Trees are the devil!

Dr. Frenchenstein

Sorry for the two topics, but i feel this one deserves it's own thread.

My neighbors have a very large tree on the border of our yards. The tree is on their side, but the roots are encroaching into mine. My parents had a concrete slab for a porch back in the day, and the roots destroyed that (huge cracks, we had to bust it up and replace it). Now it's laid brick, and what started out flat is becoming warped. It also looks like it's about to bust through the privacy fence between our yards. the roots are also right at the surface of the ground, which makes for an ugly lawn. Somehow, their porch, which is right next to the tree is fine (looks like solid concrete, with large stone accents on top), while mine is getting raped. Do i have any recourse? should i dig up the roots and kill them at the surface, or will that kill the tree? It's a large tree, so them cutting it down isn't very feasible i don't think. or should i just burn everything down for the insurance money?

rfalias

Drive a copper spike into one(root).
Don't actually do that.

You should be able to cut what ever is on your property line. If it kills the tree then oh well, their fault!
At least that makes sense to me!

VisionOfClarity

Find out what the local laws are in your area before you do anything.

Klorgnum

rfalias wrote: »

You should be able to cut what ever is on your property line. If it kills the tree then oh well, their fault!

Maybe, maybe not. It seems pretty likely to me that there could be legal problems if anything you do harms the tree (of course, this is entirely dependent on where you live). Have you tried speaking with your neighbours?

claypoolfan

Call your town's building inspector, who will come and tell your neighbors to remove it.

atma

All I want to say about this subject is that although I know the concept of ownership is probably really important to you, and it's great being the son or daughter who handles the big responsibilties, and especially since the roots of the tree sound like they're fucking up your repeated efforts to have just a basic porch, this probably seems a big problem and all, but if the tree is really that big, it's probably quite old and

You should respect the life of everything, and especially something quite possibly older than you and your parents.

(Um, do you know what specie of tree it is?)

Dr. Frenchenstein

apparently the fence belongs to the neighbors, so there is that. But it is very much encroaching on my lawn. I'd rather not destroy the tree, but i'd also like to be able to have a comfortable back yard. I don't know if they put some sort of root blocking...thing... in their yard, or whatever, but my yard is definitely getting the brunt of the root issues.

I have no idea how old the tree is, or what kind (it drops those helicopter seed pods, so i could probably find out pretty easily), but i highly doubt it's a protected tree. I'd agree if it were "blocking my view" of the water, or something. I'm honestly worried it's going to bust up the foundation one day.

tehmarken

Have you gone and talked to your neighbour yet? That should be number one. Go over and just say "Hey, did you know your tree's roots are growin into my yard? And they're damaging stuff. What can we do about this?" etc. Don't be combatative, and don't be accusing; just talk with them about the tree, as if it were a completely seperate third party.

And then look up laws, building inspector, etc. Home owner's association if there's one.

CycloneRanger

Sounds like a maple tree. They're pretty, especially in the fall.

One thing to keep in mind is that, as annoying as this may seem, it's entirely possible that the tree is doing more for your property value than a nice uniform lawn and concrete porch would anyway.

Figgy

CycloneRanger wrote: »

Sounds like a maple tree. They're pretty, especially in the fall.

One thing to keep in mind is that, as annoying as this may seem, it's entirely possible that the tree is doing more for your property value than a nice uniform lawn and concrete porch would anyway.

Yeah, and who needs a foundation either? You've got a nice maple tree in your yard.

The roots of that tree will be easily twice the size of the tree's canopy, so you can bet they are going to eventually start causing you even more problems with foundation cracks, etc. Get on this ASAP.

ronya

VisionOfClarity wrote: »

Find out what the local laws are in your area before you do anything.

Dr. Frenchenstein

my parents apparently don't feel like broaching the subject. hopefully the new patio will get destroyed before the foundation gets damaged, and they will actually put their foot down (or allow me to).

I haven't talked to the neighbors because i didn't know what my parents have said/done about it in the past. Apparently, nothing. I don't know if they will give a crap about the tree itself, but i'm sure they wont be happy about paying for it to be cut down if it comes to that.

bowen

Find out your local laws.

Once you find out it's acceptable, work out something amicable. If the neighbor is headstrong, pick up some pieces of house siding (Scrap from contractors and builders is great and probably free), and wall in the tree's roots on your property underground. The canopy will look similar to roots, but the roots don't tend to grow upwards, so as long as you prevent the tree from growing sideways you'll keep your foundation and deck in tact from then on.

As long as local laws allow it, this method works fan-fucking-tastic as we had to do this with a particularly annoying oak tree when I lived with my parents.

Darkewolfe

Hold up here. This is not your property, correct? It is your parents'. Your parents will continue to live there after you have moved out and gone on with your life. Very likely your parents will remain neighbors with the owners of the tree. They will deal with all repercussions of the growth of the tree. If you have discussed the subject with them and they would prefer not to cause issue with neighbors, it isn't a whit of your business and you should absolutely refrain from potentially stirring up trouble.