Fallen Tree Fiasco

ADAM: A huge storm ripped through the D.C. area. [ Thunder rumbles ] They referred to it as a derecho. ADAM: The winds that came through our neighborhood were over 60 miles an hour. MELISSA: Power lines were down. Houses were destroyed. Trees were knocked down everywhere. It was devastation all over the place. In our backyard, a huge tree has been ripped out of the ground. The whole yard is destroyed, and we just don't know what to do. MAN: Yeah! ED: Catastrophes can happen to anyone. This thing got trashed. It's our job to come in and fix the problem... ED: All right. Let's roll. Whoa! We clean up. Give me a hug! We rebuild. We need the empty buckets out! I want to see dimension up there. Whoa! ...and to be able to help someone and get their lives back together... It's so gorgeous. ...it's the best part of our business. -- Captions by VITAC -- Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC. JOE: Look at the size of some of these trees. A lot of great, big trees in this neighborhood, but, unfortunately, it worked against Melissa and Adam. We're in Arlington, Virginia. We're going to Adam and Melissa's house. They had a major storm rip through here. This big tree goes and crashes through the backyard. And from what I understand, it's gonna be a big financial burden for them. Oh. I think I see it. There's the house. [ Engine shuts off ] MELISSA: Hi! Hi. Adam. Hi, Adam. How are you? This is a beautiful home. Thank you. What are we here for? So, a couple months ago, we had a storm that's called a derecho. It was a complex of really hard rain and strong wind, and it did a lot of damage in this area. No interior damage, but outside... Holy cow. Wow. ED: You have got to be kidding me. Oh. KARI: Oh! [ Chuckles ] Look at that. This root ball's the biggest root I've ever seen in my life. Mother Nature at its finest. It's taller than the garage. This thing was enormous. We just bought our dream home and put all of our hard-earned savings into this place, and then this hit. There's no doubt that a derecho brought this tree down, but there's more to it than that. This yard must have been soaked with water for an extended period of time. I mean, look, you can tell. ENZO: They're black. The roots are black. The roots are even a little bit black. It's sitting in a pond of water here. Obviously, these people have a drainage problem. I think that's the number-one problem that's been overlooked for years. If you look around the neighborhood here, you can see all the houses are pitched higher. That house is a good nine feet higher -- the elevation. Everything's falling this way. Everything's coming this way. The drainage system needs to be repaired. By far, this is the most important thing to me. You got all these downspouts coming off the side of the house, and they're discharging right into the yard. We take away the chronic problem with the water, we'll take care of a lot of the issues, especially his itching problem. These are mosquitoes, my friend. They're all over this yard. Not only has this giant tree tore up the yard and fence, it's left this giant hole which has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. So, I got to ask you. Why is it still here? [ Laughs ] There's mosquitoes all over, giant root ball -- I'd hate to come back here and barbecue to this. [ Laughter ] That's what our neighbors have been asking us, too. We've contacted a number of different tree companies, but like Melissa said, there have been so many trees down in the D.C. area, and it's just been a long wait, so... ED: What about your insurance? Are they gonna cover anything else besides the cleanup? No, they don't cover anything having to do with the yard. The insurance company is paying to remove the tree, but there's no money left to do any sort of improvement or repair on the area that was damaged. Where are you guys gonna stay? With friends? MELISSA: Yeah. So, we're gonna stay with friends for the week. Well, relax, treat it as a little vacation, enjoy yourself. We're gonna go to war with the mosquitoes, and everything else will be fixed. We don't just want to take the tree out. We want to make this special -- a place they can be proud of, have company over, have a lot of fun back there. So, we got a few surprises for them. Hey, guys. Want to get this yard sprayed real quick? I figured it would go a lot quicker if all four of us get suited up. Let's get the skeeters. Now, that's the mother lode of spray guns. [ Engine revs ] ENZO: We are gonna be spraying a product around the perimeter of the house. This is not harmful to the neighbors or the surrounding pets. It's a light mist. It hangs in the air for about five to six seconds, and then it