Cemetery work

[emr]

We just put together a large bid to work in a cemetery and we need to remove several large trees surrounded by graves. We were talking about the process of removing these trees and we started talking about bombing stuff out on or near the grave sites. Putting aside the possibility of damaging the grave stones, is it bad juju to bomb anything on the graves, is it just completely unexceptional, or is it fine.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Any cemetery I've ever worked required zero turf damage. Cranes or rigging, all the way.

 

[woodworkingboy]

I've worked around a number graves, ancient ones too. Usually no turf to damage here, but the stone arrangements can be rather ornate and very costly to damage. In the least, I would go around to the locals and make your salutations before beginning the work above their resting places.

 

[sotc]

Would you drop big wood on a septic tank? Remember, graves are hollow. Cremation chambers are shallow too

 

[emr]

I was thinking more of the respect issue, but you bring up a great point.

 

[gf beranek]

I spent 10 days removing a hundred year old second growth forest in the Inglenook cemetery. Crew of three. No clean up. Job description was to get it on the ground and let the public come in and haul it all away.

Damaged only one head stone. Which was pushed into the ground by a chip truck backing up. We pulled the head stone back up and all was good.

Though I feared more damage was bound to happen. God rest their souls. All a bunch of pioneers.

 

[thattreeguy]

heres what i do,
i fold up tarps and cover the inground stones, to make them level with turf and prevent scuffing,
then lay down ply wood over all the grave stones in the area,
as well as a path out, and rig it all out and down carefully
and yes i even tell the folks in the graves why im covering them, and treat them as if it was my own familys site,

after all when you die, these may be the first people you are met by

at great scott the mexi crew bombed shit all over veterans white round topped stones, scuffed, chipped, and broken, i had never seen such disrespect in my life

i did the garberville cemetary a few years ago, and it took lots of plywood and tarps, and a shit ton of roping, but the end results were nice, and one of the survivng family members paid us to do the tree over his daughters grave as well,
that one was sad 18 yr old girl, his one and only baby, she was in a roll over wreck and survived, only to be killed by a car that hit them upside down, he apperently killed himself after the tree was done maybe a year later, every day he sat and read poetry to her, and she has the most amazing site full of trinkets from all her friends, i really felt for him.

wild eyed john (as jer calls him) and i did the tree pretty much for pocket change, maybe 1/4th of what it was worth, over 2 day trim on a cypress, because we felt his pain just by his eyes...

so do everything you can to protect those sites and stones, and treat them with love and respect...my.02 worth anyways

 

[squisher]

Up here no bombing nothing onto graves. I've done quite a number of large cemetery removals now too and all the pruning for quite awhile. Obviously 1st and foremost is not damaging any gravestones. I cover all graves with a sheet of plywood, they are sort of like avoidance targets if there is any kind of dropzone that can be used for a freefall. When in doubt, rope it out.

 

[emr]

When you guys say no damage, is that your rules or the cemetery's?

 

[MasterBlaster]

That's a loaded question.

 

[squisher]

Honestly here. It's the rules, but I wouldn't do it any other way. That's just me, I'm not bombing someone's grave. Wood of any size is definetly going to disturb a grave.

 

[emr]

Thats how I feel.

 

[thattreeguy]

nothing, ok dead twigs, lil fluff, onto the plywood..no biggie, just rig it all out

 

[MasterBlaster]

If you can drop something w/o frigging anything up? Go for it.

Cut smaller pieces....

 

[pete mctree]

Hit the wrong button on the poll - I hit bomb it all out - supposed to be the opposite.

We do alot of cemetry work & it is all zero damage as you would expect. Cut it tiny & throw between the graves or rig it out. Nothing else is acceptable

 

[flushcut]

When I worked the one cemetery I did the grounds super did not want to pay for rigged removals (17 in all big ash and silver maple). He just moved head stones for us and flopped them all. If I had my way they would have been all rigged with 0 damage to turf.

 

[SkwerI]

When I worked the one cemetery I did the grounds super did not want to pay for rigged removals (17 in all big ash and silver maple). He just moved head stones for us and flopped them all.

This seems like the practical way.

About 15 years ago my grandfather died. I went to the cemetery about 3 months later to say my goodbyes and the ground had caved in on his gravesite. I called the main office to let them know that his cheap casket had collapsed and request they fill the hole. The person on the phone tried to act like the casket had not collapsed. It didn't matter, it isn't like my grandfather was still there anyway. Nothing in the hole but some bones and hair, maybe some residual decayed flesh. Cemeteries and burial rituals are for the living, not the dead.

 

[flushcut]

It worked out for me but I learned a lot about how a cemetery works that week. The guy did caution us about working over the older graves with the skidsteer so we didn't sink into or collaps an old wooden casket. The creepiest area was where I was removing a smallish ash that was surrounded by baby graves none older than two years of age, very sad.
Skwerl, More than likely the casket didn't collaps just the dirt settled around it.

 

[SkwerI]

No, it was collapsed in the middle of the site, not around the edges. That's the same thing the lady in the cemetery office said.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Graveyards are stupid: everyone should be cremated.

 

[stig]

When you guys say no damage, is that your rules or the cemetery's?

Cemetary's rules.

I feel nothing for dead people. When you're dead, you're dead, end of story. Having a piece of wood land on you don't matter.

I don't even feel anything for dead dogs, and that is saying a lot, for me, since I prefer live ones to most people.

We take care of 3 different church properties/ graveyards ( and I keep my views about dead people with stones on top of them / God and all that zipped up, quite the diplomat, I, when my income is at stake)

The rule is : no damage of any kind!

However they have accountants, too.

On one occasion where we had to take a large linden down over a bunch of graves, I told them that having their own people remove all the headstones and plywood the graves over would be WAY cheaper than having us take the tree down in itty-bitty pieces ( no crane or bucket access).

So they went ahead and prepared the grounds for us. Still couldn't bomb the big stuff, but we didn't have to tip-toe around.

 

[woodworkingboy]

I feel nothing for dead people.

Whatever....but being sentimental is a human quality. I saw an old photo of some Navajo indians looking very respectful at a pile of rocks, which was an ancestral burial site. We have things like memorial day too.

 

[stig]

We don't. We were collaborators in both world wars, not much to be memorializing about.

Also all my ancestors have been cremated and tossed in unmarked common graves.

I'll go the same way. When I'm dead, I'm dead.

My parents have donated their bodies to science, since they didn't like the thought of my brother and I meeting at the funeral ( I have sworn that if I ever meet him again, I'll put him in an intensive care unit).

So, really, I don't get the fuss about dead people.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Sorry about your brother, Stig. You needn't elaborate, but most family squabbles usually have something to do with money, it occurs. Someone decides that they want more.

You are blowing my gig, when someone might ask me why they should want to spend x amount of money for a chair that I have made, i often tell them that they can hand it down through the family with it's sentimental value. I guess i could say, 'cause a dead person will have sat in it!

 

[pete mctree]

As far as the work is concerned - do it to spec - who cares about anything else??

It's hard when you hate your siblings Stig. I am nearly at that stage with my brother, but my sister & my desire to see his son become more than the scum he is, moderates my agression - just