Trees growing out of a rock face

[David Riding]

I have a few friends who have houses situated in an old sandstone quarry and were asking if large oak trees growing out of the face will cause potential rock fall, I cant see any cracks in the rock, is there a way this could be monitored apart from the the obvious signs of cracks.

[gibbon]

Maybe not. I will take a photo of the infamous Dark Lane near me over the weekend. Its a road cut 30feet through sandstane with Large Oaks dropping roots down over the road. Never seen a rock fall or a live tree fail and I known of it 30 years

[Stephen Blair]

my mate had to break up a boulder that fell out of a sandstone rockface, it was about the size of a transit van. i also used to top a dumpy wee oak above a main rd, it was about 100ft up, it fell off one day and crushed a brand new merc van. 30years is a long time to us david but in the world of trees its nothing or with us up here it is twice as long as a coppice should be done again, most of out cliff faces havent been done for 50 years or so, it is just a matter of time and gravity mate, new zealand gets Treelanches in the south island and it can take weeks to clear. get them felled mate.

[David Riding]

my mate had to break up a boulder that fell out of a sandstone rockface, it was about the size of a transit van. i also used to top a dumpy wee oak above a main rd, it was about 100ft up, it fell off one day and crushed a brand new merc van. 30years is a long time to us david but in the world of trees its nothing or with us up here it is twice as long as a coppice should be done again, most of out cliff faces havent been done for 50 years or so, it is just a matter of time and gravity mate, new zealand gets Treelanches in the south island and it can take weeks to clear. get them felled mate.

 

There covered by TPO so will probably have to get a report done first,

[Stephen Blair]

he who pesters the tree officer the most wins. get one of the old retired residents to phone, text, email, fax the poor guy or lady all day long. give it a week and the box will get ticked just for an easy life. this is only my opinion based on what i heard down the pub:001_tt2:

[ukminch]

It would be expensive to monitor. I did a job in a quarry in W-S-M that was similar, in a conservation area but no TPO's. Cracking two days work in the sun with nice views. Personal opinion is at somepoint it will be a problem, sandstone doesn't hold rock climbing gear well and I'd have thought it would be similar scenario. The question is when will it become a problem.

 

For liability purposes send in a TPO app then if it's refused the council has a liability as they have refused the work. Obviously doesn't help if it's more than property thats damaged.

 

R

[David Riding]

Personal opinion is at somepoint it will be a problem, sandstone doesn't hold rock climbing gear well and I'd have thought it would be similar scenario.

 

You not wrong a few months back me and a climber friend did some vegetation clearance on the same rock face but rather than abseil down we thought we would have a bit of fun and climb up first, my mate led on the the first climb, he slipped and his first bit of protection (a friend / cam) ripped out far too easily, he only fell 8 foot mind, maybe luck though.

[ukminch]

You got over your pig flue yet? It can be surprising though, at helsby I overcammed a big camalot in a crack. We thought it would come out with a good pull so on a top rope I lobbed off on it, didn't move even with a fat git on the end!! Was there for a good few years until someone managed to get it out somehow.

 

R

[combined tree services]

i used to work for a company called Celtic Rock , my job there was taking trees and other vegitation off of rock faces befort they drill, bolt and mesh the rock faces to stabalise them . personally i would recomend getting a geolicical / structural enginer in to have a look but it will not be cheep at all . good luck mate

[Lyn Ed]

saw some oaks badly hanging over a rock face while on holiday the other day in Dawlish Warren, in Devon, dont know about rock falls but the trees themselves looked really dodgy.