Trees in Your Yard Can Be A Major Problem with Thomas Hall

February 6, 2024

121.  Trees in Your Yard Can Be A Major Problem with Thomas Hall

In this podcast episode, delve into the intricacies of tree management with Tampa's renowned tree expert, Thomas Hall. Thomas shares invaluable insights into the significant impact trees have on property safety and legal compliance. From dispelling common myths to navigating pruning protocols, he provides actionable advice for maintaining healthy, compliant greenery.

Explore the risks associated with encroaching branches and roots, and understand the importance of adhering to local regulations. Thomas emphasizes collaboration with utility companies for safe tree removal and discusses the implications of trees near power lines.

Additionally, uncover the often-overlooked consequences of trees planted too close to structures, including property damage and insurance considerations. Thomas's expertise extends beyond tree care, addressing broader implications of tree ownership and liability.

For property owners and garden enthusiasts, this episode offers essential knowledge to ensure the health, safety, and legal compliance of your trees.

Here’s how you can follow or reach Thomas Hall:

Website: https://www.hhenvironmentalfl.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hhenvironmental2/ 

Important information from Homeowners Be Aware:

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Website: https://homeownersbeaware.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-siegal/

If you'd like to reach me for any reason, here's the link to my contact form:

https://homeownersbeaware.com/contact

Here's the link to the trailer for the documentary film I'm making: Built to Last: Buyer Beware.

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Thanks for listening!

Transcript

George Siegal: 0:00

How much do you know about the trees in and around your yard? Can they cause damage, falling on your house, or have roots that grow under the house and damage your foundation? What about your neighbor's trees that ultimately could end up in your yard? We are going to discuss all of those things and more today with Thomas Hall, a Tampa tree expert, who shares important information that could save your house from major damage. I'm George Siegal, and this is Homeowners Be Aware the podcast that teaches you everything you need to know about being a homeowner. Thomas, thank you so much for joining me today. It's nice to be joined, yeah, and I really enjoyed meeting you. You came out to my house to look at a grand oak in front of my house and it just got me thinking. A lot of people have trees, but I don't think they put a lot of thought into how that tree incorporates to the safety of their house. How big a deal is that?

Thomas Hall: 1:01

Well, really, according to what type of tree it is, george. So this is a live. Oaks are much safer than laurels, which are much safer than that. So the type of tree matters, and also proximity to the home matters. You don't want a tree that's too close to your home from not only the root invasiveness but the ability for the tree to drop a large limb on it.

George Siegal: 1:23

Now we see this a lot in hurricanes, and it's not just Florida, it's anywhere. And as you get up to the northern part of Florida, up to the panhandle, there's a lot more trees, and all those trees are over houses. If you have a forest surrounding your house, what can you do about it?

Thomas Hall: 1:40

Well, the main thing is make the proper pruning cuts of the limbs that are over your house, or limbs that are over what they call overextended. An overextended limb is when you look at the tree and there's always one limb that might be way longer than all the rest and that limb is considered overextended. Reducing it, reduction, pruning it so it's not overextended would make it less likely that that limb will snap off and fall on your home.

George Siegal: 2:09

So what is the tree etiquette? So I could do all that to my house. And then my neighbor has a 30 foot pine tree or trees that are really out of control. How do I handle somebody else's trees?

Thomas Hall: 2:24

Well, that's really kind of, I guess, is particular to where you are in the state of Florida. The Florida law stipulates that if a tree's limbs kind of like an invisible fence that goes all the way in the sky, if a tree's limbs are overextended on your property, you have the right to prune that tree to keep it from impeding on your property. You also have the right to prune the roots if the roots are causing damage to your property. The question is how much of that pruning should you do? And that's when you should contact your tree professional, because if you were to cut all the roots that were coming under the fence towards your house and you cut all those roots, you could affect the stability of that tree to make it more likely to fall on your neighbor's home.

