root barriers -- protecting property from neighbor's trees
 

Rusty,

Sir, you are correct -- that property is more at risk, and that is
what I mentioned in a letter to the actual property owner (it is a
rental property).


"Rusty Mase" wrote in message ...
On 18 Jul 2004 18:49:12 -0700, (Frank)
wrote:

Does anyone have any first-hand experience in knowing the chances of
an Aristocrat Flowering Pear Tree causing damage to a home's
foundation?

Doing a little math here, the tree is 17 feet from your foundation and
assuming your neighbors' foundation, like yours, is 12 feet from your
common property boundary then the tree is only 7 feet from your
neighbor's foundation. The tree will thus destroy your neighbor's
home much sooner than yours. Your neighbor will likely eliminate the
tree when that foundation starts heaving and cracking - so you won't
really have to do anything.

I would be more irritated that this neighbor planted a FRUITLESS pear
tree. Otherwise you could have a knock-down, drag-out fight with your
neighbor over who can harvest the pears that occur above your
property.

root barriers -- protecting property from neighbor's trees
 

On 19 Jul 2004 08:37:55 -0700, (Frank)
wrote:
Sir, you are correct -- that property is more at risk, and that is
what I mentioned in a letter to the actual property owner (it is a
rental property).

Sorry Frank, I was being a little "sporting" on with my post. The
probability of a mid-sized ornamental tree developing a root system
that does physical damage to your slab and your utilities is
exceedingly low. Ornamental trees seldom survive for more than
several dozen years and their root systems do not have time to do
subsurface damage.

If the neighbor had planted, for instance, a Eucalyptus tree or some
other large tree species, then you might have concerns over limbs
falling on your house - and that would be a real worry. I have only
seen full-sized Eucalyptus trees in California and they are too big
and potentially destructive for me - at least one of the species I
have seen is.

So, my advice would be to ignore it and enjoy the tree. After all,
you will be supplying some of the water the tree is using and you
might just defer to the possibility it will be a "neighborly" asset.

Rusty Mase
Paisano Industries LLP
http://www.paisano.com