Extensions and Trees - Advice

[Peter Boulton]

Hi,

I have what was a large fir tree in my garden, around 10 ft from the back of the house.

We've been planning to build an extension (OK, have one built, to be totally honest!) and have therefore been reducing it by a third a year and this year is the final third.

Although the extension will not actually be built on the ground where the tree is, the corner of the extension will be pretty close to the tree and, obviously, the tree must go.

My question is, do I need to have the tree stump ground out or is it OK to leave it cut off at the bottom / will the builders dig the stump / roots out when they construct the foundations?

Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks.

Pete

[Paul King]

The stump will *HAVE* to go, otherwise when it rots the foundations would be severely weakened if its roots are just "built over". Whether you remove it or the builders do is a moot point. Eitherway, its going to be a *BIG* stump! :(

[Christian McArdle]

It has to go.

At least it sounds like you could have it ground out. The one under my conservatory had to be dug out by hand as the stump grinder wouldn't fit through the house.

Christian.

[usenet]

Surely grinding the stump isn't going to help in the slightest in respect of the tree's effect (or not) on the foundations. It's only going to be ground down to a few inches below the surface at best. The roots which may (or may not) affect the foundations will still be there.

I doubt if the roots are a serious problem anyway, if/when they rot away they will have effectively turned into soil. There won't be a sudden void to be filled up.

[Christian McArdle]

It all depends on the type of soil. The problem is usually the other way round from a collapsing void. The ground is used to the tree soaking up all the water. When it stops doing so, the ground actually expands (or "heaves") due to the increased moisture.

I'd have thought the main purpose of digging out the stump is to gain space and remove a source of rot.

Christian.