Trees within close proximity

[MrsGib]

Hello

 

Firstly, we are really grateful to have found this forum - so thank you in advance.

 

My husband and I have recently put an offer in on a house and the offer has been accepted.

 

The house runs alongside a cemetery, and the cemetery is tree-lined. Within five to ten metres to our hopeful new house are some rather substantially sized trees; Horse Chestnut, Sycamore and Yew trees. The trees all 'belong' to the local authority. We have checked and there are no TPOs on any of the trees.

 

We also have some trees in our garden, a couple of apple trees and a few others - however, these are much further away. We love that the trees are there - they really add beauty and character to the area.

 

We have some concerns (after reading horror stories) about the damage that can be done when trees and buildings are in close proximity to each other.

 

We are considering getting a full structural survey on the house but wondered if an Arborist report would be of more benefit. Could anyone please assist and tell us what the content would usually be within such report?

 

We really love the house and are really keen for the sale to go ahead, but we are new to tree ownership so want to make sure we get things right from the very beginning.

 

We are really grateful for any advice and look forward to hearing from you.

[neiln]

I'm not an expert but I'm a homeowner with subsidence due to shrinkage of clay soils caused by trees, so I know what the arborist report is likely to say. They use the general guide, closer than it is tall and it might be a problem. I had trouble from several Oaks in he region of 15 to 18m tall and about almost that far away. So 10m for a mature tree and they will probably say 'it might be a problem with roots likely to extend into the vicinity of the house'. They will probably go a little further....and note particular trees of concern, Oak and prunus for example take a lot of water, maple a lot less. However, if your soil isn't a susceptible type it matters little. I'd suggest investigating getting soil samples taken if your worried. a bore hole could be used to take samples down to 4 or 5m and these examined to determine firstly the soil type (and if it is susceptible to shrinkage) and secondly the moisture content/desiccation. If there are roots in the vicinity of the house, the soil will be desiccated to some degree (no matter what time of year, but especially now). You may even get roots in the samples.

 

Oh and just to add, subsidence isn't a nightmare....but getting the insurance company to get its thumb out its a*** and do something about it can be!

Edited October 1, 2016 by neiln

[agg221]

Personally I have little if any faith in such reports, structural, damp, woodworm etc as what you end up with is a survey loaded with caveats from a contractor, recommended by either the estate agent or mortgage company, who are looking for their next job and a quote for unnecessary work. You rarely, in my experience, get the person best qualified to provide an impartial survey.

 

Ed

 

One observation on this - if you find a surveyor who has no vested interest then you are less likely to get a biased opinion. This may cost more (there is no way to write off the cost against future work) but it is likely to result in picking up only the real issues.

 

When we bought our house, which is 500yrs old, thatched and listed, we had a 'discussion' with the mortgage company. They wanted us to use a surveyor from their list, I wanted to use one recommended from the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) list as they tend to be specialists. In the mortgage company agreed that I was looking to use a higher qualified surveyor than they were recommending and as such they would have a better survey report to work from. That's the way we went and I was quite happy with the outcome (such verbal comment as 'don't worry that the rafters look like twigs at the top - they've done 500yrs so there is no reason to worry about modern building regs, and the woodworm in them has probably been there nearly as long!')

 

Alec