drops. As it drops, it attaches itself to anything where the mosquitoes may be crawling or living. This product also kills their larvae. And that's for getting me earlier. [ Laughter ] JOE: Revenge is sweet. KARI: Should we call him? ENZO: We need an excavator right now. I have a 30-foot tree ball with approximately 6 to 7 tons of dirt on it... He was supposed to be here over an hour ago. Not a good way to start the morning. ...and the crane will not be able to lift that tree ball without that dirt being removed. Let's get this guy on the phone. Anybody got a number we could call? Yeah. Let me get it. So, the best we can do instead of standing around is just get some picks and some shovels and start knocking it off while we're waiting. JOE: Let's get down here and get dirty. Number-one thing today -- get the tree out of here. It's coming off, Enzo. If we can get around the roots and start cutting them, we'll get some progress done. So, there's literally tons of dirt on that root ball. We don't get that off, it's bottom-heavy. If you start cutting on the tree, that thing's gonna flip back over, take out the garage. [ Saw revs ] Just in time, huh? [ Beeping ] You're okay on my side. ED: We're definitely making up time with the use of the excavator. Once the crane gets into the driveway, we're going to bring the straps around from the crane, put them around the root ball, and lift the root ball up and out. [ Chainsaw whirs ] MAN: Whoa! JOE: Wow! KARI: I really want to give the homeowners a piece of this tree as a memento. I mean, this is an awesome piece of nature. I want to use it as an ottoman, a footstool maybe, in the new pergola area. JOE: Give the wood some character -- those two knots. Oh, yeah. I think that'll be great. Watch out. Actually, stand back a tad. JOE: I want to see them take this up and over. Now, this is how you remove a root ball. Oh, my God. Let's do it. Oh, really? Is it too heavy? It's too heavy. KARI: Some more dirt still? More dirt. It's too heavy. We're overweight. ENZO: What? We're overweight. You got to get more dirt off. Get out. This crane can lift up to 12,000 pounds. We've stripped all the dirt off of it. It looks clean. Over 7,000 pounds. Oh, he's over. He's over 7,000? This is 7,000 pounds overweight. I've knocked about two to three tons of dirt off of it already. It should lift. Something's wrong. Now we just got to go back and waste another couple hours. We're going to bring the straps around from the crane, put them around the root ball, and lift the root ball up and out. MAN: Yeah. Some more dirt still? ENZO: I've knocked about two to three tons of dirt off of it already. It should lift. Something's wrong. All right. So, what I think may be happening, Ed, is maybe there's still some roots down here that are going into the ground. ENZO: I think I found something! Clean that off for me real quick. JOE: Oh, yeah. Holy cow. Look at the size of that root. It's that big around. The reason why we can't move this tree, there's still a 12-inch live root still under the ground connected to the tree. Everybody clear! Clear! Whoa! There we go! That's it! This, by far, is the biggest, heaviest part of the tree that we're lifting up over the house. No room for errors on this -- no room. ED: I'm just hoping that this is under 12,000 pounds because we've got to bring this root ball over the top of the house, and I am not liking this. Don't be underneath it. Everybody, do not be underneath it. Joe, get the heck out of the way. Straight up! Straight up! Straight up! Watch the house! Watch the house! All right. That was close. So far, so good. That was awesome. Well, now got to get Melissa and Adam's yard back. That big root that gave us all that trouble... JOE: It's still there. It's in our way. Enzo, come around the other side and pull it out! Guarantee! Yeah! It's right there! Yeah! Hey! Guarantee! Guarantee! You listen! Kari, here's the concrete for the footers right overhead. [ Grunts ] We're pouring some footers, so obviously you need the rebar to strengthen the concrete going in. And Kari's got an awesome design. Center to the center, it's 13.5. Good. Makes sense? Let's mark them. What we really want to do is create a beautiful outdoor living space. 