Heave?

[tim361]

Evening all. This is something I’ve never had to to deal with hence the questions. I’ve just been to look at a job which I’ve been asked to remove a small silver birch and a large cypress. The trees owner took me round to meet the neighbour who is concerned about heave it the trees are removed. The soil round here is a very small amount of top soil 150-200mm and then clay.

The silver birch is about a 300mm in diameter, 8m tall, and about 3m from a block paved drive. The cypress is 600mm in diameter, 18m tall, and 500mm from the wall of the neighbours house. 

They would like both trees down but the neighbour is concerned about the potential heave removing the trees could cause. Can anyone point me in the right direction or suggest a plan of action?

 

Cheers 

[monkeybusiness]

How old is the house? Is there any history of subsidence? 

[andy cobb]

I think a chat with local authority building control is your best bet.

They should have a series of charts showing species, soil type, height of tree etc that  they can refer to and hopefully offer a course of action to eliminate damage to footings etc

[tim361]

There’s not history of subsidence that I know of and the house was built early part of the last century. 

[Mark J]

Heave is unlikely to be a problem, as the property appears to predate the trees.  Expansion potential depends on the properties of the clay soil.