Mike Rensner wrote:

Hello Mike

MR I have recently bought a house that has various young trees
MR planted near the foundations. This includes rowans and pine
MR trees.
MR Is there a safe distance for planting such trees? I am
MR willing to cut them down if they are too close.

Wish you'd defined "near".

Pines are shallow rooted and don't generally have roots that extend
far.

Rowans aren't particularly bad either. They don't grow particularly
high (I think they only /just/ classify as a "Tree" by growing above
35', like Hazel.) The suffer drought badly which suggests their root
system is not particularly deep or spreading.

But that said, any tree /near/ to footings is a potential problem,
it's just that "near" is a subjective term.

--
Simon Avery, Dartmoor, UK Ý http://www.digdilem.org/