15.11½. We want to add a pergola, a beautiful fireplace with some landscaping, and we want to repair the fence. We're super-excited to get this done. Okay. Push towards my way. Butt it up against my end. Yep. [ Screwdrivers whirring ] Ed! You know, as I'm digging, I'm finding more and more and more things wrong. What now? I found a drain-tile line that's actually full of water, dirt, but it comes from the neighbor's yard. [ Chuckles ] You're kidding me. Their rainwater is tied into this, dumping in against the garage here. Yes. After a little bit of investigation, I realize that this yard has got terrible drainage system. Horrendous. As a matter of fact, it doesn't even work. The other problem we have -- There's no drain tile around this garage to even catch that kind of water. The third problem we have here is nothing's catching these downspouts. No gutter, no downspout on this side. That caused that yard to hold so much water, it killed the roots of that tree, and that's why that tree eventually came over. We got to start taking away water from the buildings, from the yard, because you know what? No matter what we do, it's always gonna be wet if we don't get rid of the water. You cannot put good teeth on bad gums. We're putting in a new pergola, a fireplace, a grill. All of that is for naught if we don't put in a good foundation and drainage. This yard is another catastrophe waiting to happen. That's why we got to fix it. JOE: We're in Arlington, Virginia. They had a major storm rip through here. It did a lot of damage in this area. No interior damage, but outside... JOE: Holy cow. ED: There's no doubt that a derecho brought this tree down, but there's more to it than that. And the neighbor's rainwater is tied into this, dumping in against the garage here. We're putting in a new pergola, a fireplace, a grill. All of that is for naught if we don't put in a good foundation and drainage. We got to connect this drain tile, this storm sewer, and connect this downspout. So, there shouldn't be any water standing back here after we do all this. JOE: What do you think? 2,700-pound gorilla. ED: That is a nice fireplace, isn't it? Yeah! [ Laughs ] When you pivoted it, push it forward, actually, another inch so that way we're not hanging over the slab underneath. The fireplace is gonna be here for a really long time, so I want it to be done right so that way it doesn't settle. It lasts. It's still doing the same thing on this side. We're trying to do a very precise job for the skid steer, which is not meant to have precise, small movement. It would definitely be a whole lot easier if Joe would just come over here and move the darn thing. The pump just kicked on. Oh, great. What we're hooking up here is a sump pump in the basement. That normally is discharged in the yard, which is adding to some of the problems here. So, you're just gonna pump it out of the basement right down, tie it in. Right into our storm sewer. ENZO: Right now, we're gonna install a French drain, dig up all the excess rainwater, our excess water off our other properties, the rain. It'll pick it up there and take it out to the street. ENZO: That, my friend, is what we're looking for. Crack in a bubble -- That means it's got pitch, it's going the way we want it to go, and we're gonna make our grate at the end. In order for me to do this properly, I need both drains -- the storm sewer that's gonna pick up all the downspouts, including the garage, and the French drain for the yard to pick up any kind of runoff or excess water. You see how long it took us to put this puzzle together, right? Now we got to glue it. Nothing better than a white picket fence, is there? You think two coats will do it? I think two coats will do it. There are a lot of people running around right now. We've got the French drains being installed. We're trying to install stone where the pergola's going to be set. But we've got a lot more to do. The cap will come to you, Ed. [ Screwdriver whirs ] Oversized gutter, oversized downspout. So, the amount of water that these things can hold versus a standard gutter -- substantially higher. Ed, what's nice about these brackets is they're not just into the fascia board. They're right into the tails. So it gives it that extra stability right in there. I got it. JOE: This is pretty cool right here. This rain barrel actually catches the water, then you can use the water, and it becomes a fountain. The downspouts are gonna feed these rain-collection barrels, so we've got to get these tapped into the downspouts. And then there's a hose that connects, and you can water your plants with the water you catch. It's only cleared for use -- water only. So, if you try to put beer in there, you will get shot. [ Birds chirping ] They did a nice job putting the sod in. It's another day. I'm very optimistic. We got a lot of things done yesterday. After putting in all the drains that they needed for their yard, we tore up their yard terribly. So, we decided to resod the whole backyard for them. And we're almost done here, but we want to make our time lines. What the... What'd they do with my clean-out? I specifically had a big, orange pole there. Yeah. The rebar. The