George Siegal: 3:11

Yeah, as you told me, with the grand oak that's in front of my house, you can't just hack off a big limb either. So if I have a neighbor that has a huge limb that's coming over my house and I cut it, I could completely mess up the tree. That way too, can I?

Thomas Hall: 3:25

Correct, because when you're making a pruning cut on a hardwood tree, george, when you're cutting a tree, you have to what they call make a proper pruning cut, which is the branch collar, where it comes and attaches to the limb if there is no other limb on it that you can cut it back to. So you just can't cut a tree, a limb in the middle somewhere, and just hack it, because then the tree will have a wound that will not encapsulate. Because here's some good information for all your listeners Trees don't heal themselves. I know you've heard it, and heard it, and heard it, and that is absolutely false. Hardwood trees cannot heal themselves. Hardwood trees, and especially oaks, which are great encapsulars, they're more like a Tupperware Bowl. They encapsulate and hold the decay in place so it doesn't spread. So bad cuts, as they call them, will tend to not encapsulate, which means they can get disease, insect presence, and then you start having more issues.

George Siegal: 4:28

Yeah, you actually laughed at me when I told you how I lived in Texas for a number of years and they would just cut off the limbs and then paint it. That doesn't work, does it?

Thomas Hall: 4:37

No, it doesn't work. Because once you paint a wound the exterior is covered but the interior forms the cellular walls it needs. So when a tree is cut properly it will form cellular walls 3, 4, and 5, that kind of hold the decay, looking like almost in cone shape, and those walls will hold the decay in place so it doesn't spread through the tree. When you paint it, the exterior might be covered but the interior then never forms those walls so the decay starts spreading inside the tree. So painting is not recommended, especially by Eiffus here in the state of Florida, our friends the Gators. They do not recommend that practice.

George Siegal: 5:20

Now, tampa is a very tree-friendly community and that it's not easy to cut down trees here. So if you have a tree in your yard, that's kind of ticking you off or not doing what you want it to do, you really can't just take it down, can you?

Thomas Hall: 5:34

No, any tree over four inches is what they call DBH, and that's diameter at breast height. So basically, take the circumference divided by 3.4, you're going back to seventh grade. It's divided by 3.4, get with your spy and that will take the DBH. If the DBH is less than four, yes, you can remove it. If it's greater than four, then no, you cannot. So even if you planted it, you can't just remove it.

George Siegal: 6:00

So when I see an older house get torn down, say in South Tampa or other parts of the city, and all of a sudden the lot is completely empty, how did they get permission to do that? Is it very easy to knock down a palm tree, you don't need any blessing. I mean, how does a builder just clear a lot and then start with a clean slate?

Thomas Hall: 6:18

Well, no, it's not easy just to take down a palm tree. Palm trees only queen palms in Tampa can be removed without a permit. You're Washingtonians, which are just a weed. You know any of the other palms that are larger than 4. Dbh cannot be removed. Anda stable palm is the state tree, so they do take quite a problem with you if you do. Now, how people get them removed really comes down to will the trees that are left impede the building of the new structure? And can that structure be moved, turned, whatever, so that they can save the trees? If it's deemed you can't, then you have to go through a process called variance review, the variance review board, and it's not a guarantee that you're going to get the trees out. So before you invest in a lot, it's always good to contact a professional to see if there's an opportunity to get those trees out.

George Siegal: 7:17

Yeah, there was this one lot it was like Sherwood Forest out there and now the lot is completely there of trees. And then I know people that have bought houses where there was a tree in the backyard and they wanted to put a pool in and they couldn't get rid of the tree. So you really do have to put some thought into that, don't you?

Thomas Hall: 7:33

Yes, and pools are never reason for the city of Tampa to give you a reason to take the tree down. The tree needs to be a hazard. So if you do have a tree issue, you keep in your mind as you speak it's a hazard, it's a hazard, it's a hazard, it's a hazard, and never mention I need a pool, because if you do, and there's nothing wrong with the tree, it is never coming down.

