Grandwood Park Trees Have Outgrown Their Yards
Grandwood Park is an unincorporated neighborhood north of Grand Avenue, between Lindenhurst and Gurnee, with its own small lake and parks. It's an established area. The houses have been here a good while, and so have the trees.
That's most of the story with tree work here. A maple that went in as a sapling beside the driveway is now a full-grown tree beside the driveway. Same for the honey locust out front, the spruce by the picture window, the row of ash along the back fence. Nobody planted them too close on purpose. They just grew.
On most blocks you'll see silver and Norway maples, honey locust, ash, blue spruce, crabapple, a few oaks and lindens, and willows nearer the water.
Crown Thinning, Raising and Tree Trimming in Grandwood Park
A mature tree in good shape is worth a lot to a house. Shade and privacy, to start. So the first question isn't how to get rid of it. It's whether a trim solves the problem. Three kinds of trim cover most situations, and our page on raising or thinning a crown goes into each.
Do it while the tree is dormant if you can. Late fall through winter is the right time for most species. For oaks and elms it's the only safe time, because growing-season cuts attract the beetles that spread oak wilt.
One thing the crew leaves alone is the top of the tree. Sawing it off flat leaves a weaker, uglier tree than the one you started with. For the everyday version of this work, see tree trimming and pruning.
- Raising the crown: removing low limbs for clearance over the lawn, the walk, the driveway or the street
- Thinning the crown: taking out crossing and crowded branches so the tree holds less wind and snow
- Cleaning the crown: cutting out dead, cracked and rubbing limbs
Dead Ash and Tree Removal in Grandwood Park
Ash was a favorite yard and street tree for a long time, which is why emerald ash borer hit established neighborhoods so hard. Most untreated ash in Lake County is dead now. If you still have one standing, bare and shedding bark, it isn't going to get any easier to remove.
Dead ash turns brittle quickly. Limbs break off under their own weight, and the wood can't be trusted to hold a climber or a rope the way live wood does. The longer it waits, the harder the job. See ash tree removal for how it's handled.
Other removals are plainer. A spruce that's lost its needles. A maple with a split trunk. A tree lifting the driveway or pushing on the foundation. In a yard with a house on one side and a fence on the other, the tree is cut down in sections and lowered by rope.
Stump Grinding for Grandwood Park Lawns
After the tree, the stump. Leaving it costs nothing today, but you'll be mowing around it and pulling sprouts for years. Grinding takes it down under the turf so you can add soil and reseed right over the spot.
The buried utilities have to be marked first. That's JULIE, at 811, free to call anywhere in Illinois. Give them a few days before the grinding date. Front-yard stumps often sit close to the service lines running to the house, so this isn't a step to skip. More on stump grinding.
Emergency Storm Work: Fallen Trees and Hanging Limbs
Old maples carry a lot of weight in long, heavy limbs, and wind or wet snow finds the weak ones. If a limb or a tree has come down on the house or a car, or it's across the driveway, call (224) 944-8652. That's a phone call, not a text.
Storm calls are taken as quickly as the crew can get to you. If it's hung up in the power lines, leave it alone and call ComEd, the electric utility here. They go first. Our emergency tree service page covers the rest.
A broken limb still hanging in the tree is a hazard too, even if nothing's been hit yet. Keep people out from under it and get it looked at. Here's how taking off a single damaged limb works.
How Tree Service Pricing Works in Grandwood Park
Free quote, written down, flat price. You text a photo of the tree, limb or stump and your town. If it's a small job, you'll get a price from the photo. If it's a big removal, the crew comes out to look first, at no charge. Nothing gets cut until you've agreed to the number.
You won't find dollar figures here, because the same kind of tree can be two very different jobs. Size, location, condition, access and the stump all count. The pricing guide goes through them one at a time.
Tree Removal Rules in an Unincorporated Area
Grandwood Park isn't inside a village, so there's no village hall to call. It's unincorporated Lake County. Plenty of Lake County villages require a permit to remove a tree, even on private property, and unincorporated areas answer to the county instead. Before a removal, check with the county about what applies to your lot. We won't guess at it for you.
Trees along the road are a separate question. One standing in the right-of-way may not be yours to cut, so ask before you pay anyone to touch it.
Cleanup and Hauling
The job isn't done until the yard's clean. Every bit of brush is chipped. Logs are hauled away and the wood is recycled. Illinois doesn't allow yard waste in landfills, so nothing gets dumped. If you heat with wood or just like a fire out back, ask to keep it. The crew will leave it cut wherever you say.
What to Expect From a Grandwood Park Tree Job
- Free quotes from a photo, and a free visit for big removals
- Cleanup included: brush chipped, wood hauled, yard raked
- We don't top trees
- We'll tell you if a trim is enough before you pay for a removal
- Keep the firewood if you want it, cut and left where you say