sod's already laying down. It looks nice. But they covered up my clean-out -- the clean-out I specifically designed for this yard to get to in the event that they ever have to clean out their sewers. I know the pipes ran this way. It's got to be within a couple of feet of where I'm at. Nothing pains me more than messing up another person's work. But we didn't have a choice. This is something that had to be done. Rip it up. I don't care. Rip it up. No, no. It's back here somewhere. Are you sure it's not over here? It's got to be over here somewhere. This is flipping ridiculous. What'd they do with my clean-out? The sod's already laying down. It looks nice. But they covered up my clean-out -- the clean-out I specifically designed for this yard to get to in the event that they ever have to clean out their sewers. Rip it up. I don't care. Rip it up. Now I'm worried that it's broken. They had machines back here yesterday. It should be right around here. I hope they didn't run it over and crack it. We wanted Adam and Melissa to have a clean-out. In the event that their sewers may fail or get dirt or roots or anything that may get in there, you could access it from here and clean it out to the street. It can't be that hard. Sure. Keep telling yourself that. Without this clean-out, you'd have to go down and break the pipe and pretty much replace the line and tear up the yard again. I remember it being approximately 12 foot... from the rail. [ Metal clanging ] Shovel. There it is. All right. [ Sighs ] Yeah, that sucked. All right. The clean-out looks good. We'll cut around it so you can actually see the white cap. Great! And I need you guys to help me move the grill. Okay. Perfect. Today is insane, crazy, beyond belief. I mean, everybody's jacked. So much has to be done. Busy day, huh? Yes, there is. Pretty exciting. Got it. Beautiful -- custom-made by Amish out of Pennsylvania. I guess I'll just take this one by myself. You need a break, man. You've been carrying everything. You carried everything in but the truck. It's gonna be fantastic. It's gonna be the focal point of where the tree used to be. So, Abner, the boot will go in here. We'll anchor it to the footer, then we'll backfill this back up, put the pavers in, and then the post will fit right on top. [ Drill whirring ] Feel that, my man. Look at that. [ Chuckles ] I'm having a blast with this pergola. I mean, this is really a fun time. These guys are just unbelievable to watch. [ Screwdriver whirs ] Having a good time watching this go up. It really is the crown jewel on this patio. Patio's not complete without the furniture. [ Laughs ] KARI: When Adam and Melissa come home, I want to erase any bad memory of a ginormous fallen tree in their backyard. I want them to see what a beautiful outdoor living space their backyard has become. Everybody getting hungry? How do you like your chicken? Rare, my friend? [ Laughs ] JOE: Adam and Melissa -- They're almost home. They're gonna go 3-D when they see this backyard. I mean, this thing is unbelievable. I don't think I've been this excited since my birthday. ADAM: You ready? I am freaking out right now. I'm so excited. I cannot even wait to see what the yard looks like. Oh, my -- [ Gasps ] Oh, my God. [ Gasps ] Oh, my gosh. I'm shaking. I'm shaking right now. Is this the tree? Is this the tree?! The tree. [ Gasps ] Oh, my God. Look at it. [ Gasps ] Look at this fireplace! Oh, my God. ADAM: Thanks, man. This is great, man. You had a lot of issues with drainage here. You're the lowest point on the street. When it rains, you get everybody else's water. So what we did to eliminate all that is we put in a French drain up here for you. It'll absorb all that water. You'll never have any standing water in your yard again. Wow. This is, like, football-field ready to play. ADAM: I know Enzo's proud of the drainage system. It's not the flashiest thing here, but it's really, really gonna help us. I know that we have major drainage problems here, and it's just -- I mean, it's fantastic. I'm absolutely speechless. If I could have told you guys what to do in my backyard, this would have been it. You guys nailed it. I mean, this is everything that I've ever dreamed of. And the drains, too? And the drains! Yes! You dreamed of drains? I did! These are actually rain barrels. MELISSA: Oh, my gosh. There's a little hose connected back here. You can take it and use the water from the downspouts and water all the flowers. Oh, my gosh. I absolutely love that. It's so nice. So, now all you need to do is get a drink, get some dinner, and relax. MELISSA: I'm so happy that we have our forever house, our home that we love so much, and now this amazing backyard is part of it. Yay!