"Lobster" wrote:
Just bought a house with one of those huge leylandii-type triffid things
(just one) planted outside the front door. Surveyor mentioned it as a
'caution', and no damage to the house is evident, but I defintely want rid
of it. The beast's trunk is about 4-5" diameter at the base; it reaches
up
to the guttering (1st floor, so about 17' tall?) and is only about 18"
from
the front wall of the house.

I believe that simply chopping it down could cause more harm than good, ie
if there are roots under the property which then rot away leaving
voids...
can anyone advise what I should do? Chop it down in stages? If so, by
how
much? and over what period?

If it's 17' tall. the root ball should be just over 3' wide. You might find
that
the roots don't go under the house at all. Maybe you could dig a small hole
between the tree and the house to have a look?

Al