We have a spruce or fir tree which seems to have come up on its own, about
10 inches from the foundation of our house. (Before we got here.) At first I didn't pay much attention, but now it's a good 30 feet tall and the base trunk is around 5 inches in diameter.
Is this something that endangers the foundation -- as tree roots often lift up sidewalks?
Depends on how deep and solid your foundation is. If you are on a shallow crawl or slab, yeah, it could do damage. A basement, less likely, unless it bows the wall in.
But in general, 10" from the house is way too close, for a lot of reasons. I'd cut it down. I know, I hate to kill trees too, but sometimes there is no other practical choice. Your insurance agent will agree with me.
Without seeing it and not knowing what kind of foundation you have I'd have to say I doubt it would damage the foundation.
What it *will* do is drip pitch on your siding, drop needles in your gutters, large branches will attack your shingles, and then when it is too big to cut down without great expense, it will blow down in a wind/ice storm and do $50,000 worth of damage to your house.
I'd get rid of this one while it will only cost you a couple hours and a few tears. Plant another about 20 feet from the house as a memorial to the 'strong volunteer.'
Preaching to the choir here, hallerb. We all love our trees, and fully understand the benefits of shade and breaking wind. (so to speak.) But
10" from the house is just too damn close. The wall and roof right there will always be damp and prone to mold, moss, and rot. It will clog the gutters, and provide a great highway for animals to get on the roof. And when the wind blows, it will do a job on the siding and shingles. A strong storm or heavy snow load could result in damage to the overhangs, eaves, etc. BTDT on my mother and grandmother's houses- they planted where the then-tiny balled trees looked right, and never considered the future. 15-20 years later, me and my brother got a lot of chainsaw practice, and a lot of digging planting the replacements where they should have gone in the first place.
Years ago I bought a house with a number of 100 foot tall evergreens around it. The largest one was about two feet off of the foundation and cutting it down was one of my first projects. A few years later, we had a freak mini tornado pass by and seven of these trees snapped in half. Fortunately none were close enough to the house to hit it. I certainly can't predict what would have happened to the one I cut down, but I sure was glad that I had.
As well as growing upwards, they grow outwards, and get wider. Perhaps if you find an arborist (tree surgeon), they can give you more info than you can get here.
Yeah; cut it down. Plant another fir some 6 to 10 feet from the foundation to get your shade.
I had a volunteer poplar (they grow fast) by a deck - grew to 30 feet quickly. Shallow-rooted, a tropical storm bent it over - I got it removed before it fell on someone.
But I had enjoyed its shade and its branches close to the deck, so I planted a maple farther out for its eventual shade. That was 8 years ago - glad I did that.
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