George Siegal: 7:57

And what are the people that are like that make these decisions? Is it a bunch of scientists sitting in a room? Is it just a bunch of other homeowners? Is it a bunch of frustrated tree huggers that just hate everybody that wants to take down a tree? Who are we dealing with down there?

Thomas Hall: 8:08

Well, at the city you're dealing with Arborists who really have a code that was done by the Board of County Commissioners and they have to stick to the code. And because Tampa's a tree city and we're not the only one not only is Tampa a tree city, but there's a probably 50, 60 municipalities in Florida that are tree cities, some even harder to get a tree out than we are. They don't allow you to take them out except if the tree is a hazard and or so when you're looking at a tree, they're looking at doesn't have a target what type of tree is it? And a target is something like a home. A home's a target, A parking area is a target, Power lines are targets or streets those are targets. And if it has a target and it's leaning towards that target, it's more than likely to hit it.

Thomas Hall: 9:00

So you get points one through four. If it's a four means the target is non-movable. If it was like a children's play set, you could move the play set, but if it's the only area the kids had to play, then it would be. There's always a target. So that determines, along with the species, and you know, if there's any disease to the tree, like mistletoe. Mistletoe is a disease. Most people use it to get kisses, but with a tree it's almost like skin cancer. It works to weaken the joints to make it more likely to drop limbs.

George Siegal: 9:37

And what about those trees that we see, the oaks that have all the moss on them? Is that bad for the tree?

Thomas Hall: 9:43

Well, moss in itself is not bad for trees. That's a misconception. Moss is just an air plant. It does nothing to the tree, except in this one case If a tree has a ton of moss that impedes photosynthesis, and so like back to 7th grade again. If it impedes photosynthesis so that the leaves can't, you know, go through the process of creating energy for the tree, then moss becomes a danger. I never recommend trimming a tree or just going in trying to pull the moss out. It's just going to attract more moss. So you really are not. It's just going to be an ongoing process, and to me it's a very expensive process for not good results.

George Siegal: 10:25

Is it like pulling out of gray hair. They say if you pull out one to grow back or something.

George Siegal: 10:28

Yeah you can keep doing it. It's going to keep coming back and I know I wasn't talking about you. I have more than my share Now. In my documentary film, the Last House Standing we talked to, we'd covered a lot of areas of the country and fire danger is a huge thing and defensible space around your house. Are you allowed to take trees out in creating a defensible space? Because, like across my backyard, there was a few big palm trees During one of the hurricanes, the lines were arcing and the fire department or the guy from the power company told me that could have caught on fire and burned my house down. So what is the boundary there?

Thomas Hall: 11:07

Well, in Tampa. That is not a reason to take a tree out. Now if a tree is touching the power lines, then you could call the power company and ask them to take the tree down because they have different rules. So if it was arching, causing a problem, you can do it. But if you can tell, when you have a palm that's really close to the power lines, you can see it gets burned or gets scorched. And if you see an oak tree that's touching it, it could have the.

Thomas Hall: 11:38

The problem that you could touch that tree in a tree was wet, that you could get arch or secondary you know burns from being, you know I hate to use the word electrocuted, but shocked from that. So you know that is a reason to then look at removing the limbs because it is a quote, unquote hazard, the law, basically there was a house bill 1159 that was passed by the governor a few years ago and the house and what that rule states is that if a tree is causing damage to your property or is a hazard to you or your family, you, the homeowner, could make the decision whether the tree stays or not, as long as either an arborist or an architectural designers said hey, this tree is a danger, and so if you can get them to sign off on it, then you would have the right to take the tree down for your safety.

George Siegal: 12:35

Now I would suggest to people that if you're going to have the power company do it, when those guys come out, they're not sending a stylist out there to trim your tree. They send people out that just butcher the hell out of it and don't really care. So it doesn't look so good when they're done.

