OK to chop down leylandii next to house?
 

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?

Thanks
David

"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

In uk.d-i-y 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.

4-5", that's tiny! We have Leylandii with 12" or more diameter trunks
down either side of our drive (we are cutting them down slowly).


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 really is only the size you say then the roots won't be all that
big or long, just cut it down. It also takes a *long* time for
Leylandii to rot so I don't think you'll get voids at all (anyway it
would only rot down to an earth like consistency wouldn't it?).

--
Chris Green

"Lobster" wrote in message
...
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?

I heard that leylandi roots are very shallow anyway - that's why they blow
over easily

At that size it has not gone anywhere where it will cause damage. Just
dig it up as soon as possible. It has to go.

Fist cut it down to about four feet and use the remaining part of the
stem to rock it as you dig. You will have it up in a few minutes.

Regards,
Emrys Davies.



"AK" wrote in message
...

"Lobster" wrote in message
...
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?

I heard that leylandi roots are very shallow anyway - that's why they
blow
over easily

Emrys Davies wrote:
:: At that size it has not gone anywhere where it will cause damage.
:: Just dig it up as soon as possible. It has to go.
::
:: Fist cut it down to about four feet and use the remaining part of
:: the stem to rock it as you dig. You will have it up in a few
:: minutes.
::
:: Regards,
:: Emrys Davies.
::
Or do what I did, chop it down at ground level or a few inches above and
stick a planter over the stump until it's rotted away!

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?

You should be OK. Subsidence is often caused by the tree sucking large
amounts of water out of clay soil. The a tree of the size and species you
have should not be a problem. Cutting it off level with the ground is best
since you will not disturb the roots. They will take ages to rot so don't
worry about them. It would be a different matter if you had something like a
willow that is the thirstiest of the lot.

"Lobster" wrote in message ...

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...

I once had an involvment with a house which had a 'screen' of 20'-25'
leylendii planted along a path, about 3' from the wall. The building
had cracked & was being monitored by a surveyor. His advice then was
to trim them. The trees had caused subsidence by sucking water from
the sub-soil making it contract. Removing the trees would have caused
swelling of the sub-soil, and would have further added to the
problems.

I'd think you should fell it in instalments, but leave a 6'or 8' stub
to finally lever the roots out, as previously suggested by another.

"Lobster" wrote in
:

It's probably best to pour a gallon of petrol over it then light it

"Lobster" wrote in message
...
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 only 18" away from the wall of the house, it would seem prudent to
remove it now. If the house has suspended as opposed to solid ground floors,
the lateral pressure of the root ball could cause a problem if the tree were
allowed to continued to grow.

Being old and lazy, I'd hire someone to remove it and take it away!

"alan" wrote in message
...
"Lobster" wrote in
:

It's probably best to pour a gallon of petrol over it then light it

On the 5th Nov?

--
Tumbleweed

Remove my socks for email address

In article , "Lobster"
says...
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?

I had a ten foot one a couple of feet from the back corner of the house
that was blocking the garden path, I cut it back hard on that side and
it died. I gave it a shove and it just toppled, the root ball was less
than a foot across with a few straggly roots reaching out.

N. Thornton wrote:
wrote in message
...

4-5", that's tiny! We have Leylandii with 12" or more diameter
trunks down either side of our drive (we are cutting them down
slowly).

Can you saw Leylandii up and use it as pine?

Probably; cypress wood is sometimes used, though of course it isn't
pine, and I've no idea of its characteristics. But you'd need a tall
trunk a lot thicker than 12" at the base to get any usable timber.

Mike.

In uk.d-i-y Mike Lyle wrote:
N. Thornton wrote:
wrote in message
...

4-5", that's tiny! We have Leylandii with 12" or more diameter
trunks down either side of our drive (we are cutting them down
slowly).

Can you saw Leylandii up and use it as pine?

Probably; cypress wood is sometimes used, though of course it isn't
pine, and I've no idea of its characteristics. But you'd need a tall
trunk a lot thicker than 12" at the base to get any usable timber.

It's actually quite a lot denser and harder than pine.

When we started cutting down our biggish Leylandii I spent quite a
while searching around the internet to find what the wood was going to
be like, principally for burning on our stove.

Basically it's not half so bad as some people try and persuade you
(as wood that is, no comment on the beauty or otherwise of the trees).
If dried enough, as most other wood, it burns quite satisfactorily.
One site I found rated it as middling quality for burning which is about
our experience.

One other thing it's very good for is surviving untreated out of
doors. We have some 4" to 6" diameter posts laid on the ground to
mark out an arena that have been there for several years now and
they're still very sound even though the horses have chewed the bark
off completely.

--
Chris Green