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Joined: Oct 2000
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This is from a recently construction condo project in Long Branch, NJ $1 mil+ condo's built on the ocean. This started as a service call to one of our customers who just moved in to get their phones working.
The installer of the low voltage wiring put data jacks on the phone wires and phone jacks on the data wires. It was ugly. But in tracing the phone wires, we had to get into Verizon's demarc box. Thats the brown box to the right of the meter stack
- mahlere ![[Linked Image]](https://www.electrical-contractor.net/Forum/Images/Clearance053.jpg) ![[Linked Image]](https://www.electrical-contractor.net/Forum/Images/Clearance054.jpg)
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Looks like there's a good 6 inches between the units and those trees. What more d'ya want?! ![[Linked Image]](https://www.electrical-contractor.net/ubb/biggrin.gif) Seriously though, I've found more outside boxes/junctions etc. covered up like that than I care to remember. Quite often the homeowner has deliberately planted stuff right in front to cover up "all that ugly electrical stuff." ![[Linked Image]](https://www.electrical-contractor.net/ubb/frown.gif)
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Joined: Apr 2004
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Thus the need for RealTree camoflage enclosures.
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Joined: Mar 2005
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Six inches!!!??? Those shrubs look decidedly like the dreaded Cupressocyparis Leylandii, and if so there will be no clearance at all in very short order without constant clipping.
The variety is a cross between the Monrerey Cypress, Cupressocyparis Macrocarpa and the Alaskan Cedar, Chamaecyparis Nootkatensis, and was only discovered in South Wales, UK, in 1888, a very rare breeding of two softwood species. It is widely advertised now in the US as an 'ideal fast-growing hedge', and believe me, it is fast, 3-4 feet a year no sweat. A UK Act of Parliament passed in 2002 gave Local Councils the right to cut down any tree above 6 ft 6" high, such is its notoriety for causing boundary disputes in suburbia over rights to light. No one knows for sure how big it could eventually grow, but 250 feet is a certainty given its vigor and parentage.
We removed 27 of these pests when we bought this house. They were 14 years old, with a height of over 35 feet and with 8" diameter boles. A 4WD Tractor failed to shift the stumps and they had to be dug out by hand, the roots being very tough.
It's never a good idea to plant hedges or trees near a structure anyway, due to root damage to drains and foundations.
Alan
Wood work but can't!
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I think that this is what they turn into: ![[Linked Image]](https://www.electrical-contractor.net/forum/el/pltree1.jpg) In addition to hiding the unsightly power lines, etc., they're good for lifting house eaves, and if you want to become a Spider Rancher, you can with all the webs in the foliage. The little "pine cones" that grow on them are hard as a rock and great for throwing at things. Other than that, they're useless, In this case the roots probably won't do a World of good for the underground utilities that someone almost dug up to plant them.
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I've got to agree 100% with the comments made....homeowners seem to have a religious passion for hiding the utilities!
Especially with new homes, there is a tendency to plant fast-growing plants, and plant them far too close to buildings, walks, and drives.
Many have been the times when the first tool I reach for is a pair of pruning shears!
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Joined: Nov 2005
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But these weren't homeowner installed. This is in a brand new condo development. These were spec'd by an architect, a landscape architect (presumably) the builder (not a small outfit) and the landscape contractor. here is a link to the development http://www.appliedco.com/properties/sales/bluffs.shtml
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I must apologize. The pic I put above is NOT the same kind of bush/tree as the one shown above. Sorry, my mistake ![[Linked Image]](https://www.electrical-contractor.net/ubb/redface.gif)
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The original pics are definitely Cypresses, but could indeed be Montereys. Not easy to differentiate with just photos. I did some research and found that Leylandii grow faster in wetter British climates than in the US, and there are fungii which attack them in the US too. The original 1888 tree got blown down in a storm at Parkwood House, near Welshpool in 1954, but cuttings had already been taken. Sports have already appeared, [for cuttings this usually entails damaged DNA by virus attack ] so color variants are extant from grey thro light green. The biggest tree I could find was planted in 1966 and now tops 100 feet. 'Leyland' was a relative of the owner of Parkwood, who sent foliage to Kew Gardens in 1888 for comformation of the new species, BTW.
I must say that kept trimmed 3 or 4 times a year, it does make a lovely dense and topiary-able hedge, in the right place.
When neglected and then hacked back it looks dreadful- foliage will never regrow off the trunk once cut back too far, leaving a tangled brown mess with a green top! I prefer mixed hardwood heges, predominantly birch, with holly, elder, sweet chestnut, hazel, quick-thorn [hawthorn], etc. Although the leaves come off in the fall, they get full of small birds in summer, feed the birds in winter, let lots of light through, act as a windbreak and can be trimmed back to a neat hedge if required. Not instant though, which in this age is what makes Leylandii popular, to cover the unsightly [ to laymens' eyes! ] electrical stuff....
Alan
Wood work but can't!
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From Alan Belson: (Click on each link for the picture in question). Here are some pics of 'electrically-friendly' and easy to manage hedges, as alternatives to leylandii and other so called 'fast' hedging. Pic #1 -- A 4 year old mixed-hardwood hedge shown in spring. Mixed birch, chestnut, hazel, elder, oak, crack-willow and holly at 10"-15" centers. Establishes surprisingly fast and gives a good hedge in only 2 or 3 seasons. Cut only once a year in autumn by walking a hedge trimmer along, taking off perhaps 12" of growth to desired height, it's dense in summer and open fall/winter/spring. Good for small birds, hazelnuts, chestnuts etc., and you get a good supply of small twigs for plant supports, leaves for the compost bin and a windbreak Note the same hedging species used by local farmers in the background, with a mix of mature trees and hedging, used as a resource for firewood, fence-posts etc., - the legendary French bocage. Pic #2 -- Hedge in full leaf mid summer showing the lovely dense foliage, behind my grand-daughters gardening in the veg patch. In the foreground is a parterre of box set round a herb garden. The pea-sticks came out of the hedge. These are 10 year old box plants, close-trimmed once a year. Pic #3 -- A similar parterre growing round a gooseberry patch, again 10 year old plants. Easy to take cuttings from, box forms a neat, tight hedge eventually, and only grows 3 or 4 inches a year. Needs patience and time to get results, and must be trimmed/trained for compact form. Good for topiary. Pic #4 -- Patience is rewarded, but not in one lifetime, unfortunately. An awesome 9 foot plus high box hedge, over 100 years old, dwarfs Mrs B. by a strawberry patch. No danger of this growing into powerlines! Only trimmed every other year, with occasional trips into the interior to snip off blackberry [briar] stems that tend to come up through from the pasture behind. Bonus: Odd stray branches are hoarded and dried for turning light pulls etc. - it's an extremely fine-grained cream colored dense hard wood. The grey and off-white thing is our Shitzui, William. [This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 04-23-2006).]
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