I’ve been renting this house for a little while now, and I’m starting to get a bit concerned about the integrity of the roof. Over the past few days of heavy rain, a few leaks have sprung up – actually, there are more leaks than I have buckets and saucepans to place under them. It seems like there’s probably some pretty bad damage going on, and my nervousness around this is compounded by the fact that the old eucalyptus tree in the backyard has a huge branch hanging out directly over my bedroom.
I can’t believe I haven’t noticed it before. I can’t see what’s going on that clearly, but I suspect the branch might have actually started to break off and is currently propped up on a couple of other branches. If my suspicion is correct, then that’s a real worry, and I kind of want to get it checked out immediately if I’m going to be sleeping in that room! I wonder if there are any arborists in the Ashwood area that will come out on a Sunday?
I emailed my real estate agent about it the other day, but she hasn’t responded (as usual). As a rental tenant, I shouldn’t really have to take this matter into my own hands, but I might at least seek some professional advice as to whether this is, in fact, deadwood that needs to be removed for safety reasons. I’m not very familiar with the rules around tree pruning in Caulfield, or the finer points of how the operation works. But I would think that a professional tree surgeon would be able to assess the level of threat presented by a given branch.
All other things aside, I’m curious as to whether such an assessment can be made from ground level, given that I personally can’t make out what’s going on from down here. It’s a pretty freaking tall tree, and I’m interested to see what’s involved in climbing it. What’s more, I’m particularly keen to satisfy my curiosity if the property owner is footing the bill.