A blessing in disguise?

[highskies]

If I didn't have a C Band dish up, this would be another story. For the longest my neighbor's tree has been affecting my reception from 105 eastward, Only in the winter could I tune any signals east of 105W.

Last night around 3 am lightening hit 3 major branches on that tree. And did these offending branches fall from the tree? You bet they did. But where did they fall? Right on top of our roof. One of these limbs must be at least 20 foot long, and huge in diameter. I have no clue what kind of damage has been done to the roof yet, because these branches are still on the roof and will require a chainsaw to remove them. But I don't own a chainsaw. That's the bad part, which could even be worse when we finally find a way to remove these branches, and then discover the real damage underneath. And to make matters worse, no home owners insurance to cover any of this. Times have been tough the past cpl of years, and we had to cut back on some things, insurance being one of them.

But...being that I'm a person with a BUD, there is at least a bright side to this. I now have a clear shot of the arc from AMC 7 to 87 W. The first thing I did was see if I could find anything east of 105 W. Everything popped in from that location to 87 W. MeTv and ThisTv scanned in at 87w. Had never been able to get a thing at 87W, not even in the winter when the leaves were gone. Then I tried 91W. I did a scan, and the CWs popped in like a charm. I had never been able to tune those in either, even tho I could tune the Catholic Chs in the winter, but that was about it. Also before last night, I couldn't get a single thing at 103W. I lost all those signals when the leaves started blooming again. Now all those signals are back. Really strange how my prayers finally got answered, in relation to that tree. But I just wish they hadn't got answered the hard way, where most of the offending tree falls on your roof. And like I implied...if I weren't a BUD owner, there would be no blessing in disguise to speak of.

 

[cyberham]

Some make lemon-aid when given lemons. But you really should re-consider insurance for situations where a catastrophic outcome is possible if you don't have it.

 

[ScotSat]

I have a better one, my wife has lived in this home for 50 years, there was a HUGE Fir tree in the next door yard most all that time..... been there as long as she can remember.

I was on the roof, trying to get some European feeds, and found the problem to be the tree.......

I CURSED that tree, and the 50 years it had been there. Got home from work the next day and the tree was gone : )

(Someone cut it down as too large I guess)

I better beware of what/who I curse from now on, somebody DOWN there likes me.

 

[gabshere]

Yes don't sell the damage short. Even if it looks like none is present. I know this from a past ice storm & a tree branch.
Next don't assume it isn't covered just because you don't have insurance, check with your neighbor (with the damaged tree) most insurance companies will pay for cleanup of a damaged tree especially one that has caused damage to a fence or house. And i don't know, even though it was an act of nature maybe his insurance would cover your damage done from his tree. You won't know unless you ask.

i wouldn't go at it like trying to place blame just questioning your options / solutions for fixing damage.

 

[osu1991]

I would definitely file a claim with your neighbors insurance company. Even though it was an act of nature, your neighbor and their insurance company, has some liability.

edit: The worst the adjusters are going to say is no, just remind them you were a fault-free party and check what the joint and several laws are for your state. You can check around for independent adjusters too, they can handle the claims process for you, if its something you might feel overwhelmed with.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I would definitely file a claim with your neighbors insurance company. Even though it was an act of nature, your neighbor and their insurance company, has some liability.

What he said!

Most insurance companies will send you a check to avoid legal action in saying that the neighbor didn't take proper care of the tree.

 

[ZandarKoad]

I hate insurance with a fervent zeal, so I would buy a chainsaw, cut it down, and fix my own roof n less time than it would take the adjusters to show up.

But I'm crazy like that, so do what the other guys said.

Also, House > TV. You are VERY optimistic!

