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Beech tree too close to house?

  • 26-05-2015 10:56AM
    #1
    Squiggle
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,262 ✭✭✭


    Have about a 35 to 40 foot high copper beech tree about 15 foot from the side of the house. There's always the risk that it will blow down but what are the chances of the roots damaging the foundation of the house?


Comments

  • #2
    blue5000
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 12,835 Mod ✭✭✭✭blue5000


    The roots aren't very big in beech trees, it's one of their weaknesses! We have one as well and we cut it back every 8-10 years, look up pollard on google. It was done in the past where cattle grazed under them, and the trunk was cut straight across about 12 foot off the ground, on an 8-10 year cycle.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollarding

    If the seat's wet, sit on yer hat, a cool head is better than a wet ar5e.



  • #3
    Oldtree
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,109 ✭✭✭Oldtree


    Pollarding, such as that shown in the Wiki link, is usually started when the tree is young. Lapsed pollards are where the tree has been let regrow without a regular pruning regimin after initial early pollarding periods, such as the beech tree (in a wood) in the wiki link.

    Lopping is a more appropiate term to use when severely cutting a mature tree, and has serious problems, as the tree (in general) will reshoot vigerously (from adventitious buds) attempting to rebalance it roots to shoots. the joins between these new shoots and the old bark is a known weak spot, as well as allowing avenues of decay down into the old parts of the tree as the wounds are too large for the tree to seal over quickly. It is a different situation for a tree in a field than adjacent to a house.

    Mature beech trees do not have as many adventitious buds and do not recover well from lopping.

    If you care for and have concerns about your tree, get it assessed by an arborist.


  • #4
    Nekarsulm
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,298 ✭✭✭✭Nekarsulm


    Would you plant a new tree, say 80 feet away, and when its got up in size, perhaps in 25 years, cut the one nearest the house?


  • #5
    Squiggle
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,262 ✭✭✭Squiggle


    Thanks for the replies folks. There are any number of trees around the house so, while I would prefer to keep the tree, my main concern is the impact, if any, of the expanding roots of the tree on the foundations of the house. Does pollarding or lopping have implications for the roots? My inclination , given the abundance of trees around me, is to take the beech tree out and not take any chances with compromising the foundations of the house.


  • #6
    sthilmick
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 176 ✭✭sthilmick


    better safe than sorry just be careful knocking it if your not comfortable with knocking it yourself get a pro but watch out there are loads of cowboys out there with a chainsaw who watch too much axe men on the telly and have'nt a clue


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  • #7
    Schadenfreudia
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,995 ✭✭✭Schadenfreudia


    Wouldn't worry about it. Any tree will blow down if the wind is strong enough.

    The atavistic Irish attitude to trees is some sort of relic of our dysfunctional colonial past; in most N. European countries trees towering over dwellings isn't an issue.

    Just make sure your house is insured - and enjoy the tree. :cool:


  • #8
    Cork boy 55
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,324 ✭✭✭Cork boy 55


    Schadenfreudia wrote: »
    Wouldn't worry about it. Any tree will blow down if the wind is strong enough.

    The atavistic Irish attitude to trees is some sort of relic of our dysfunctional colonial past; in most N. European countries trees towering over dwellings isn't an issue.

    Just make sure your house is insured - and enjoy the tree. :cool:

    Are trees more likely to fall over in Ireland
    With wet soft soils and high winds and the Atlantic wind and rain belt than the continent, Feb storms knocked down 1% of trees in country ?


  • #9
    blue5000
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 12,835 Mod ✭✭✭✭blue5000


    Atavism is the tendency to revert to ancestral type. In biology, an atavism is an evolutionary throwback, such as traits reappearing which had disappeared generations before.

    Just in case anybody else is wondering:D

    If the seat's wet, sit on yer hat, a cool head is better than a wet ar5e.



  • #10
    Schadenfreudia
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,995 ✭✭✭Schadenfreudia


    Cork boy 55 wrote: »
    Are trees more likely to fall over in Ireland

    No. Certainly not beech trees, or trees in cities, parks, gardens. We plant forest trees in unstable highland or drumlin soils but they grow to harvest-able size so relatively quickly that wind-blow is simply part of the system and big storms generally result in localised logistical problems rather than catastrophic losses.

    It would probably not be wise to build a house in a Sitka forest on a highland gley plateau like the Castlecomer plateau.

    Otherwise trees here tend to fall in fewer numbers in more frequent storms compared to Northern Europe. Countries in Scandinavia, Germany, France tend to get monster wind-blow events which bring down whole tracts of countryside.

    The storm that wiped out a huge proportion of the trees in SE England in 1987 is an example of this.


  • #11
    wayoutwest
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 509 ✭✭✭wayoutwest


    Here's a pic of me and my pa - we're both keen atavists.:)
    896483-stephen-foster.jpeg


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  • #12
    sthilmick
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 176 ✭✭sthilmick


    Schadenfreudia wrote: »
    Wouldn't worry about it. Any tree will blow down if the wind is strong enough.

    The atavistic Irish attitude to trees is some sort of relic of our dysfunctional colonial past; in most N. European countries trees towering over dwellings isn't an issue.

    Just make sure your house is insured - and enjoy the tree. :cool:


    Your house inseurance will blame you if it does fall and you didnt do anything about it there in the business of taking money off you and trying to get out of paying anything out if they can blame you


  • #13
    Schadenfreudia
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,995 ✭✭✭Schadenfreudia


    sthilmick wrote: »
    Your house inseurance will blame you if it does fall and you didnt do anything about it there in the business of taking money off you and trying to get out of paying anything out if they can blame you

    I wouldn't worry about that. As a tree-lover I'd advise anyone worried about a tree to move the house. :cool:


  • #14
    Oldtree
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,109 ✭✭✭Oldtree


    Schadenfreudia wrote: »
    I wouldn't worry about that. As a tree-lover I'd advise anyone worried about a tree to move the house. :cool:

    Thought as much :rolleyes:


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