Tree roots: Drains

fluffymuffy

1. Is it your sewer? If it serves ONLY your property then it's your sewer.

2. If it starts at another property then it is the responsibility of your local water company.

martinthebandit

anotherbaldrick wrote: »

Silver birch as big as the house, trunk 1-2m away from house wall.

Those were the statements made in the OP's first post

Exactly, so there was no real need for all the doom and gloom.

As has been said already take it down in stages over three or four years, jobs a good 'in.

anotherbaldrick

martinthebandit wrote: »

Originally Posted
Silver birch as big as the house, trunk 1-2m away from house wall.

Those were the statements made in the OP's first post

Exactly, so there was no real need for all the doom and gloom.

As has been said already take it down in stages over three or four years, jobs a good 'in.

So why when posters adressed exactly what the OP had said were they accused of "some of the posters need to get a perspective"

cyclonebri1

From my point of view the perspective is clear, at 1 to 2 metres from the house action HAS to be taken.

The OP is right to be seriously worried, the only thing I wouls add is that the OP should have picked up on the tree issue at purchase regardless of an inept or otherwise surveyor.

The only out of perspective comments I think are about how to address the issues with the surveyor.;);)

keystone

anotherbaldrick wrote: »

Silver birch as big as the house, trunk 1-2m away from house wall. A perspective issue ?

Ahh - so you can't see the wood from the trees LoL. No thats NOT what I was saying. OPs actual real question in the lead post was concern about his drains based on hearsay and speculative information from his neighbour that there might have been a problem in the past. He also said that he didn't paricularly want the tree gone because he likes it. Can you tell me where OP has actually qualified or been asked to quantify what "as big as a house" means? Tall as the house? Wide as the house? His house? Dolls house? You quite rightly discussed the question of heave etc on a clay soil. Obliquely perhaps but I wasn't refering to you at that point although I your later posts indicate that you didn't actually read my post properly or perhaps I expressed myself badly. In which case I apologise.

So let me repeat what I meant in the post that has caused you so much heartache over the last 24 hours or so

1. No I wouldn't expect the surveyor for an HBR to know that the neighbour had anecdotal evidence that the tree might have been involved in drain problems in the past.

2. Silver birch is relatively benign - thanks to Cy for that but he's right as the type of tree significantly modifies the advice. Willow or Eucalyptus would be much more of an immediate concern.

3. Roots only enter already broken drains.

4. The tree should be reduced (note I suggested reduced not removed completely although that would be a matter for the TS to advise having seen it which none of us have) over several seasons so that the water content in the soil adjusts gradually.

Any more rocks going to get heaved in my direction now?

Cheers

keystone

anotherbaldrick wrote: »

So why when posters adressed exactly what the OP had said were they accused of "some of the posters need to get a perspective"

1. I wasn't talking about you actually and that should have been obvious if you'd thought about it. Please get it off your back.

2. Thread creep did take it away from what the OP was asking about - as normal. His concern was with his drains, whether the surveor should have found it and whether it was an insurance issue. Other peeps turned it into something else.

3. I didn't actually say that. If you are going to quote me please do so correctly and in context. More thread creep then.

Cheers

mr-bob_2

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

The tree looks to have been relatively well maintained over the years, you can see loads and loads of places where branches have been cut off. So it may be that it isn't that much of an issue to the house if maintained. But I'd still want rid.

RE: sewers/drains - when I bought the property the surveyor mentioned the sewer runs right across my back garden but the manhole is a bit closer to my house ie next to the tree so 1-2m from my house. So I assume its getting in where my personal sewer is, but might also affect the main sewer.

So I think the best thing to do is get in a tree surgeon and also take it the flags surrounding the house near the tree to see if its firstly near the foundations. And also life the manhole cover to see what the roots are doing there.

Then we can either straight get rid or get rid over a couple of seasons as mentioned.

Thanks all.

anotherbaldrick

Mr Bob.
I think you should investigate the nature of your subsoil just a bit further. You say it is clay , but there are variations of clay . Some soils are friable but clayey in nature, others are totally intractable often yellow or blue in colour like London clay . It is the latter which are the biggest problem with shrinkage and heave. Have a word with neighbours and the council Building Inspectors who can guide you. If it is the latter I would consult a local reliable tree surgeon on removal.

Rovver125

keystone wrote: »

3. Roots only enter already broken drains.

Just one little rock from me KS

As a drainage surveyor I can say that information is misleading, my experience of roots is that the drain/sewer doesn't have to be broken already for root ingress to occur, roots are incredibly adept at finding their way in through joints in the pipes, especially in older clay pipes.

Continued growth in this scenario can eventually push the joints apart and cause cracks/fractures which can eventually lead to broken pipework and a failure of the structural integrity of the pipe.

Not always though, I have seen large root masses inside a pipe, which once cut out with high pressure water jetting equipment, reveal suprisingly little damage to the structure of the drain/sewer. Obviously action then needs to be taken to prevent the root ingress continuing, whether this be dealing with the problem above ground through removal of the offending tree/shrub or dealing with the problem below ground, where methods such as lining are highly effective.

Every scenario is different though and the only way to be 100% sure if root ingress is a problem or likely to cause a problem is to have a camera survey undertaken.

keystone

Rovver125 wrote: »

Just one little rock from me KS

You are 100% right of course. Let me expand then. Roots don't generally invade a drain by sheer brute force where they haven't already been provided with a route whether that be via the drain being broken or finding a gap in the saltglaze at a joint between two lengths. I accept that my initial words were open to far too much interpretation and apologise if they were misleading.

Every scenario is different though and the only way to be 100% sure if root ingress is a problem or likely to cause a problem is to have a camera survey undertaken.

Agree totally but OPs problem in this case is that he seems to be overly concerned about speculative and hearsay comments from a neighbour which appear to have no evidence to back them up.

Cheers