15' from the slab? That's not too close. Ask an arborist to be sure,
but a clean cut along one side of the tree may be OK. At that distance
from the trunk, regardless of tree, one foot or so down into the soil
won't cut the life of an otherwise healthy tree. Our Magnolia, a tree
that doens't mind having it's roots pruned, is closer to the slab than
that and we cut plenty of roots any which way we could before trenching
in the patio edge. Then we put a used brick patio right up to the
trunk on one side. The tree seems to be doing pretty well this summer
of incredible heat. In our case, we replaced the slab patio
altogether. Outside the foundation barrier footer and patio edge, I
cut the roots back and down a couple of feet and gently slope toward
the trunk, trying to avoid major roots as I got closer to the tree. I
then filled in a few yards of pea gravel and a drain pipe system to
draw the patio water away to a deep dry well well away from the patio.
I layered soil fabric over the pea grave, some road base, tamped into
the slope I wanted, and then puzzled in the used brick that I had
accumulated over the previous two years (It's amazing what amounts of
brick is tossed by the roadside in places). I broomed sand into the
cracks between bricks that weren't spaced. Some people recommended
mixing the sand with some portland cement, but I didn't want the grey
look this gives to the brick. If the base is solid, cement isn't
necessary. Along the lawn edge, I put in flush some old 8x8 redwood
railroad ties, but treated ties are easier to find in most places.
This winter the patio drained well enough, the tree seems pretty happy,
the excellent underground drainage of the pea gravel should discourage
larger tree roots from forming there for awhile.


John Lawrence wrote:
Planting a tree is like getting a new puppy. Few of us can visualize what it
will be like at maturity. :-)

"Eggs Zachtly" wrote in message
...
cover said:

Many thanks to all of you for your replies. Appreciate that very
much. The tree is a fairly healthy size maple tree and the trunk is
approximately 15' from the slab. A trencher just might be the easiest
approach. Any thoughts on using an axe versus some sort of root saw
if a person doesn't want to bring great harm to the tree. It's fairly
mature and I hate to damage it too significantly but at the same time,
have property to protect.


It was a poor choice of a tree to plant so close to a sidewalk (or a poor
choice for a sidewalk location, as it wasn't specified which came first).
In either case, maple roots grow quite horizontally. Severing the roots,
will most likely damage the tree beyond recoverability, or will certainly
disfigure it, probably in a short time.

--
Eggs

-Half the people you know are below average.