All of what you said, a crying shame. Did he see anything wrong with the tree or was it just the force of nature? I’m always interested in how trees as big and as old as yours can become uprooted like that. I’m trying to learn about trees so I can know what’s going on around me. I’ve had my share of tree damage, luckily two lightweight poplars (75-90’ tall) crashed down. One on my fence, the other on the corner of my house only denting the gutter. I was able to replace a couple of fence panels. Does your coverage include the contents of your shed (I hope)? That’s a lot of valuable and useful stuff to lose. And I’m so sorry about your garden. You think it can come back once the tree is removed?
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Heehee, no idea what that is but it sounds like a good thing 
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At least it’s a good one. I’ve done similar more than once. Now when I check out I scour my order for mess ups. I don’t trust myself.
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It was both, for the prior week we had a lot of rain, the night before we had a huge torrential downpour so the ground was thoroughly saturated. The tree itself was fairly healthy except the root structure has been deteriorating for many years and it just couldn’t hold it up any longer.
The insurance adjuster has already approved the shed, multiple tree removals, all the contents of the shed, and the garden.
Again more positive coming from the situation.
Thank you for your thoughts and support @muth this is such a good community and my thanks go out to everyone here!
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It’s a wood burning fireplace insert
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So glad to hear that. The liable insurance company regarding my shed refuses to send an adjuster and offered $1500 off the cuff! Mind you, this is a custom built wood shed. Not big (8x8) but I had just spent $2650 to have a new roof put on it using PVC for all the trim, eaves, etc. It looked beautiful when finished. Two contractors said the same thing, it would cost the same to replace it as it would to repair. The foundation was compromised. The insurance co. then offered around $5100. Still not cutting it. There’s the cost of demolition and laying down a gravel pad which it really needs with all the flooding we get here. So, the fight goes on…
Root structure can be effected by so many things. Could have been more than one thing happening to the roots. You would have to be a tree surgeon to know what’s going on. That’s why I’m trying to learn just a little bit so I can hopefully spot danger before it happens.
I found Turpentine Beetles on a Yellow Pine recently (not my property) but I’m going to keep an eye on it to see what happens. I learned that pines produce sap as a beetle deterrent and sure enough, one day I noticed the tree had sap running down it’s bark because I leaned against it and got it all over my hair 
gotta be the best glue nature can make.
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That is outstanding @TimWV. Glad to hear it, and I hope the smooth sailing continues for you, to make it as easy, as it can be. Again, very glad your house, and no ONE, was hurt or injured.
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I had a friend who got a Quadra, and he swore it would run a fire like the third plane of Hell !!!
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EXACT same situation Tim.
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Without question it burns fantastic, the blower fan is imo a tad underpowered but not drastically so. I love the automatic combustion control, will keep a fire going for 6+ hours on one load if you’re using well seasoned hardwood, it heats the entire first floor of the house no problem. One extra I did splurge on was upgrading to an insulated chimney liner and an iron block off plate to seal the open air space around the chimney liner in the flue. All in all a great investment.
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Having to find a contractor for each step of my project. Demo the old shed, find a new shed, find someone who lays down gravel pads. Just now I talked to a contractor that will demolish/haul away AND lay down a gravel pad. Let’s hope the price is right. Now I need two more quotes for a shed and my work is done for awhile.
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When I built my shed I didn’t lay a gravel pad. I put down cinder blocks to level the shed and then built a pressure treated box to carry the floor joists and decking. Still standing 15 years later.
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I’ll mention that to my contractor, thx rcleven. Gravel pads seem to be the best affordable way to go around here. The cinder blocks will lay on top of the pad. We have a flooding problem here and so far, most builders have said it would be a wise thing to do. The shed company does include cinder blocks and they said they will be placed to support the floor of the shed. I don’t even like talking about it much because I loved my old shed and hate to see it demolished. I’m going to get one more opinion to see if it’s worth repairing vs demo. Two contractors said the foundation was compromised. One said it could be repaired. I have someone coming over who specializes in foundations so I’ll be curious as to what he says.
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The gravel pad is a old hold over from deck building. It’s put down over a plastic sheet to stop weed growth. It does nothing for a foundation. The foundation is or should be a 4X4 post buried below frost line (48 inches where I live. Code is by county or town where you live). Now days they drill a hole and put in sonotubes filled with concrete and place the 4X4 on the concrete.
My shed is sitting on top of a corner of my septic tank and I wasn’t going to move my septic tank. LOL
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That’s how my neighbor did his. He also added gravel underneath to keep down vegetation I’m guessing. He had quite a slope to build on. I have a bit of a slope too but not much.
Sounds like something Homer Simpson would do and then you know what happens next.
I wish my nephew lived closer. He would help me with this. Maybe even build it himself. You’re so fortunate to have those skills.
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@rcleven you mean in 15 years the cinder blocks didn’t start sinking into the soil? That was my concern over here because everything eventually gets swallowed up by the soil, rock garden walls, flagstone steps (unless you lay down sand and crushed stone underneath them). patio pavers, etc.
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Lived in my house for 49 years. Everything has settled in that time. Nothing has changed where the shed sits. Your soil , sounds like it’s kind of swampy where you live. Mine is on sitting on the edge an of my septic field all stone surrounding the tile. My excess water perks to the surface then evaporates.
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Sure is. The Boston area is marshland. " more than 5,000 acres of man-made land". Basically, we live on landfill. My house is situated in “a bowl” and the old timers say there was a small skating pond where our structure is. Sounds to me like the developers filled in the “pond” area and built on it. If you stand from afar it looks like the structure is sitting on a small island. Here’s what it looks like on my side of the structure when it rains.
The people living in the condo building next door get pretty pissed off when it rains and they can’t get to their cars without wading through water. Recently, the end of my fence fell down because the post was sitting in mud. The owner has been served a warning from inspectional services to improve his drainage system in the parking lot. After a real heavy rainfall I’ve seen it take up to 2-3 days for the water to dissipate. It’s a mosquito nightmare in the warm weather.
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Holy shit @muth, that’s some standing water. If you have T1-11 on that shed, or any other wood, it’s going to be tough to stop the rot. It depends how long you want your shed to last, and how much effort you want to put into it. I’m OCD, and would add a crap ton of fill, maybe even do that, and then add an elevated pad to keep it above/out of the water.
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