Thomas Hall: 12:49

No, it doesn't. But their job is not to make it look good or to prune it correctly. Their job is to get the limbs off the power lines for keeping power on. So they look at it way different. They're not making proper collar cuts, they're not shaping the tree so it doesn't look misshapen, they're just going to hack it.

George Siegal: 13:10

Yeah, I would tell people. Though if you happen to be home when they're doing it, they are very nice and will cut a few extra things. So they're not there deliberately to butcher it. But again, they're not asking you how do you want this tree? So you've lost the power to tell them. Correct, yeah, so if I call the power company and said I wanted to get rid of that big oak in front of my house, they'll just come out and cut it down.

Thomas Hall: 13:31

No, not unless it was underneath the power line causing damage, they will not touch it, but you can. There are a lot of reasons that you could get a tree. One is it has inclusion, sunken areas, root system systems and Tampa Bay and a lot, actually a lot, of Florida and like Sarasota area. There is a good reason to keep a tree balanced and that reason is trees in Florida, especially in our area, don't fail because the tree just fails. It fails because it has a soil failure.

Thomas Hall: 14:08

The trees are not in the ground more than 24 inches deep. So when you're looking at a tree and you're close to a water source, the tree is normally only 24 inches deep because the tree can't breathe deep in 24 inches. So the tree is not putting tap roots down 60, 70 feet in the ground because it knows if it puts a tap root in it's, you know, let more than two feet probably going to run into water. And over time the trees have learned. So the trees are more you know their roots are on the surface. So when you cut roots for driveways, when roots are cut for streets, then you have the more likely chance that you'll have a total tree fall over. But it didn't fall because the tree fell. It fell over because the soil fell. It was unbalanced. So a unbalanced tree is by definition a hazard tree. So if the power company has been hacking a tree on one side and that tree is leaning towards your house, then by definition it's a hazard tree and that would be your reasoning for taking it out.

George Siegal: 15:10

Now when you do take out a tree or somebody takes out a tree next door to you and all those roots that went under your driveway or maybe went under your house and then those roots died, does that create something happening where the ground might sink? Because we had a couple pine trees on our driveway that were taken out before Hurricane Irma. They actually had died, but now the driveway has a little swells and sinking in it where the roots I was told the roots went under the driveway. Is that not true or does that cause problems down the road?

Thomas Hall: 15:39

That is a concern. Normally, when the tree is really close to your home, it can have bigger roots underneath the slab and that can create hollows. But more than likely what happens is the roots have gone underneath the slab and then water follows the path of least resistance. So the water's falling the roots underneath the slab and then you start getting moisture problems, your tile starts popping up, you start having problems underneath your flooring. So that's more of a reasoning. When you have a tree really close to your home. Anything closer than 10 feet is not good.

George Siegal: 16:15

But when you see sidewalks in neighborhoods that are out of whack or driveways that are out of whack, is that from roots, from trees?

Thomas Hall: 16:22

Yes, it is Most times, and if you can't just cut them, that's the whole. That's the thing is, because of the way the laws are written, you have to put so many trees in your yard and if you're putting the trees far enough away from your house so you don't have problems with them, but you still want some shade you're closer to the sidewalk or your road or your driveway, then as the tree grows, it starts creating another problem, which is it starts lifting your driveway, creating a trip and fall hazard, or it starts doing damage by the roadway which they've already cut those roots, which makes the tree a little more hazardous. That's why, when the storms come through, you see a lot of trees along roadways and sidewalks that fall over. It's cause of the roots again, and then you know the roots have been cut, for you know the sidewalks, but now the tree is not as balanced as it should be.

George Siegal: 17:14

I had a woman on my podcast gosh a year and a half ago who started an organization called Retree where they take trees that people don't want and they move them somewhere else. And they've found out that sometimes you have a tree that's worth thousands of dollars on your property that somebody else would pay you for, and then that tree can end up somewhere else. Is it easy to move trees? Oh no it's not.

