Healthy trees are worth keeping. They shade your house, cut your cooling bill and add real value to a property, and we'd much rather prune a tree than remove it. But a failing tree next to a house is a different calculation entirely, and the trees that come down in storms almost always showed signs well before they went.
Here's what we look for.
1. Mushrooms or conks at the base
Fungal fruiting bodies growing out of the root flare or lower trunk mean decay is already well established inside the tree. By the time you can see a mushroom, the fungus has usually been working through the wood for years. This is the single most serious sign on the list, because root and butt rot attacks exactly the part of the tree that keeps it standing — and it gives no warning before failure.
2. A lean that's new or getting worse
Plenty of trees lean and have leaned safely for decades. What matters is change. Fresh soil heaving or cracking on the side opposite the lean, exposed roots lifting out of the ground, or a lean that's visibly different from last year all suggest the root plate is moving. That tree is in the process of falling — just slowly.
3. Deep cracks or a split trunk
Vertical cracks running up the trunk, or a split where two main stems meet, mean the tree is already failing structurally. Co-dominant stems — two trunks of similar size forking from one point — are especially prone to this, particularly on fast-growing species. Sometimes these can be cabled and saved. Often they can't.
4. Large dead sections in the canopy
A few dead twigs are normal. Whole limbs with no leaves in the middle of summer are not. If more than about a quarter of the canopy is dead, the tree is losing the ability to feed itself and the decline usually accelerates. Dead limbs are also a direct hazard on their own — they shed without warning and without wind.
5. Hollow trunk or soft, crumbling wood
Trees can survive surprisingly well with some hollowing, since the living tissue is near the outside. But when the shell of sound wood gets thin, the trunk loses its ability to resist bending. If you can push a screwdriver into the trunk, or a cavity is wide enough to put an arm into, the tree needs assessing properly rather than guessing at.
6. Sudden thinning across the whole canopy
A tree that's noticeably thinner than its neighbors, or thinner than it was last year, is telling you something is wrong with its roots or its vascular system. In Central Texas, on live oaks and red oaks, that pattern combined with browning along the leaf veins is a classic oak wilt presentation and needs looking at urgently — the disease spreads root-to-root between connected trees.
7. It's growing into something it can't share space with
Not every removal is about health. A perfectly vigorous tree planted three feet from a foundation, growing into a power drop, or lifting a driveway apart is still a problem — and it's a problem that gets more expensive every year you leave it.
What to do next
One sign on this list is worth an inspection. Two or more, particularly on a tree within falling distance of your house, is worth a call now rather than after the next storm.
Our estimates are free and we'll tell you honestly if a tree can be saved with pruning instead — that happens more often than people expect. If it genuinely needs to come down, we'll price the removal, the cleanup and the haul-off in one written number. Call (512) 679-3463.