Quick answer
We do, and Mount Airy jobs usually start with the roof. Most houses here are late 19th and early 20th century stone homes with slate roofs, set on tree-lined streets, and the neighborhood keeps 40 percent or more canopy cover. That means a lot of pruning over the house, rigged removals instead of open felling, and some yards that run out to park woodland.
Slate roofs under Pelham and Sedgwick Farms canopy
Most of Mount Airy was built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: three-story gray-stone Victorians, Colonial Revival, Norman and Cotswold-style houses with slate roofs. Developments such as Gowen Avenue in the 1880s, Pelham in the 1890s and Sedgwick Farms in 1905 were laid out on tree-lined streets.
Slate does not forgive a dropped limb, so on these houses we prune back branches that rub or hang over the roof and rope every piece down. Ladders stay off the slate. On a full removal over the house, the climber works the crown down in small sections and the ground crew swings each one clear of the eaves.
What Mount Airy owners usually call about
Old stone houses, slate and a heavy canopy point to a short list of jobs.
- Roof & House Clearance TrimmingBranches over slate get cut back and lowered on a rope, so nothing scrapes or cracks the roof on the way down.
- Tree Trimming Near Service LinesLimbs on the wire from the pole to your house are your responsibility; we arrange the PECO make-safe first.
- Tree RemovalA tree too close to a stone wall or foundation is taken down in sections from the top, never felled across the yard.
- Deadwood RemovalDead limbs in big, otherwise healthy crowns over patios and walks come out before the next windy night.
- Street Tree RemovalA dying tree in the sidewalk strip needs a Parks and Recreation permit before anyone touches it.
Where the yard runs into the Cresheim Valley
Park woodland frames the neighborhood. The Cresheim Valley runs along the northwest edge, with Chestnut Hill on the far side, and the Wissahickon Gorge follows the west side. A 2021 Inquirer analysis found Mount Airy and Roxborough, the two neighborhoods wrapped around Wissahickon Valley Park, each at 40 percent canopy or more.
For houses on that edge, the work often means a tree on your lot leaning toward the valley, or deadwood over a back patio. We take out only what is yours and leave the woods to the city.
Ardleigh Street, PECO and the service drop
In late August 2012 a falling tree pulled down power lines on the 6800 block of Ardleigh Street, on the East Mt. Airy and East Germantown line, and PECO restored power to 2,090 customers by 9:04 a.m. Before that, in February 2011, gusts above 40 mph left broken branches and downed trees across Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill.
PECO trims around its distribution lines but not the service line that runs from the pole to your house. That stretch is yours to keep clear. When limbs touch it, PECO can make the drop safe so the work can go ahead, and it asks for that request at least two weeks before the job, so we book it early.
The Germantown Avenue street trees
Along the commercial strip, the Mt. Airy Business District worked with Morris Arboretum on the Germantown Avenue trees from Cresheim Valley Drive to Washington Lane. Dying trees came down, others were pruned on the arboretum's advice, and 65 new trees were planned. Street trees on the side streets fall under the same city permit rules, which our street tree permit guide walks through.
Mount Airy tree questions
Yes. The climber works from the tree and every limb is tied and lowered, so no one needs to stand on the slate. Ladders go against the trunk, not the roof edge.
You do, through a contractor. PECO trims around its distribution lines only. It will make your service drop safe for the work if asked at least two weeks ahead.
We work on trees standing on your property and lower the wood toward your yard. Trees growing in the park woodland itself are managed by the city.
A tree in the sidewalk strip sits in the city right-of-way, and major pruning or removal needs a Parks and Recreation permit. We handle the permit step when we do the work.
Nearby neighborhoods we also cover
Limbs over the slate in Mount Airy?
Call us. We will look at the tree and the roof under it and explain how the work gets done without anything landing on the house.