Taking out a Cypress near a house.

[WeleaseWoderwick]

Good evening,

 

I would really appreciate some advice about taking out a Cypress near to a house. I'll explaint the situation and what I know of the soil conditions and history and I have one or two photos.

 

We're buying a house. It's a fairly typical 1930s semi detached. We will be doing the usual kitchen extension. In the back garden within 6.5m of the house there is a mature Cypress tree. I think it is probably a Leylandi, which I also think is quite a high water demand tree. When we do the extension this tree will be sitting in the patio and dropping needles and cones all over the dining area plus blocking all the light into the back of the house. God knows why the little old lady who lived here prior planted it. Anyway whether the tree is coming out or not is irrelevent. It is coming out. The question is 'how?'

 

We are on good terms with our new neighbours. The tree overhangs their boundary and they are keen to see it go. They have an extension already, built first in 2001 and then when they moved in they demolished it and built a new extension on top of the existing foundations. The tree is within around 3m of their extension. They had agreed its removal last year because it was dropping all over their patio, but the little old lady bottled it at the last minute and in the end they agreed to crown it and lopped off every single bough overhanging the fence line. It is now about 10-15m tall and lopsided. I would estimate they've reduced it by >60% already.

 

Neither of the buildings have any evidence of subsidence or cracking. They are rendered, so if we had the typical step-like cracks it would be pretty obvious. These houses are all built on concrete raft foundations, and that is a consequence of the local ground conditions that I'll explain now.

 

The site is basically an old quarry that was excavated for gravel in the 1920s and then backfilled with industrial waste - rubble basically. The old Bank of England is down there somewhere, apparently. There is a layer of topsoil, which I estimate extends downwards for 1m before the rubble layer which goes all the way down as far as I know to the London Clay layer 9m below the surface. We have drains around 6m from the tree, and they have rubble in them so they have obviously been breached, presumably by roots. This implies the roots stretch 6m or so and are reasonably shallow. 1-2m deep max.

 

Here is a photograph:

 

My question is simply can we take this straight out or are we into reducing it further? When is the optimum time to do it? The schools of thought I've read online are:

1) Reduce it by 25% per year until it's < 30% of origial size and then take it out

2) Doing the above exacerbates soil recovery time so best just to crack on and wait 2 seasons before building

3) If there is no evidence of subsidence already then the tree can go, but best to wait until maximum soil dryness in late summer / early autumn to minimise any swelling problems (clay assumed).

 

We have not done any soil or ground investigations, but did talk to a groundsman at a nearby property on the same estate who was installing a sex pond / jacuzzi, he had exposed the rubble layer and said the topsoil was loamy.

 

Looking forward to any advice you guys can give. Hope that's enough information and not TLDR.

Thank you!

[Dan Maynard]

So neither your rubble layer nor topsoil are shrinkable clay? Can't see an issue then, take it out - not that big anyway.

[daveatdave]

it's only a twig get rid in one go. if you muck about like you are asking it will cost you 3x as much and no difference in the outcome  

[judastreefairy]

1 hour ago, WeleaseWoderwick said:

Good evening,

 

I would really appreciate some advice about taking out a Cypress near to a house. I'll explaint the situation and what I know of the soil conditions and history and I have one or two photos.

 

We're buying a house. It's a fairly typical 1930s semi detached. We will be doing the usual kitchen extension. In the back garden within 6.5m of the house there is a mature Cypress tree. I think it is probably a Leylandi, which I also think is quite a high water demand tree. When we do the extension this tree will be sitting in the patio and dropping needles and cones all over the dining area plus blocking all the light into the back of the house. God knows why the little old lady who lived here prior planted it. Anyway whether the tree is coming out or not is irrelevent. It is coming out. The question is 'how?'

 

We are on good terms with our new neighbours. The tree overhangs their boundary and they are keen to see it go. They have an extension already, built first in 2001 and then when they moved in they demolished it and built a new extension on top of the existing foundations. The tree is within around 3m of their extension. They had agreed its removal last year because it was dropping all over their patio, but the little old lady bottled it at the last minute and in the end they agreed to crown it and lopped off every single bough overhanging the fence line. It is now about 10-15m tall and lopsided. I would estimate they've reduced it by >60% already.

 

Neither of the buildings have any evidence of subsidence or cracking. They are rendered, so if we had the typical step-like cracks it would be pretty obvious. These houses are all built on concrete raft foundations, and that is a consequence of the local ground conditions that I'll explain now.

 

The site is basically an old quarry that was excavated for gravel in the 1920s and then backfilled with industrial waste - rubble basically. The old Bank of England is down there somewhere, apparently. There is a layer of topsoil, which I estimate extends downwards for 1m before the rubble layer which goes all the way down as far as I know to the London Clay layer 9m below the surface. We have drains around 6m from the tree, and they have rubble in them so they have obviously been breached, presumably by roots. This implies the roots stretch 6m or so and are reasonably shallow. 1-2m deep max.

 

Here is a photograph:

 

My question is simply can we take this straight out or are we into reducing it further? When is the optimum time to do it? The schools of thought I've read online are:

1) Reduce it by 25% per year until it's < 30% of origial size and then take it out

2) Doing the above exacerbates soil recovery time so best just to crack on and wait 2 seasons before building

3) If there is no evidence of subsidence already then the tree can go, but best to wait until maximum soil dryness in late summer / early autumn to minimise any swelling problems (clay assumed).

 

We have not done any soil or ground investigations, but did talk to a groundsman at a nearby property on the same estate who was installing a sex pond / jacuzzi, he had exposed the rubble layer and said the topsoil was loamy.

 

Looking forward to any advice you guys can give. Hope that's enough information and not TLDR.

Thank you!

Too much thinking, more cutting 👍👍

[Sviatoslav Tulin]

It’s a small tree and ugly, just removed .

[Botty Cough]

Fell it but check for birds first.

It's highly likely that it contains residents as blackbirds especially like them in urban areas ....

[manco]

tell me more about these sex ponds? 

oh and yeah drop the tree

[Steven P]

Shouldn't have mentioned the ponds,  suspect you will get 2 or 3, 4 max good answers before they get distracted by them....

 

Just from loitering on here long enough I'd say you are good to get rid of it. The main house foundations were built long before the tree so should be OK. Neighbours extension 20+ years old with no sign of damage, the tree might be younger than that so the foundations should be OK too.

 

Cost - you could reduce it in height a few times but each time it will cost as much as just felling it - need someone to climb it to do that. Depends on the garden and how much you value the lawn it might be able to be felled with no climber - cheaper - but get expert advice first.

 

 

Now... back to the ponds.....

[Con]

You've had a staged reduction, even if you didn't realise it. This might be recommended, although the jury is out on whether there is any benefit in most situations. Take the rest down without worrying too much. If you want to exercise extra caution leave 12 months before starting the build. 

Now, back to the jacuzzi.  The most common question asked on here is 'any pics?'

 

[Mark J]

A phased reduction is pointless, the soil will ultimately expand to its field capacity no matter how long you take to remove a tree.

[WeleaseWoderwick]

Thanks  very much for your helpful replies. I was minded to think with the house built on concrete overlying a load of concrete waste and only 1 metre or so of topsoil it would be fine to whip it out, glad to hear others concur.

So, out it comes directly then.

 

Now then, onto the sex pond. It is just one pond, I don't have any pictures but I can tell you a friend on the street has just done a loft conversion that I suspect has an advantageous outlook....