How about dilling a hole in your head and filling it with something toxic?
At lest the tree gives off O2 and not troll waste like yours.


--

The Lone Sidewalk Astronomer of Rosamond
Telescope Buyers FAQ
http://home.inreach.com/starlord
Astronomy Net Online Gift Shop
http://www.cafepress.com/astronomy_net



"Peter Jason" wrote in message
...

I would not want to live near you, I always heard New Zealand was a
peacefull place. But your "Good neighbor is a dead one" sure is not
peacefully, I'd have to set up some claymores and a few punji stakes to keep
you off my land.


--

The Lone Sidewalk Astronomer of Rosamond
Telescope Buyers FAQ
http://home.inreach.com/starlord
Astronomy Net Online Gift Shop
http://www.cafepress.com/astronomy_net



"Peter Jason" wrote in message
...
Thanks. But I am surprised by many of the other posts which are less than
sympathetic to my weighty problem about this errant tree.

Well after the tree dies and they can plainly see it's death was caused by
you and the first good storm hits and the tree falls and crush's your house,
I'll wonder who you'll blame for that?

Look in the mirror at the dipstick.


--

The Lone Sidewalk Astronomer of Rosamond
Telescope Buyers FAQ
http://home.inreach.com/starlord
Astronomy Net Online Gift Shop
http://www.cafepress.com/astronomy_net



"Peter Jason" wrote in message
...
O thank you!

This supportive post has steeled my resolve to undertake the death of this
tree and I shall follow your advice to the letter.

I have long been vary of neighbours and have always lived on a corner
(you get one less) and everything I do and don't do is calculated to avoid
them.

I have no experience with lawyers in these situations, but the business
world has taught me that once one has entered a dispute with anyone, the
lawyers play cat and mouse with both sides to make as much money as
possible for themselves. Lawyers are useful for setting up contracts etc
and possibly investigating a prospective neighbour to see if he is barking
mad, but they should be assiduously avoided. For example, how high can
one build a boundary fence?

Friends of mine who have become enmeshed in these neighbour-disputes find
themselves in a lengthy war of attrition with endless visits to
"tribunals" of varying sorts where the wheels grind extremely slowly.

And dogs? When I was a boy, the neighbourhood where I lived was notorious
for poisoned pooches. The technique was to get a lump of meat and cut a
slot into which one inserted a quantity of strychnine, thereby
guaranteeing the demise of a barking pest. They are easy to kill.












"Gideon" wrote in message
...
Peter,

Usually, talking to a neighbor about the fact that his tree is
damaging or threatening your property is a futile effort. Most
neighbors are inconsiderate morons who don't give a damn if
their tree, pets or kids are making your life miserable. Generally,
talking with them only draws attention to you and you then
become the first suspect when something happens to the tree.

Trust me, I spent the first couple of decades as a homeowner
attempting to make very rare and very tactful request to neighbors.
It usually just doesn't work. I should have learned more quickly
that I'm not going to get any compromise from morons who put
a compost pile at the property line 8 feet from my deck, who
let their dog bark for 9 hours a day & 5 days per week, or who let
their pets run free every day.

I got my wakeup call about 20 years ago when a next-door neighbor
sprayed a general herbicide on parts of his lawn and the chemical
leeched over to my side of the property and killed a lot of grass,
my organic vegetable garden, well established grape vines and
my raspberry plants. His response? "Hey, I didn't spray anything
on your side of the property. What happens underground isn't my
problem."

Personally, I'd appreciate any knowledge-based legal advise on
solving problems such as yours. I have removed my large trees
to alleviate a number of problems (clogged gutters, clogged drain
tile, pressure on basement walls, poor lawn due to water competition,
etc.) But I am still stuck with neighbors trees presenting the same
problems for me. Morons grow big trees very close to the property
line, ignoring the impact upon folks such as you and me.

Friendly talks with my neighbors are futile - they'll "permit" light
pruning
of limbs on my side of the property (at my expense, of course). In
general, they will "permit" pruning of about 10% of the limbs and none
of the roots on my property. All I get from my neighbors is large limbs
falling on my property and on my roofs during every heavy storm, in
addition to the clogged drains, poor grass, heaved concrete, etc.

Rent a trencher. Dig a trench around the perimeter of your property
to cut every root entering your property. Drill 1/2" holes in the
largest
root stubs and fill with Ortho Roundup. Repeat once a week for 4 weeks.

Copper salts are very harmful to living plants, but Roundup is much,
much better. Be certain to buy the largest container of Roundup with
the highest concentration of the active ingredient. I believe that this
is 41% concentration and it costs about $40 for a quart or so of the
product. Apply at full strength. Be patient.

You can also drill large holes in the roots, drive copper pipes into
the holes and fill the pipes with copper salts. Still, Roundup is more
effective.

Of course, don't do this if it is illegal in your community.

Remember, once you have a friendly & futile talk with your neighbors,
you can no longer be covert. They will now suspect you if anything
happens to their precious trees (or pets, etc.).

Peter Jason wrote:
Well the thing is lifting the pavement and its roots are crawling into my
drains and blocking them.

Also it is sucking all the water from the subsoil under the house and cracks
are appearing in the walls.

This is real damage, and the tree's owner is responsible. Take him to
court. Established tort law tells you that you can sue for damages to
your property caused by that tree. You can probably start with small
claims court, depending on the dollar limits in your state or province.

I want to get rid of it before something catastrophic happens!

Common law says you can cut off any part of the tree that overhangs your
property. I don't know if that includes roots. You don't need
permission, but it might be politic to tell the neighbour what you
intend. Just make sure you don't encraoch on the neighbour's property.
IOW, if you kill the tree, you've damaged his property, and he can sue
you, and you can be charged with mischief or worse.

In most cities and towns, there will be ordinances that you can use to
make the tree-owner do what needs to be done, or get the city to cut
down the tree. If the tree belongs to the city, you may have to sue. But
the city should have rules and procedures about maintaining the "urban
forest", so there should be no problem, apart from the usual bureacratic
delays.