Thomas Hall: 17:38

Now. If you have a tree spade and it's a truck that looks like some futuristic shovel, it goes around the tree with these like diamond shaped spades and it cuts deep into the ground and picks it up and there you know. But anytime you move a tree it's 50-50 with a survivor knife because it's going to go into shock initially and then you know, according to what you do with the soil to prep it, you can give it a little bit better than 50-50, but normally it's 50-50. So if you're going to buy a tree that you're transplanting like that, understand if you move 100 trees, probably 50 are going to die, normally, no matter how you're doing, even with a tree spade and getting a larger root ball than you normally would have. So it's a hard proposition. It's really kind of a neat program. But and then, once you get to a certain size tree, when you get past 10 dBH or that diamond at breast-sized, about 30 inches around, when you get to that level, moving trees is really hard and very expensive.

George Siegal: 18:52

Yeah, I think they were doing the more manageable ones, not the tree that's in front of my house. Now, when people are building a house or have workers at their house, taking care of that tree is pretty crucial, and we had an experience where they said they were taking care of it. I don't think they did anything. I heard they were dumping stuff out there and everything. I mean, these guys were not the brightest and the best, so you really have to take care of that space around the tree, don't you Correct?

Thomas Hall: 19:19

You don't want to come back to soil. You don't want people driving over the roots. That will also put the tree in decline and kill it. You don't want to build one of those beds. You know people put the the the paving stones around the tree, then they fill it with dirt and then they put plants on top of it and it's really pretty but it's actually suffocating the tree because, remember, trees can't breathe at the 24 inches. So when you throw another eight inches of dirt on top of the main part of the root plate, you're going to put them in, you know, in decline. Best thing to do is, if you're trying to protect the roots with construction, put a fence around it at least 10 feet away 15 would be preferable and put a couple inches of mulch in that area. So if somebody does kind of drive over, you know, the additional root plate out to maybe 20 feet, they're driving over the mulch and not actually compacting the soil into your For your tree.

George Siegal: 20:13

Now what about those guys that drive around neighborhoods and go door to door saying we're in the neighborhood, we're doing a bunch of trees, we're doing your neighbor blah, blah, blah and we can give you a deal Cutting back your tree? What should we be thinking about with that?

Thomas Hall: 20:27

First thing is are they true tree professionals? Or, as we call them, two chucks in a truck, or other people call them, two drunks in a truck. You can figure out what you want to do with. Now the main thing would be is, if they have workers comp, then I would. I would say, hey, they're probably good tree professionals. When you don't have workers comp and somebody gets hurt on your property, then you're going to become responsible. So what you know, some people say well, I have workers comp exempt. Yes, they, the worker is exempt from suing you, but that doesn't mean their family can't sue you. So it would be preferable to have them to have workers compensation. So if somebody gets hurt, it doesn't affect, you know, your, your family and your financial future.

George Siegal: 21:13

So how do you verify that? Like I could have a certificate that says I have insurance, that could have just downloaded it from the internet Would you recommend a homeowner actually call and make sure that policy is active before somebody climbs a high tree over their house?

Thomas Hall: 21:25

or starts cutting a branch over their house. Now they're going to have normally general liability insurance. General liability insurance right now is going up. It used to be a couple of thousand dollars now it's like five or six thousand dollars for general liability, so you know, for a million dollars. So policy, if they would have dropped the limb on, they would have the general liability. They just wouldn't have the workers comp, because workers comp for a small company is probably five to six thousand a month.

George Siegal: 21:50

Wow, yeah, and it's really important to find that out, because, although they may seem like great guys or hard workers and you feel like you're getting a good deal, everybody's nice until there's an accident, yes, yes, and then it can be a problem.

