We had a total of 8 trees cleared by Yellow Ribbon Tree Experts.
Despite a high wind advisory – we seldom have even a breeze here – and at or below freezing temperatures, the guys soldiered through the process and you can see that the back yard is now a much more open space.
We had two motivations for clearing the trees that we did. One was to reduce the possibility of a tree falling onto the Lanai, the other is to remove trees that would be susceptible to dying when we spread some of the earth that we will be removing from the dig area throughout the back yard.
The original conception for our lanai included a retaining wall that would step up to a maximum of about 7 feet in the North West corner. We were concerned that this would become a focus of the pool area rather than merely a supporting structure.
After much discussion, Rich (of DC Enclosures) came back with a suggestion to essentially re-sculpt the back yard to lower the actual hill. The excess dirt would be distributed around the lower back yard and will result in a much more level back yard. This newly leveled area then becomes what we will be seeing as we look beyond the pool.
Our view from the kitchen is now much clearer, I’ve never had such a clear view of the backyard neighbor’s house
The view from the lanai is now much less cluttered
While I wasn’t really focused on the trees for my “before” pictures for contrast here is the area near the shed before
and after
My only real regret is that our Redbud tree had to go. We planted that a few years ago, long before we ever conceived of this pool project. It used to be within the semi-circular retaining wall near the center of both pictures above.