 

[highskies]

Since posting this earlier, I have found someone with a chainsaw, and it didn't cost me a dime for them to clean this up. The mess is off my roof now. And here's the good part..absolutely no damage to the roof. At least none any of us could spot. This really turned out great then. When this happened last night, this frightened my wife and I to where we left the house for a cpl of hours, until the threat of the storm seemed past. Now I have a clear shot all the way to 87W. I haven't tried east of that tho. I would love to at least see to 72W, but I think some other tree is problematic for that bird. It's really weird how this happened. The only tree in the neighborhood damaged last night, and it happened to be the tree that blocked a good percentage of my signals. I just got done watching an hour of Seinfeld on one of the CWs @ 91W. There's like 5 or 6 CW feeds on there it seems. Never knew that. And who says lightning can't be your friend sometimes?

 

[xtgold]

his tree his insurance should cover it.
I wouldn't have touched anything until the insurance guy looked at it.
I have lightning rods on the house and lightning has hit everything else very close, but not the house.
A tree next to it about 1/2 as high as the house and then again years later between the tree and house.
So lightning doesn't always go for the highest object.

 

[osu1991]

I would take a look in your attic. There could be cracked decking under the shingles or cracked or weakened framing. Those limbs can hit with a lot of force

Sent from my Toshiba Thrive

 

[sergei]

I would definitely file a claim with your neighbors insurance company. Even though it was an act of nature, your neighbor and their insurance company, has some liability.

The odds of getting any thing is highly remote because they will call it “Acts of God" and unless the tree was neglected, dead or otherwise sickly they'll deny the claim and tell you to have your own insurance cover the damage minus your deductible. Years ago I had a 65 foot tower and my neighbor was worried about it falling so I ask my insurance company about what would happen if it fell on my neighbors house and was told that unless I failed to secure it correctly it would be consisted and ACT of God and that person insurance homeowners policy would have to pay for any damage to his house. Didn't make my neighbor happy!

 

[osu1991]

The odds of getting any thing is highly remote because they will call it ?Acts of God" and unless the tree was neglected, dead or otherwise sickly they'll deny the claim and tell you to have your own insurance cover the damage minus your deductible. Years ago I had a 65 foot tower and my neighbor was worried about it falling so I ask my insurance company about what would happen if it fell on my neighbors house and was told that unless I failed to secure it correctly it would be consisted and ACT of God and that person insurance homeowners policy would have to pay for any damage to his house. Didn't make my neighbor happy!

I work claims every day. There would more than likely be coverage. Act of god is mainly applied to natural disasters. A single tree wouldn't qualify and depending on the State, joint and several liability would come into play. They would more than likely pay just to keep it from going to court as being a property damage case all legal fees are also recoverable. They would rather pay a few thousand to repair a roof than risk paying tens of thousands in legal fees.

Insurance companies are cheap. You wouldn't believe the excuses I get everyday as reasons to not pay a claim. You just have to know the correct response. I am in the enviable position in that all my clients are 99.9% of the time "fault-free" when it involves property damage and I can recover from any negligible party as long as I can prove 1% negligience.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[turbosat]

Glad you got help with it, and hope there wasn't any unseen damage. I suppose you'll know next time it rains hard, 20' branch would have had some heft to it, if it fell very far.

 

[guacharaca]

Be sure to explain to the neighbor that the tree needs to be cut off at the base so that it can never harm your roof again....and your bud needs the fresh air from the east.

 

[sergei]

Be sure to explain to the neighbor that the tree needs to be cut off at the base so that it can never harm your roof again....and your bud needs the fresh air from the east.

What he need's to do is buy some insurance to cover his property and protect his investment, next time it might be a fire or straight line winds.

 

[sergei]

Act of god is mainly applied to natural disasters.

This I would have to disagree on as: Natural phenomena in the insurance industry means any naturally occurring event, including:

• Weather-related events, such as hurricanes, tornados, severe winds, hail, lightning and floods

Just for the fun of it I called my agent this morning and ask him the same question and his answer was ...No Way would the company pay. And the bottom line, unless you have a lot of money to fight them your wasting your time.

 

[xtgold]

What he need's to do is buy some insurance to cover his property and protect his investment, next time it might be a fire or straight line winds.

or some kid gets hurt and the parents sue
I would never let insurance lapse or even try changing companies for a cheaper rate.

