Black walnut issue

[wanderingaimles]

We had planned on being out of Va and on the road by now, but life has thrown us a curveball. And we will likely still be here for the most part for the next 6 months,,,,, or longer.
I had recently built up a parking pad for my class A that was close enough to level to let us work on setting everything up, and run the fridge. But it is located at the edge of my lot and overhung by numerous very large Black Walnut trees, To build a carport for storage through fall and winter will run over $2500.00 from what I have researched. 16' x 24' with a 14' center height.
Those same black walnut trees can be used however to carry a sunshade type screen above the rig. Cutting them down would help, but a couple are on a neighbors lot and overhang mine so it would not solve the problem.
But the same fabric used by Lowes, Home Depot, and Helmart on their garden center can be rigged on strong bungee cords from chains on the trees on my lot. They would cover my solar and skylights as well as the roof vents.
I'm not looking for a solid roof from the trees, the wind would destroy it with me being on a large lake, but the sunbrella fabric would allow some wind to pass through , lessening the effects of the wind. And these seem to hold up on the retail spaces.
Worth trying? Or am I tilting at windmills?

[wanderingaimles]

wa8yxm wrote:
One comment on black walnut
That is pricy wood... If you decide to trim any thign larger than a basic Twig. see if is marketable

Back in 2005 when I built the house, I had 3 different small mill operators out, NONE were interested in Black walnut trees, i Piled up and burned about 20 cords because I refused to short cut and split the stuff.
Again, I just wanted an opinion on using the screens as a Walnut trampoline.
I just want them to NOT Break stuff on my motorhome.
It may be regional, but around here, this stuff is not worth even picking up AFTER someone else has cut it up for you.

[wa8yxm]

One comment on black walnut
That is pricy wood... If you decide to trim anythign larger than a basic Twig. see if is marketable

[Sjm9911]

wanderingaimlessly wrote:
My hope was that someone had experience with these screens would respond, only one did and it was somewhat positive.
I dont want to cut all the trees, but I do want to protect the panels and skylights, I'll probably try a 13 x 20 with d rings at the corners, or maybe park on the road for Sep and October.

The mesh things should definitely work. I have one in my yard, and this is ots 3rd year. I dont have anything hitting it though. Just make sure you get the wallnuts off before the start to degrade. That black stuff in the wallnuts stains. It will work.

[mobeewan]

ferndaleflyer wrote:
Pitch thats hard to believe. I sold the ones that used to line my driveway for far more than that, they even dug up the roots claimed they sold them to Germany to make pipes. You look the right place you sure can sell them and they do the cutting

Roots are also used to make gun stocks.

[wanderingaimles]

My hope was that someone had experience with these screens would respond, only one did and it was somewhat positive.
I dont want to cut all the trees, but I do want to protect the panels and skylights, I'll probably try a 13 x 20 with d rings at the corners, or maybe park on the road for Sep and October.

[smarty]

Is placing the RV in covered storage an option?

[dedmiston]

Grit dog wrote:
It's ok, the OP hasn't said whether he's planning on living in it, parking it there, or any of the good breadcrumbs to not stray the topic.
Even the wannabe AxMen weren't paying attention as the OP said a couple of the offending trees were on the neighbors lot...

Yeah. That stuck in my craw too. If my neighbor's trees were hanging over into my yard and damaging my stuff, I'd chat with the neighbor and see what we could resolve.

My lemon trees hang over my side wall and I know for a fact that my neighbor has never had to buy a lemon. Everybody seems happy. If the trees bugged them, I'd take care of them (the trees, not the neighbors).

When we bought this house new in the 90s, we all had dirt lots with no improvements. We were the first ones to put in a yard because my wife is in the biz. After we built the planter retaining walls, the neighbor pointed out that part of the curved wall is actually on their side of the line. They were super cool about it, but the wife said that her husband is an attorney and she suggested that he draw up some kind of agreement that would cover it (who knows what that would be). I told her that contracts and agreements make bad relationships, but I'd also be more than happy to get my wife's mason back out to jack out the wall and pour it right. She looked at me like I was nuts, but then she decided that she'd rather be friends than dangle a document over my head. They've since moved away, but we're still thick as thieves 26 years later. Things don't have to be complicated.

[Grit_dog]

dedmiston wrote:
OK Lumberjacks. Let's move along.

It's ok, the OP hasn't said whether he's planning on living in it, parking it there, or any of the good breadcrumbs to not stray the topic.
Even the wannabe AxMen weren't paying attention as the OP said a couple of the offending trees were on the neighbors lot...

[Sjm9911]

I think it depends on the tree, if pruned properly, and it grows straight with no branches low, and no knots, cold stress fractures, and bugs it might be worth something. But most people , especially in nj, dont want to take the time to look at the tree. So, you can sell it , but sometimes its not easy to do.

[dedmiston]

OK Lumberjacks. Let's move along.

[Gdetrailer]

ferndaleflyer wrote:
Really? They been shipping logs overseas for a long time and for that "kiln dried" is a myth. They do ship mostly in the winter so heat don't damage logs. I am not an expert my friend is in the timber business and I also have sold some of my own timber over the years....Kiln dried maybe somewhere. Not talking about pine but oak, maple, walnut, hickory, etc.

