interseting piece on clay soils

[Ian Flatters]

Interaction Between Trees, Sensitive Clay Soils and Your Foundation | CMHC

 

I found this today whilst doing some investigation on a conservatory which me thinks is going to have to come down and be re-built:thumbdown:. Anyho thought it explained the zone of influence very well.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Nice one ian, re iterates exactly my thoughts!

 

"Although not as effective as regular watering, pruning can play an important role in reducing the mass of trees, including both above ground branches and below ground roots, and therefore the amount of water needed to meet the trees’ biological requirements.This is also why mature trees have the greatest risk of contributing to soil shrinkage."

[William]

Nice one ian, re iterates exactly my thoughts!

 

"Although not as effective as regular watering, pruning can play an important role in reducing the mass of trees, including both above ground branches and below ground roots, and therefore the amount of water needed to meet the trees’ biological requirements.This is also why mature trees have the greatest risk of contributing to soil shrinkage."

 

I always thought that hacking off branches increased a trees ‘biological requirements’ as it forces the tree into producing new growth? Also, wouldn’t an early mature tree that is putting on lots of new growth have more biological requirements than a mature tree. And also, don’t trees transpire many hundreds of gallons of water per day in the summer – how long would it take to re-hydrate the ground between your tree and foundations using a hose to compensate?

[TerryTibbs]

Within the past 2 months i am aware of 2 semi-mature ash trees having to be removed due to this, drying of clay soil (the whole estate is built on clay!) on this particular house resulting in the foundations dropping. Fortunately after a 3-4 year battle the insurance company have paid out.

We did a pruning job on another ash to the side of these as the clients weren't entitled to betterment of their situation.