Thomas Hall: 22:03

There'll be a problem, or they get into a tree that they can't do with the equipment they have, and so what they do is they do about half of it, they get the deposit, do about half the tree, realize they can't do it and quit. And then you have to bring somebody in now, now, to do the hard part and get the tree out of there, because live oaks weigh 62 pounds per square foot of wood, laurel oaks are 52 to 54 pounds per square foot of wood. So a huge truck, like the tree in front of your house, just the trunk area from about 15 feet down, you know you're probably pushing eight tons of wood. So picking that up is just not done by hand, unless you cut it into smallest chunks you can. Normally you need, you know, larger equipment, bobcats and things of that nature to pick up that wood and get it out of your yard, because we always say it's easy to put it on the ground. It's getting it up. That's the problem.

George Siegal: 22:59

I also worry about if somebody's up there cutting it, first if they're actually walking on my tile roof and then, when they're cutting that tree, if that falls on the roof, that's a problem.

Thomas Hall: 23:09

That's a problem. That's a problem. And we normally don't recommend people working walking on you know, like the Spanish tile, unless they really know what they're doing. Because you will crack those Spanish tile. If you just regular you know three tabs of dimensional roofing, that's not a problem, you can walk on it, but still you have the opportunity that you could slip and fall off the roof and that's when the workers comp would come in. The general ability will only be when you know they put the wrong notch and drop the limb on your house or it swings.

Thomas Hall: 23:42

There's so many times. I think we always have to remember trees are living organisms and we always say trees can fight back. And what normally happens when you're cutting the tree, the limb can get caught by the wind and swing. And then you're talking about like a super, a super Mike Tyson punch hits you and knocks you off the roof. So being tied in having the correct kind of lift, having people certified and how to use those lifts and where to be so that the limb doesn't swing and knock them out of it. Are there power lines around? Service lines are still energized. So people say, well, that's just the telephone line. Yeah, but electricity pushes that telephone line, people still can get shocked and that shock can still knock them out of the tree. So people who are certified to work around power lines, is, you know, very particular, which you know company you use.

George Siegal: 24:40

And also how they put that bucket on your yard. They can cause damage to your driveway or different areas by how they brace that. When they go up there to cut the tree, can't they?

Thomas Hall: 24:50

Correct and correct. You know, always come to questions. We always ask is like people with trees in the backyard, which you were talking about, when you're in South Tampa and you're in the South Tampa and some areas they used to only be, they didn't have the water sewer line from the city. So Did somebody have an old septic tank in the bank? You always need to ask Cuz they could be driving back there with a bobcat and bobcat. So here, if it'll just crack and fall through which I've seen happen it's not pretty. And if you're in the lift and put down a Outrigger and then the limb was to fall onto that, it could crack the out. You know the the ground without rigour is if it's on top of the sewer system and topple the people over.

Thomas Hall: 25:38

So asking questions, that's how you know if you got true professionals. Hey, do you have septic? No, okay, is there anything back here I need to be concerned with? Was there a old pool here? You know things that you can just ask. So you know that people are thinking safety. They're thinking what can I do to be as safe as I can around your home is always good.

George Siegal: 25:58

Now when people are buying a house they bring in a home inspector. Sometimes they get termite inspections. Should they be bringing in a tree person to get an analysis of the safety of the trees around their house, cuz I don't know that a home inspector normally would bring the same game to that.

Thomas Hall: 26:15

Yes, I've actually worked with just recently a couple people in South Tampa where they brought me in to look at the trees To see what their future concerns could be. Or, if you know, in some cases I'm like, hey, there's you. Really, you know, for the next few years you should be in really good shape. And then there's trees. I see that you need to look at you know me moving this tree before you purchase the home, because this tree is gonna cause you a problem and also if the tree has been hacked. When a tree is wounded, it sends out pheromones and those pheromones attract termites and carverans. So if somebody has a hack tree close to your home and your home is a wood structure, it would tend to Bring more termites to the area than normal because the tree is wounded and the trees like hey, I'm wounded, you know, coming evening. So Making the proper collar cuts helps in that too.

