Root spread in a Beech tree

[ninemill]

Hello everyone,

 

Please feel free to ignore/delete this post if not appropriate to the forum.

 

I've just bought a house with a Copper Beech tree in the front garden. It's blocking out a LOT of light and obscuring the front of the house, as well as interfering with the telephone lines.

 

We've had a couple of tree surgeons out to have a look and both have suggested removal of the tree. "It's the wrong type of tree in the wrong location".

 

The tree is about 25' tall, with a trunk diameter of about 45cm. The trunk is just over 3m from the bay window at the front of the house and the branches are brushing on the windows so I would say they have a radius of about 4m.

 

I'm having difficulty finding out the likely spread of the roots of a tree of this type, and the possible repercussions of removing it. Also, is there anything I can plant in it's place (a smaller, more manageable tree?) to help compensate for it's water uptake?

 

Any insight from experts would be gratefully received.

[Amelanchier]

Welcome to the forum. Your post is absolutley appropriate - its what we're here for!

 

Putting the obvious future conflict between your house and the above ground parts of the tree to one side for a moment (which IMO are probably sufficient to justify its removal), what soil type are you on and was the house built before the tree planted?

[ninemill]

I'm pretty sure the house pre-dates the tree, I know little about them but people who've seen it seem to think it does. The house is a 1930s semi.

 

According to the LandIS soilscapes viewer (no idea how accurate this is) says "Slowly permeable seasonally wet acid loamy and clayey soils".

[Amelanchier]

I only asked because as a rule of thumb, you can't suffer heave from removing a tree unless;

 

a) the soil contains a sufficient proportion of shrinkable clay,

b) the tree dessicated the soil upon which the house was built.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about the spread of the roots in regard to direct damage to the house as the soil underneath the building is rather inhospitable (dry, nutrient poor and with little gaseous exchange). They may proliferate around the sides of the foundation however where condensation and rain is focused and of course they love a knackered drain.

 

If you are worried about heave / susidence you'll probably need to contact a structural engineer as we'll just be able to give you the broad strokes of the picture.

[eggsarascal]

Hello everyone,

 

Please feel free to ignore/delete this post if not appropriate to the forum.

 

I've just bought a house with a Copper Beech tree in the front garden. It's blocking out a LOT of light and obscuring the front of the house, as well as interfering with the telephone lines.

 

We've had a couple of tree surgeons out to have a look and both have suggested removal of the tree. "It's the wrong type of tree in the wrong location".

 

The tree is about 25' tall, with a trunk diameter of about 45cm. The trunk is just over 3m from the bay window at the front of the house and the branches are brushing on the windows so I would say they have a radius of about 4m.

 

I'm having difficulty finding out the likely spread of the roots of a tree of this type, and the possible repercussions of removing it. Also, is there anything I can plant in it's place (a smaller, more manageable tree?) to help compensate for it's water uptake?

 

Any insight from experts would be gratefully received.

 

Post up some pics of the tree and the area around it, showing any drain covers and the like, it will help the lads and lasses on here give you a better answer to your question.

[ninemill]

Thanks for the replies guys, very much appreciated. I've got a few pictures here of the tree, I'll take another couple focussing on the state of the surrounding ground tonight. The tree has put a crack down the garden wall already.

[ninemill]

Oh, and there's this too...

[tommer9]

Do you want to remove the tree?

[ninemill]

Yeah we do, it blocks off the whole of the front of the house and will be a maintenance cost going forward to keep it pollarded. We just don't want to inadvertently damage the house by acting too hastily.

 

We've got a beautiful Magnolia tree in the back garden which we'd much rather dedicate our resources to!

[tommer9]

You see i dont think that the roots are a problem at the moment. Pollarding is not your only option, and I believe not your best. In the long term this tree will probably have to come out. The root damage from the road and pavement, the root damage to the road and pavement and possible root interference with your property and underground services will all eventually contribute to necessitating this. However if you were to raise the crown and thin the crown out you would still have the benefits of a beautiful tree,(and we all know that these are manifold), but would also get the light back into your house. YOu also wouldnt have the repeated regular cost of maintaining a pollard.