review of tree removals through its Community Development Department and city arborist. The online application asks for the diameter of each tree measured at breast height, which the city says must be measured rather than estimated, plus a sketch that numbers each tree and shows the house and driveway. If you have an HOA, the form asks for that approval too. Dead trees on single-family detached lots and trees posing imminent danger have been exempt, and replanting may be required for living trees that come out. During our visit we measure the trees in question and tell you which ones are likely to need review, so your application is complete the first time.

Trees that usually need to go

Some removals are clear: a pine killed by beetles, an oak with a hollow base or fungus growing from the root flare, a trunk with a fresh crack, or a tree with a new lean and heaved soil on one side. Others are a judgment call. A healthy willow oak lifting the driveway, a sweetgum shading out the lawn, or a tulip poplar that drops limbs on the roof every summer might be solved by pruning instead. We tell you what we see and give you both options when both make sense.

Dead pines move to the front of the line

Pines killed by Ips engraver beetles dry out quickly. The wood loses strength, branches snap without much warning, and climbing or rigging the tree gets riskier the longer it stands. The Georgia Forestry Commission notes that once beetle symptoms show, a pine cannot be saved with insecticides. If a dead pine is within reach of the house, a deck or a play area, we recommend taking it out soon instead of waiting for winter.

Slopes, clay and access

Many Alpharetta backyards drop off toward a creek or a wooded buffer, and the red clay underneath turns slick and soft after rain. That affects where a crew can set up, whether a lift can reach the tree, and where logs can land without rutting the yard. We plan the route in and out, the drop zone, and how wood will be carried up the slope. Sometimes a crane is the safest way to remove a tree that leans over the house with no clear ground beside it.

What happens to the wood

You choose: logs left in rounds or cut to firewood length, or everything hauled away; brush chipped and the chips left for beds or removed. Emerald ash borer was first found in Georgia in 2013 in Fulton and DeKalb counties, and state foresters ask people not to move firewood, so wood from your yard is best kept local. Stump grinding is quoted as a separate line so you can decide.