by Anura Guruge
on January 7, 2023
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This was a BIG, HEAVY tree. The largest tree we have had in a long time — if not ever.
As I talked about in this post I used about 70 lbs of weights on top of & around the plastic tree stand to make sure it did not tip over. The main weight was a large rock. The weights, to be fair, did their job. The tree felt pretty solid once it was up & straightened. Then they strung the lights & a lot of decorations. Obviously shifted the weight distribution. It started to lean forward ever so slightly. It probably would not have tipped over BUT I was not taking any chances. There was way too many breakable on the tree & around it.
As is my wont I pondered over the problem. Occurred to me that a wedge, at the TOP, might work given that the top of the tree was strong & sturdy (i.e., NOT limp). I tried with a couple of pieces of wood. It seemed to work BUT it was not pretty. My daughter would never let me get away with it. So, I found a large wooden dowel & drilled a hole in it. Then I put it over the tree & wedged it against the ceiling. Just for the record, the ceiling in that corner, has seen 16-years of Christmas tree ABUSE. So, I really didn’t mind a few more scuffs. They remind us of all the Christmas trees we struggled with.
My wedge WORKED. Worked real well. Today we took it down. But the wedge kept it in place for 2-weeks. It didn’t even move 1/2 an inch. WE KNOW. We made some marks on the ceiling as check-marks. The tree did NOT move.
