The asphalt on my driveway is starting to lift up, due to a root
from my neighbor's tree. A couple of years ago I took a piece out
of the root and that seemed to solve the problem.
Recently the crack in the driveway has gotten bigger again.
I don't imagine the root would expand as it rots, so I would think
there must be another root- but I can't find it.
Any ideas as to what is happening?
Thanks.
Frank

Could be another root deeper down pushing soil up, pushing up your
driveway.

I don't know if you live in a colder climate but you could have frost
heave. Water is going down in the old crack, freezing and expanding
resulting in the driveway to heave up. It's important that when you
start to see cracks in your driveway or sidewalk that you seal them
right away to prevent this from happening.

If you do decide to cut more roots be very careful not to weaken the
tree's support. Some tree's roots grow very close to the surface
and when you cut them the tree can become unstable. A few years back
in my neighborhood, a guy was replacing his sidewalk and he cut some
tree roots back to have a nice level walk. Six months later the tree
came down in a light windstorm and landed on a passing car, killing a
4-year-old girl in the car. I lost track of the story but I believe
the guy ended up going to jail. It was proven that his actions of
cutting what he thought were just a few roots undermined the tree's
support. Be careful cutting roots.

On 17 Mar 2006 05:47:23 -0800, wrote:


If you do decide to cut more roots be very careful not to weaken the
tree's support. Some tree's roots grow very close to the surface
and when you cut them the tree can become unstable. A few years back
in my neighborhood, a guy was replacing his sidewalk and he cut some
tree roots back to have a nice level walk. Six months later the tree
came down in a light windstorm and landed on a passing car, killing a
4-year-old girl in the car.

Wow. Terrible.

I worried about my tree falling down when I cut a couple of its roots.

A pine tree.

I think it's too far from the street for this to hit a car.

I lost track of the story but I believe
the guy ended up going to jail. It was proven that his actions of
cutting what he thought were just a few roots undermined the tree's
support.

It would take more than just that.

That this would happen would have to be foreseeable by that person
(not judged by the same standards as a tree surgeon, but by the
standards of an average person) for him to be negligent. I guess it
might be since I thought of it in advance, and I'm not especially
educated in this. But to be criminally negligent, I thought more,
that is, worse behaviour than mere negligence, was required. Maybe he
was told not to do it? By a gardener or someone? Maybe he *was* a
tree surgeon?

Be careful cutting roots.