Should I stay or should I go?

[Ste2021]

Hi I have a 25 year old sycamore tree in my garden which predates a nearby conservatory (about 20 feet away, built 15 years ago). There has been some movement in the conservatory brickwork in recent years which may be caused by the roots, I have attached a mechanism which details little or no movement over the last 6 months so it may have settled. The dilemma I now have is whether I should (A) remove the tree or (B) keep it. I have invited tree sugeons and builders to give advice and estimates for works but they seem to steer in the direction that best suits their pocket. The tree does need pruning and I am inclined to do that and patch up the brickwork/continue to monitor but there seems to be some risk either way. Any advice gratefully received!

[Mull]

From a builders perspective. If the worst subsidence is shown in the pic and there has been no movement in 6 months then I would advise.
Dig a soakaway in the garden to take the rainwater instead of it just dispersing into the ground. Cluck out the damaged muck and repoint. Sit under neath the shade of the tree and have a beer and admire your work.
In my opinion the rainwater is far more likely to cause the minimal subsidence shown than the tree

Spot on, why overcomplicate what appears on the face of it a minor issue unlikely to be tree related and more likely a bit of a dodgy conservatory build.

[Khriss]

1 hour ago, benedmonds said:

Just remove the tree, it will outgrow it's location, it has reverted to type, it's too close to the house and I doubt it has anything to do the damsge. 

 

Spending £1000's getting all those reports would be a complete waste if time.. It's a crappy 25 year old Acer. Next to a shoddy falling down conservatory.

 

What are you going to do if the tree is causing subsidence?

Fell it and fix the problem.

 

What are you going to do if the report say it might cause heave?

Fell it and fix the problem or keep the tree and hope it never dies?

If i had followed that line, we would have accepted liability on a 6 figure repair bill on a property 2 yrs ago, i dug my heels in on that one and after much back and forth, structural issues were found in the build design. They paid. We didnt. K

[daveatdave]

I had a 80/100 ft. sycamore tree in my garden (it was there before the house was built) about 7mts away from the house  after it was removed I built a extension and only came across 1 root that was about 30mm when I dug out the footings  and that was about 4mt from where the tree was