Trees are valued from the surroundings due to their ability to offer shade, wind protection, water filtration and beauty to the landscape. As lovely as trees are, the frequently significant damage sometimes due to their roots isn’t too wonderful and can mean thousands of dollars in repair costs to foundations, buildings, backyards, pipes and pavement systems. Bad planning is frequently the offender, as is selecting the incorrect type of tree to plant in a particular place.
Damage to Buildings and Foundations
Despite the fact that tree roots grow quite slowly, they exert tremendous amounts of stress on what they are growing through or close. As they go through the earth in their eternal search for water and nutrients, they displace the dirt around them. Clay soils compact more tightly, while loose, dry dirt in arid spaces shifts and becomes ineffective at supporting a structural load. While the roots themselves aren’t capable of causing direct damage to buildings and foundations, increasingly greater soil displacement can compromise the integrity of this dirt the construction sits on as well as its supporting structure. If dirt moves, then whatever is sitting it moves, also. Old construction materials which have deteriorated over the years can climb or settle as the dirt displaced by extensive tree root systems moves, and the structures might develop cracks which smaller tree roots may be able to penetrate.
Plumbing Damage
With the exception of garden sheds and treehouses, most buildings intended for human use or habitation have some sort of drainage system which disposes of water and sewage. By its very design, such a system is a potent attractant to tree roots, particularly in areas that see little annual rainfall. Many species of trees, such as willows, maples and aspens, are particularly invasive, as their root systems can develop as far as they have to in search of water. Standard drainage-field pipes are perforated to permit for movement of wastewater in the building’s interior plumbing to the ground. Roots can easily be able to develop in these holes and in severe cases can completely block pipes into the stage that they sometimes split and therefore are no longer usable. Old clay pipes whose joints have deteriorated over time can also be susceptible to invasion by neighboring roots and eventually crack under the pressure they exert.
Landscape Damage
While trees are viable additions to the landscape, their roots can take over areas intended for other plants and ruin elaborate and expensive plantings. As some species of trees era, roots become visible through the surface of the soil, a process assisted by wind and erosion. Trees that grow tightly together are sometimes forced to compete for water and nutrients, and gardening is limited from the spaces around and between them because of intertwined roots growing just beneath the surface of the dirt. If put down too thinly over a place close or between trees, asphalt might buckle, bulge and eventually crack. While tree roots typically don’t penetrate solid concrete, walkways and other paved areas may buckle because of soil movement that the roots generate.
Considerations
Prevention is key to avoiding expensive tree root damage. This includes selecting only those types of trees and shrubs which pose the least danger to structural systems of any type. While there is absolutely no ironclad guarantee that a tree roots will not someday make their way below a foundation or into a sloping bed, planting trees at least 50 feet away from all structures or systems is a good beginning. As for established plantings which are causing problems, sometimes the only solution would be to cut down the tree and remove as much of the root system as you can prior to making any repairs to damaged structures. According to the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors, there’s absolutely no reliable method for homeowners to predict precisely how far a tree’s roots will increase in search of water.