Thomas Hall: 27:12

Cuts down on your termites and other insects. The big one we have here is squirrels and rats. Like to run up either palms or Oak limbs and they can get into your roof, into your attic. So you should never have a tree touching your roof. It should never be touching. You shouldn't be touching your house at all, because you also have subterranean termites That'll come up palms or come up retreat and touching your home, so you should always have everything it can be over your roof. It just can't be touching your roof and we recommend six feet.

Thomas Hall: 27:44

And the insurance company recommends at least that, or they will cancel your policy.

George Siegal: 27:48

Oh nice, because it's not like it's easy to get insurance, especially here in Tampa. If you had to give it like a number one advice for somebody when they're assessing trees in their yard, is there some takeaway advice that everybody should be thinking about? Hmm, you probably covered most of it with what you're saying, but would it be safety to the house? Would it be adjacent to power lines? I mean, if I'm just walking around looking at property, is there something that my eye might tell me? Okay, I need to get an expert out here.

Thomas Hall: 28:20

Yeah, if you see any type of decay or decline in the tree and what you'll see is when you really look at the tree and I tell people this all the time don't look at if the tree is green. Green means absolutely nothing Because just because and I tell people to compare it to you know these great athletes, like big athletes, they're in great physical shape, no body fat and fall dead of a heart attack. So green means nothing. It's the structure is. Is is the root plate like if you're an athlete you're standing and you have a Flare to the bottom of the root plate or is it sunk in on one side and leaning? Is the root mound coming up out of the ground? You know it. Does a tree have a lot of wounds but it hasn't been able to close them? So we know it's a low energy tree? So when you're looking, you're just looking for things that you would go. That doesn't look normal. And if you thought it didn't look normal, then probably call a tree professionally and to just do a quick review.

George Siegal: 29:21

And what's my liability if my tree falls on my neighbor's house? Am I responsible for that in Florida?

Thomas Hall: 29:27

as soon as it crosses your property line. You have no responsibility unless, unless you did something to the tree to make it unbalanced towards your neighbor, or your neighbor came to you with a letter, like they send you a formal letter through the, through the post office, that says I've been looking at your tree. I think it's hazardous. We had a tree professional tell us it was hazardous. Can you please do something with the tree? And then you know. If you get that letter, I would recommend to look and see if it's on the property line. Is it a shared tree where you can share the responsibility? Is it the trees green and healthy? If the trees green and healthy, then it's not foreseeable that the tree would do any damage to their home. So you probably wouldn't have any liability. But I would say take a, take a picture and tie you know time, date, stamp picture that the tree was healthy and you don't want to just take your tree down.

George Siegal: 30:24

Now we feel really fortunate that we have really nice neighbors that are easy to get along with. Not everybody is so lucky, and so there can be really nasty disputes over stuff like this, can't there?

Thomas Hall: 30:34

There have been and they are almost on a daily basis. In that case I would definitely consult a Tree professional. And if you have to cause tree professionals, just like me, we're not attorneys, I don't even play one on TV, so I do not recommend you take legal advice from a tree professional. But I will say that the tree professional classes we take as our brist does give us a good working knowledge of the basic law, of what we see as hazards and risk.

George Siegal: 31:07

I might have you out just to have a big guy standing next to me that's going to gonna defend me when my if my neighbors got out of line, because I saw that you do bodyguard work on the side at Gasparilla A lot of drunken young people out there. Did you do it recently and if so, what was it like?

Thomas Hall: 31:25

Well, I was working actually as the bartender and kind of quote-unquote that at the Gasparilla parade, but for but for Gasparilla National Film Festival. So for the film festival is when we have the stars come in, I help move them around, get them in and out without issues, because you know it's in March, I think the 21st through the 24th you should attend. It's awesome and we have movie stars come in and normally a good bit of stars, like any film festival from the Cannes Film Festival, new York Film Festival, when you see you know movie stars, they're there. I make sure they get from their hotel to the venue safely.

