Trees hanging over roof...

I am a first time home owner, so please excuse my ignorance. My house is on a heavily treed lot. I have a several large oak trees which hang over the roof and provide a great deal of shade for the blistering Texas summer and keep my bills quite a bit lower than my neighbors. At the same time however, I have been cautioned that the leaves and twigs that fall on the roof can be hazardous long term to the shingles. Should I consider having the trees trimmed back?

Reply to
sirstrongbad
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Now you own trees, it is in your own interest to learn what they are and what you may expect, e.g. what species, how much larger they grow with each successive year, and how they interact with the house. You should hire an arborist for a half-hour session on all these points, write down what trimming may be desirable in 2008,

2009 and 2010, then find out next year which parts of the 2008 programme you can safely do yourself. Remember, (1) these trees grow every year indefinitely, (2) every tree develops weaknesses or diseases in time: you need to find out whether "time" is 10 years or 250 years.
Reply to
Don Phillipson

There are a number of things to consider. Direct friction, as Smitty suggests. Growth of mildew and even moss in shaded areas of the roof. Debris clogging gutters or collecting on the roof surface to dam water and hold moisture. Limbs falling to damage the roof. Insurance rates for trees overhanging or brushing against the house. (Our last insurer required cutting branches away from the house.) Health of the trees. A competent arborist would be cheap insurance for you. T

Reply to
tbasc

The one thing everyone should agree on is that none of the branches should be contacting the roof or house. If so, they need to be trimmed. Beyond that, it's a judgement call depending on what kind of trees they are, how big they are, what condition the trees are in, the local climate regarding violent storm potential and youir own comfort level. Any trees that showed any obvious size of disease or dying out that could fall and cause significant damage to the house you should have removed.

Reply to
trader4

Hire a professional arborist. Have him evaluate the health of the trees and get recommendations for trimming. Obviously no branches should contact the house or roof. Any trees that are "iffy" may need to come down. If they fall and damage your house (or the neighbors) you'll have a headache. Remember trees keep growing and having large trees requires regular maintenance. Neglecting it can cost you.

Reply to
bigjim

Previous posters all had good advice, but you also need to check the root growth. If you have a septic system, etc., you'll want to make sure that you don't have roots growing into the pipes, tank, etc., although due to tree placement, that might not be an issue. Again, some time with an arborist would be a sensible investment. Enjoy the trees, here in upstate NY our trees save us from needing AC at all, except for the small computer server (home business) room.

Reply to
<h>

lots of great responses, one I can add, get gutter helmet so leaves cant clog gutters and more important clog dry well where downspouts sometimes drain, if they dont go to daylight.

congrats new homeowner! Do understand homes require maintence and are a great responsiblity, actually we dont really own them, since there life is probably longer than ours:(

we are caretakers of the largest expense most people ever purchase......

but it can be fun and rewarding:)

Reply to
hallerb

Gutter helmets, etc. Do they cause problems with ice dams, etc? That is something that I haven&#39;t been able to get a really satisfactory answer about.

Reply to
Kurt Ullman

Enjoy the house! I see lots of notes, all seem good. It&#39;s a fairly common thing where I am too and I&#39;ll add 2 things I do not see mentioned.

Do not ever let the leaves collect up on the roof. This can trap moisture in and damage your roof. The only other thing I kow of, is the tannins (I think thats the right word) from the tree leaves can cause discoloration depending on the color of your roof (cosmetic I think).

Reply to
Cshenk

Kurt, not unless blocked. No matter what you use, grates and whatnot (good idea to keep whole leaves out!) will have to be cleaned out. Usually 1-2 times a year if there are close by tall trees.

We live where it ices, but not that often or severe. When we had the new gutters installed, we were advised in our area to have a grate just over the downspout entrance. It lifts off and we can clear any jams (believe it or not, but we use a heavy thick chain and just drop it through then collect at the bottom. Noisy but effective).

In our particular configuration, had we put those gutter guards over the whole lenght, they would just get leaves matted over them anyways and they are harder to clear out then.

We have a nifty little &#39;tool&#39; my husband made up for checking and clearing minor buildup so we only have to actually climb on a ladder 1-2 times a year. The &#39;tool&#39; is nothing fancier than a long lightweight pole with a sort of shepards hook and a little rubber shovel such as you get kids at the dollar store. Fits in there perfectly and we can just walk along from below. Don got the idea after seeing some stuff at a pool cleaner display that looked like it might be handy, but wanted a scoup, not a brush. He made it out of spare flotsam in the garage.

The renters didnt use it and it was still there in the overhead of the garage when we moved back in. Still works! So was the chain fortunately as

3 of the 4 spouts were jammed. (all cleared now).

Reply to
Cshenk

My $.02 on the matter- Shade is worth the hassle of trimming branches that are close enough to brush roof when wind blows, and getting up there with a leaf blower a couple times a year to blow the debris off. If you blow the leaves before they rot into sludge, you can often clear the gutters from above, assuming modern continuous gutters. I was dreading it when I bought this place, since I have lots of trees, and since middle age has done a job on my inner ears, and I can&#39;t just scoot along the edge of the roof on my butt to clean them like I did as a kid. But with those slick gutters and a fresh tight re-roof, it took maybe 10 minutes for entire roof, 80 feet of gutter, and 5 downspouts.

A couple of three cautions: never blow shingles &#39;against the grain&#39;- go from top down, and make sure you are never putting high-pressure air against bottom or side of shingles. And if you have aerial power feed, pay close attention to what you are doing around the cables and weather head. And of course, like any high work, make sure there is somebody at ground level to call 911, put the ladder back up if it blows over, etc.

aem sends...

Reply to
aemeijers

gutter helmets that offer a smooth surface decrease ice dams as theres nothing to catch the ice, it tends to slide off,

Reply to
hallerb

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