Myth?

How about this "myth"..

My Brother living in VT had 4K bdf of prime Maple, 4k bdf of prime Oak, 8k bdf of prime pine milled.

Plan was to use the Maple to build new kitchen cabinets in his 120 yr old VT farm house. Gave me 2k bdf of beautiful prime pine to finish the trim work in my home in PA that I was remodeling at the time. The Maple, Oak and pine all came from totally 100% free "yard" trees that nobody was willing to pay for to get milled.

Brother passed away before he was able to start making the new kitchen cabinets.. Leaving all that very nice milled and carefully stickered and naturally dried milled wood for my Sister in Law to figure out what to do with..

Sister in Law wanted to have a cabinet maker make the cabinets from my Brothers wood.. None would touch it.

She eventually found one wood worker that was willing to take all of the wood "off her hands" in exchange for enough kiln dried Maple for a cabinet maker to build the new cabinets.

I have also talked to local tree services, cabinet makers and saw mills over the yrs, they have told me the same thing over and over.

The myth of Walnut being valuable does not extend to yard trees, mills only want trees that are in stands or groves in multi acre untouched lots away from homes as those trees tend to not have things like nails, screws, bolts, fence posts embedded in them.

Cost of cutting, cleaning up brush, loading and hauling makes a "one off" tree prohibitively expensive to be turned into lumber. Timber guys want to see enough logs of good enough quality and sufficient size and length to completely fill not just one log truck but multiple log trucks.

One yard tree does not fill a log truck.

For personal consumption, you can find Sawyers with portable mills, they bring a band mill to you but there is a setup fee and then they charge per bdf cut and if they hit metal, charge for a new blade on top.

25 yrs ago, my brother local to me dropped 4 huge 80 ft tall Elm trees and two 100ft tall pines on my property and brought in a portable mill. Got 1900 bdf ft.. 1900 bdf of wood wouldn't even cover the bottom of a log truck.. The Sawyer charged $250 setup and $.25 per bdf back then, didn't want the first 10ft of the tree from the base.. I am sure it isn't that cheap now days..

To buy precut, milled black walnut, sure it is going to be more expensive than Oak but then Oak is more expensive than Pine.. But keep in mind, good straight black walnut trees are a bit harder to come by and there is some "mystic" about Blackwalnut that folks go crazy over which boosts the retail prices..

Log buyers however, do not pay "retail" prices for logs and yrd logs go for much less than wholesale to as low as zero for one off yard logs.

Better off to cut for fire wood, around here easily get $200 for face cord which is nearly $400 for a cord of fire wood.. The black walnut tree in my backyard will easily net about 3-4 cords of firewood or about $1600 in firewood..

As I have mentioned, as far as OPs question, since they are not staying long and not keeping the current home makes no sense to worry about a cover for a short time. Additionally since it sounds like at least one of the trees are in a neighbors yrd tying ropes or anything in that tree(s) will require neighbors permission and one would have to use proper non damaging equipment to tie off on those tree(s)..

Even if one managed to make it happen, you would have one heck of a "sail" for the wind to play with, everything would have to be heavy duty which adds to the cost.. If it breaks free, the damage caused by a heavy duty cloth tarp will be insanely expensive to repair on the RV..

Seems to be more hassle than worth for such a short period of time.

[ferndaleflyer]

Really? They been shipping logs overseas for a long time and for that "kiln dried" is a myth. They do ship mostly in the winter so heat don't damage logs. I am not an expert my friend is in the timber business and I also have sold some of my own timber over the years....Kiln dried maybe somewhere. Not talking about pine but oak, maple, walnut, hickory, etc.

[Gdetrailer]

TenOC wrote:
Black Walnut trees sold as lumber is VERY expensive. Some trees sell for over $1,000. Check if you can sell the trees.

That is a myth..

Lumber mills do not deal with homeowner trees due to high probability of metals like spikes, nails and even steel fence posts being embedded inside the tree. Not to mention the cost of dropping and hauling one or two "prime" trees of any type makes it not a worthwhile adventure.

Even if you drop and haul your self to a mill, the cost of one blade will sink any hopes of getting any profits out of that tree and many mills will upcharge greatly even if they don't hit anything.

Heck, I have a 100ft tall black walnut in my back yard, 36" across at the base, might get three 8ft straight enough sections if cut carefully. Worth more as firewood if you figure in the cost to drop, haul and pay a mill.. And yes, I can drop it, I can haul it but my time is worth more than the time that it takes to do all that.

Something else to consider on lumber, very few people or places are willing to pay anything for non kiln dried wood of any type.. So, to maximize the selling price you also must factor in the cost of kiln drying.. They don't do that for free..

If I was in the OPs situation with selling an moving in the near future (yr or less?), why bother with any covers? Seems to me even one yrs worth of weather exposure without a cover is not going to harm their RV.

[p220sigman]

Could you cut some plywood to fit over the panels, skylights, and vents with pool noodle glued to the underside to keep it off of the parts and then just put your existing cover over the whole thing. Maybe glue pool noodle to both sides of the wood to keep from having any sharp edges in contact with the cover.

Of course, at the cost of lumber right now, the garage may be a cheaper option than this.