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Possible tree damage to our new house
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ladydukes
Posts: 22 Forumite
We bought a house about 3 weeks ago and after moving in we noticed* a large twisted willow about 6 ft from our house and 2-3 ft from the shared man-hole cover, Its the other side of the garden wall about 1 ft into their garden. its about 25-30 ft tall and they have had it Cosped or topped which ever it is.
The house has not been lived for about 5 years and not had any work done on it since the late 80's. there are lots of cracks in wall joints and ceilings joints and cracks coming out of the window edges towards the ceilings. we have also noticed our lawn is all cracked and very dry, which is extremely unusual as we live in South Wales and its April...lol
what do you all think?
Plus does anyone think if I poured a load of weed killer my side of the wall so roots would suck it up and kill it. can I be done? and would it cause more damage like ground heavel.
*I still cannot believed we missed it . it must have been because we never went to bottom of garden and looked back, as its so tall you cannot see it from any of the back windows.
The house has not been lived for about 5 years and not had any work done on it since the late 80's. there are lots of cracks in wall joints and ceilings joints and cracks coming out of the window edges towards the ceilings. we have also noticed our lawn is all cracked and very dry, which is extremely unusual as we live in South Wales and its April...lol
what do you all think?
Plus does anyone think if I poured a load of weed killer my side of the wall so roots would suck it up and kill it. can I be done? and would it cause more damage like ground heavel.
*I still cannot believed we missed it . it must have been because we never went to bottom of garden and looked back, as its so tall you cannot see it from any of the back windows.
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what do you all think?
Plus does anyone think if I poured a load of weed killer my side of the wall so roots would suck it up and kill it. can I be done? and would it cause more damage like ground heavel.
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I think you should have had a survey done if the house has the faults listed.
You will need a surveyor's advice now anyway before you can take action, and you'll need a specialist's back-up to persuade the tree's owners to have the tree coppiced or removed. A good tree surgeon with knowledge of your local soils might suggest which is best in the circumstances.
Modern weedkillers only work through foliage, not through poisoning the soil. Sodium chlorate was banned in 2010.0 -
Did you not have a full building's survey?
too many comps..not enough time!0 -
You sent £££££££ and never bothered to check!!!!0
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If you kill someone else's tree it's the same as taking a sledge hammer to their wall. It can be classed as criminal damage, so tread very carefully on this one.Eat vegetables and fear no creditors, rather than eat duck and hide.0
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Got to love MSE forums sometimes: buys a house full of cracks with a 30ft tree 6ft away, doesn't get it surveyed, asks if can kill it with weedkiller.. and it's not even their tree!
:beer:0 -
OK but how did you miss the cracks? What did your surveyor think?
It sounds like the cracking is due to shrinkage of a clay soil. What is your postcode?
Willows are the thirstiest of trees and this one sounds pretty much mature height and very close to your foundations.
As a guide a new house built on highly shrinkable clay that close to that tree would need foundations around 3m deep (according to the NHBC). I imagine yours are more like 30cm deep.
You are right that killing it might make matters worse. The clay could re-hydrate and swell/heave.
You need to involve a structural engineer.0 -
DannyboyMidlands wrote: »OK but how did you miss the cracks? What did your surveyor think?
they didn't only miss the cracks - they missed the tree too.0
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