Mega Tree Tear Down

[Mark Showalter]

I spent the day tearing down my first year display. I wasn't looking forward to the task and was a bit depressed about the season coming to an end. As I was in the front yard for about 8 hours many of my neighbors were out on walks taking advantage of the cold but sunny day. Every single one of them that passed by made one comment or another about how great the lights were. Of course no one offered to help with the tear down. But it was nice to hear.

Which brings me to my question... Does anyone know the trick to getting a mega tree support pole (two ten foot sections of 1-1/4 inch water pipe) with winch, guy wires and 3D star out of a two foot flag pole foundation hole and safely down on the ground? Every time I get this thing lifted up the top starts to sway so bad I'm afraid it's going to go through the window in the front of the house. That would make it a bit harder to lobby for a bigger display next year. Even if I had 3 or 4 more guys there's only so much room around the pole to add support.

[cmoore60]

My mega tree trunk is a full 21 foot length of 1 1/4 pipe. My set up sounds very much like yours. So far every year my wife and I take the trunk down alone.

Once you get the thing lifted to the ground level you need to rest it on the ground and steady it. This is where my wife comes in place. Her job is to stand on the base of the pipe and make sure it does not come off the ground. I then simply walk the pole down. Once it is down so far the center of gravity will shift and don't have to worry about the base flying up and the pole getting out of control.

Care and thought goes a long way.

Chuck

[Tim Fischer]

Mark Showalter wrote:

I spent the day tearing down my first year display. I wasn't looking forward to the task and was a bit depressed about the season coming to an end. As I was in the front yard for about 8 hours many of my neighbors were out on walks taking advantage of the cold but sunny day. Every single one of them that passed by made one comment or another about how great the lights were. Of course no one offered to help with the tear down. But it was nice to hear.

Which brings me to my question... Does anyone know the trick to getting a mega tree support pole (two ten foot sections of 1-1/4 inch water pipe) with winch, guy wires and 3D star out of a two foot flag pole foundation hole and safely down on the ground? Every time I get this thing lifted up the top starts to sway so bad I'm afraid it's going to go through the window in the front of the house. That would make it a bit harder to lobby for a bigger display next year. Even if I had 3 or 4 more guys there's only so much room around the pole to add support.

Assuming you have some guy wires now, get a few extra people and have them hold the guy wires to keep tension on them and keep it from falling over until you're ready to gently set it down...

[Mark Showalter]

Excellent ideas!

Thank you both.