Emergency tree removal in Houston, TX starts with a call to Sticks Tree Service Inc. at 281-373-1472 when a tree or a big limb is on the house, a car or the fence, is blocking the driveway or the street, or is cracked and hanging over a place where people walk. Trey Lamar’s crews come from the office at 14120 Cypress North Houston Rd in Cypress, just off US 290, which puts northwest and west Houston within a short drive. The crew makes the property safe first, then takes the tree off and cleans up.
Is it an emergency, or can it wait for a regular estimate?
Call now if:
- A tree or a large limb is resting on the roof, the garage, a car or a fence.
- A trunk is across the only driveway or the street.
- A broken limb is hung up in the crown above a door, a walkway or a play area.
- A tree has started to tip after the storm, with the soil lifting or cracking on one side.
- Water is coming in where a limb broke through the roof.
It can usually wait if a few branches are down in the yard, a small limb is on the lawn, or a tree looks worse than before but nothing is under it. Book a normal visit for tree removal in Houston instead.
A tree is on a power line. What now?
Stay away from it and from anything it touches: the fence, the gutter, a puddle. Keep children and pets inside. If anyone is hurt or the line is sparking or burning, call 911. Report the downed line to the electric utility using the outage number on your bill or its outage map. Clearing a tree off an energized line is work for utility-qualified crews, not a tree service. Once the utility has made the line safe, Sticks Tree Service can take the tree off the house and the yard.
What should you do while you wait?
- Get people clear of any room or part of the yard under the tree or a cracked limb.
- Photograph everything before it moves: wide shots of the house and the tree, close-ups of the damage, and the stump or root plate. Insurance adjusters ask for these.
- Call your insurance company to open a claim. Many policies cover removing a tree that has hit a covered structure; what is covered depends on the policy.
- Do not cut it yourself. A trunk resting on a roof or pinned under another limb is loaded like a spring. Cutting it from the wrong side can drop it further into the house or throw the saw back.
- Stop the water if you can do it safely, such as a tarp from inside the attic or buckets under the leak, without climbing on a roof that has a tree on it.
What does the crew do when it gets there?
- Read the load. Which pieces are holding weight, which are hanging free, and where each one will go when it is cut.
- Take weight off the house. Limbs are cut and lowered by rope, a piece at a time, so nothing drops onto the roof again.
- Lift the trunk off. The heaviest sections come off last, under control.
- Open the drive and the street. Wood blocking access is cleared first if that is the urgent part.
- Clean up. Brush is chipped, wood is hauled or stacked, and the roof and yard are checked for broken limbs left hanging.
- Stump and roots later. A tree that pulled its root plate out of the ground leaves a crater and a stump; stump removal can be scheduled once things settle.
Why do so many Houston trees come down in storms?
Houston gets heavy rain, tropical storms and straight-line winds, and its clay soil holds water. A saturated root plate plus wind on a full crown is how most big trees go over. The 2024 season showed it: a derecho in May, then Hurricane Beryl in July, after which Texas A&M Forest Service estimated about half of Houston-area urban trees had been affected. Trees damaged then, with cracked unions or loosened roots, are the ones most likely to fail in the next storm. A look at the trees near the house before June 1, the start of hurricane season, is the cheapest emergency work there is. See storm damage tree removal for preparing the yard.
Where does Sticks Tree Service take emergency calls in Houston?
Northwest and west Houston, west of I-45: Jersey Village, Willowbrook, Champions, Spring Branch, the Memorial side, the Energy Corridor and the FM 1960 corridor, plus the communities around Cypress on the emergency tree service in Cypress page. After a widespread storm, the calls closest to the office and the ones with a tree on a house come first. The city overview is on tree service in Houston.
What goes into the quote?
- What the tree is on and how much weight is bearing on it
- Tree size and how it fell
- Lines involved, and whether the utility has cleared them
- Access for the truck and chipper after the storm
- Wood to haul, the root plate and the stump
Sources
- Community Impact: About 50% of Houston-area trees took hit from Beryl winds
- ReadyHarris: hurricane season
- Texas Department of Insurance
Frequently asked questions
A tree fell on my house. Do I call insurance or a tree service first?
Make sure everyone is safe, take photos, then call both. The insurer opens the claim, and the tree service takes the weight off the house so the damage does not get worse.
Can the crew remove a tree that is on my roof?
Yes. Limbs and trunk sections are cut and lowered by rope a piece at a time so nothing drops back onto the roof.
What if the tree is on a power line?
Stay back, call 911 if there is sparking or anyone is hurt, and report the line to the electric utility. Once the utility has made the line safe, the tree can be removed.
Is a leaning tree after a storm an emergency?
If the soil is lifting or cracking on the side away from the lean, or the lean is new and something is under it, treat it as one and call.
Should I cut up the fallen tree myself?
Not if it is resting on a structure, hung up or pinned. Trunks under tension can shift or spring when cut. Small limbs lying on the ground are a different matter.
Does emergency work include the cleanup?
Yes. Brush is chipped, wood is hauled or stacked, and the roof and yard are checked for hanging limbs before the crew leaves.
Which Houston areas does Sticks Tree Service cover for emergencies?
Northwest and west Houston, west of I-45, plus Cypress and the surrounding communities. Addresses east of I-45 are outside the area.
Sticks Tree Service Inc, 14120 Cypress North Houston Rd, Cypress, TX 77429. Phone 281-373-1472.