 

[osu1991]

This I would have to disagree on as: Natural phenomena in the insurance industry means any naturally occurring event, including:

• Weather-related events, such as hurricanes, tornados, severe winds, hail, lightning and floods

Just for the fun of it I called my agent this morning and ask him the same question and his answer was ...No Way would the company pay. And the bottom line, unless you have a lot of money to fight them your wasting your time.

FYI your agent is not the one going to make that decision, the district claims manager and regional vp are, plus the State Insurance Commission is going to get involved if they try to claim act of god/natural disaster. Joint and Several liability will come into play and any attorney would jump on that too, if an insurance company tried to deny a claim on that basis to a single "fault-free" party.

Just because it is defined, doesn't mean it is easily used. We have 3 insurance companies leaving the State in July because they can't continue to cover the recent "natural acts of god" in Oklahoma the past 2 years. I personally did $500,000 in claims for one company from the tornadoes, straight line winds, and softball size hail damage in Woodward, OK a few weeks ago.

Like I said, you have to know the proper response and don't take an easy no, for an answer, that is what they want. The OP is happy to have his roof cleared, so we can all move on now.

 

[radio]

I hope this works out well for our thread author.

All I can offer is what some others have implied, "hang in there" and be polite, factual, and persistent. When our radio station got hit by lightning in 2005, the local agency agreed that something had to be done, but the adjuster was less than convinced. We ended up agreeing to the insurance company calling in a disinterested 3rd party (expert not associated with either of us us) to look-at the situation which revealed that yes, the old transmitter could be fixed, but would never be RIGHT again and may invite future claims! Insurance bought us a $45k transmitter for the cost of a$1500 combination of a deductible and a very large "spike protection" box big enough to handle the new box! It took time and persistence, but it paid off in the long run for us, and...in ZERO future claims of that type for now 7 years to the insurance company!

Insurance is one payment each month I'm HAPPY to write.

(the story here) Perhaps of no help, perhaps a bit of help to someone in the future!

Again, good luck.

 

[highskies]

Here's the deal, one reason why I don't want to start anything with my neighbors. About a year or so ago the former owners of the home where the tree sits, they sold the home. So the new owner is over there painting it to his likings, etc. He didn't buy this home for himself, but bought it to rent out to his brother and family who couldn't afford to buy a home themselves. We noticed that he was going across the street a lot and borrowing buckets of water from one of the neighbors. I told my wife, tell him we have a spicket outside and he's welcome to use whatever water he needed. He must have been grateful, because I started talking to him a week or so after that, and mentioned my BUD and how his tree was blocking a lot of my signals. He told me had a chainsaw with an extension and he would bring it the next day if I could help by showing which branches, and help guide a rope he would lasso around the limbs first, to avoid hitting either of our houses. I said I would.

So the next day he comes over. All of the offending branches were mainly on the west side of the tree, which were blocking my signals beginning around 105W. So we got a bunch of them down without any issues. I told him I wanted to go over and check my signals, since I was parked @ 101W at the time. It helped. Some of the feeds were coming in, but not all of them. So now we're looking at this next branch. He started shaking his head. He asked me if I really wanted to continue, since he felt it would be unsafe and may hit our home. So I decided to take his advice and call it quits while we were ahead. Ironically this is one of the very limbs the lightning hit the other night, the limb that was about 20 foot long or longer. Yep, he was right, it would have hit our home had we tried to cut it down that time.

So my point is, this new owner was willing to go the extra mile with me. And since nothing seems damaged on our roof or in the attic, then I see no reason to cause hard feelings between this new owner and I. Even tho this scared the hell out of me at the time, I'm happy as hell, and couldn't be happier, the fact I can now see from AMC 7 to at least 87W. Still haven't tried east of that yet. I would celebrate and get drunk if I were a drinker. But like I said in the beginning, it's only because I'm a BUD owner that something good has come out of this. Of course it hasn't started raining since those limbs were removed. If things start leaking I might I not feel as happy about things. But I don't expect any leaks. But you never know I guess, until it starts to rain again, in which, rain is in the forecast for the next several days. So I guess I'm going to find out soon enough.