George Siegal: 32:03

Who's the nicest one you've met and who's the biggest A-hole?

Thomas Hall: 32:07

Well, I will tell you, we have been very blessed to have a lot of really good people, and I could just name them there. There have been so many. Just you know everybody from Justin Long to Conn, who's went Fast and the Furious to my guys, colin Farrell to Altman, these people have just been the most. Rosy Perez, rita Murano, they just been the nicest people. You would be surprised. Just you know they're just like us. They just happened to, you know, got famous.

George Siegal: 32:45

And I would imagine they want to be nice to the security because you're the one that's going to save them if there's a problem, so you're the guy to be nice to, but they're pretty much nice to everybody.

Thomas Hall: 32:53

but yes, they would be a smart move.

George Siegal: 32:55

You know I've had experiences trying to interview celebrities where they haven't been so kind and you know my biggest devastation in my entire career was when I was working a golf tournament and my job was to interview the athletes as they came across this hole to go to the next hole. And I met Willie Mays and I've never had anybody be nastier to me and I grew up loving I mean idolizing Willie Mays. I would try to play like him, I would try to pretend I was him and then he just totally blew us off and it was. It was crushing, a crushing moment.

Thomas Hall: 33:28

Well, you know, I've been looking up, I played ball at Georgia and I know a lot of high-end athletes and what happens is, just those days where you know they're just tired, it's like nobody's giving them a break. I've seen people sit down, try to eat dinner and, until the people let them finish dinner or then try to approach them, they approach them in the middle of dinner with their family and they start getting short and then you hold it personal because it's you, with somebody you want to meet, where they might not even remember it. So I would say, give him a break that maybe he was having a bad day.

George Siegal: 34:10

I don't know. I mean, that was different. He wasn't eating anything, he was just going from one hole to the other. But yeah, I know I totally hear what you're saying and the thing that most people don't understand is they're probably never going to remember it and that's something you're going to remember the rest of your life, so those encounters can be something you never forget. Like you can tell my bitterness that my age still thinking about it is kind of pathetic, probably.

Thomas Hall: 34:34

I met Eddie Murphy and he was the nicest person ever. It was like super nice, just charming. Funny matter of fact, he was talking to me about 10-15 minutes and I was thinking, man, something's going on with my hearing, something's wrong here, and I realized after about the 10th, 11th minute that he had been talking to me in my voice. I didn't know it at the time, but he can mimic anybody in minutes. He can be you and he was talking to me back in my own voice and it was so weird sounding I was like what is going on? And he started laughing because he realized I caught on to it. He'd just been talking to me in my own voice for the whole time.

George Siegal: 35:17

That's great. I love hearing stories like that because it balances out my horrible experience with something that's really funny. Well, listen, thomas, thank you so much for doing this. I wish we had done it by a tree, but you know, I told you I was a wuss, it's cold outside and I thought we should do it this way. But I appreciate your time and you had a lot of great information.

Thomas Hall: 35:36

Thank you, thank you, and if you ever get a chance in the future, when it gets a little warmer, I can take you to a site and you can see everything we talked about and maybe we could take a picture and pop it up when we're talking. But just if you see something that you have a concern with, most tree professionals, included me, I don't charge for like a, just to walk around the property and look, I never have. Most people don't. It's only when we have to put something in writing or, you know, put a report together that then we go. Okay, we got a charge. But most you know you can ask, but most of them would have no problem walking the property and saying here's what I'm seeing.

George Siegal: 36:16

Okay, great, hey, thanks Thomas. All right, thanks, george. If you'd like to get in touch with Thomas, his contact information is in the show notes and if you have any stories about your house good or bad I'd really like to hear about them. There's a contact form in the show notes. Fill it out and you might end up being a guest on an upcoming podcast. Thanks again for listening today. See you next time.