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Default Driveway Lifted by Root

I am unlucky enough to have city-planted liquid amber planted
on my little strip of meridian. The damned tree is older than
my house and over 70' tall with a trunk that measures 20". The
root system for this behemoth is extensive and a source of
constant pain for me.

The latest issue I have is the off-shoot root that is now
lifting my driveway entrance slab. It's lifted the entire
_piece_ of cement three inches making entrance and exit of my
driveway exciting. The cement isn't broken; I'm not looking to
destroy it either.

I'd like to lift the slab and thus remove the root causing the
problem without breaking the slab into multiple chunks. Is
there a way of do this?

The Ranger


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Default Driveway Lifted by Root


"The Ranger" wrote in message
...
I am unlucky enough to have city-planted liquid amber planted on my little
strip of meridian. The damned tree is older than my house and over 70' tall
with a trunk that measures 20". The root system for this behemoth is extensive
and a source of constant pain for me.

The latest issue I have is the off-shoot root that is now lifting my driveway
entrance slab. It's lifted the entire _piece_ of cement three inches making
entrance and exit of my driveway exciting. The cement isn't broken; I'm not
looking to destroy it either.

I'd like to lift the slab and thus remove the root causing the problem without
breaking the slab into multiple chunks. Is there a way of do this?


Is the tree going to die or fall over after you remove a major root?


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Default Driveway Lifted by Root


"The Ranger" wrote in message
...
I am unlucky enough to have city-planted liquid amber planted on my little
strip of meridian. The damned tree is older than my house and over 70' tall
with a trunk that measures 20". The root system for this behemoth is
extensive and a source of constant pain for me.

The latest issue I have is the off-shoot root that is now lifting my
driveway entrance slab. It's lifted the entire _piece_ of cement three
inches making entrance and exit of my driveway exciting. The cement isn't
broken; I'm not looking to destroy it either.

I'd like to lift the slab and thus remove the root causing the problem
without breaking the slab into multiple chunks. Is there a way of do this?

The Ranger


There was a TV show a while back on what a liquid amber tree could do to a
swimming pool, concrete slab, foundation and the house itself. The tree was
something like 60' away and yet the it was able to destroy the foundation,
got inside the house and moved it out of level, breaking tiles, etc. Cutting
the roots didn't help as it come right back, maybe killing the tree won't
help either. Everywhere they dig around, the owners found root systems
getting under the foundation, concrete slab, etc. Some of the roots look
like 10" in diameter running under the house. Incredibly aggressive and
tenacious. The structure engineer hired by the owner estimated it would take
somewhere on the order of $800K for repairs, which was the cost of the
house. Dream house not covered by insurance for this kind of damage became
worthless due to one liquid amber tree.

Right now I would be more concern about the foundation and what's under the
house more than the driveway. You maybe lucky if the city admits liability
and willing to fix the problem.

Further, I have not seen anyone lifting a large concrete slab to extract
roots. Trying so with heavy machine will most likely break it. I've done in
on a small scale by saw cutting into smaller slabs but be aware in time the
cut slabs will become uneven due to soil movements - you need to pin it with
rebar dowels by which time would be just easier to replace the whole slab.
What I've seen is grounding the high spots to eliminate tripping hazard but
3" seems to be too much as you wound not have much of a slab left.

A friend of mine had a problem with trees planted by the city. City selects
type of trees, not property owner. Once its planted it became the owner's
property and responsibility but she was not allow to cut it down even when
she had root problems lifting her driveway! She finally was allowed to
remove it due to tree rot at her expense and after paying a permit fee.
Anyway hope your city is more reasonable and wish you luck having it fixed
by them.




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Default Driveway Lifted by Root

aspasia wrote in message
...
On Thu, 27 Mar 2008 08:11:17 -0700, "The Ranger"
wrote:

===Liquid Amber damaging driveway entrance===

Where do you live? Wouldn't the municipality be liable,
in whole or in part, for this kind of damage? Please
post whether you have contacted them and what their
reply was.


In People's [Demokratic] Republic of California, northern
prefecture. The little burg I live in believes (and has put it
down in the codes) that they are _only_ responsible for damages
done to the streets and pipes 10' away from each property line.
So I'm responsible for the sewer line into the main, sidewalk,
and gutter. shrug It's a nice racket they have going.

When I contacted the city's arborist (and works people) because
of the damage to the sewer pipes, I was informed that I was
unable to remove the offending tree without a permit and
permits were only issued for removal of disease-ridden trees.
shrug The works people were the ones that nicely informed me
that their responsibilities lay 10' down and out from the edge
of my property. They were _more-than-happy_ to fix the sewer
where the damned tree has broken the pipe but they would be
charging me for such... It works still so I'm in no rush to
worry about it.

I'm simply going to move the slab aside (hopefully without
breaking it into little pieces) and chop the roots that are
lifting it up into little pieced. I might also punch some
copper into the root to assist with "disease" but this tree is
amazingly resilient.

The Ranger


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Default Driveway Lifted by Root

Bob F wrote in message
. ..
"The Ranger" wrote in message
...
I am unlucky enough to have city-planted liquid
amber planted on my little strip of meridian. The
damned tree is older than my house and over 70'
tall with a trunk that measures 20". The root
system for this behemoth is extensive and a source
of constant pain for me.

The latest issue I have is the off-shoot root that is
now lifting my driveway entrance slab. It's lifted
the entire _piece_ of cement three inches making entrance
and exit of my driveway exciting. The
cement isn't broken; I'm not looking to destroy
it either.

I'd like to lift the slab and thus remove the root
causing the problem without breaking the slab into
multiple chunks. Is there a way of do this?

Is the tree going to die or fall over after you remove
a major root?


Not given past history where I've performed similar trimming
surgeries. The stupid thing is SUPER resilient and every time
I've removed roots, it's found another way to send them
about...

I've been living with this for 15 years now and it "seems" this
issue hits every five... The first root trimming was around
the sewer pipes. The next trimming was repairing side walk (I
learned not to break cement up into little pieces there if
possible.)

If I _have_ to, I will demolish the driveway entrance but I'd
rather not. If I can "slide it aside" or that would be
"easiest" (for me.)

The Ranger




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Default Driveway Lifted by Root

Frank wrote in message
. ..
"The Ranger" wrote in message
...
I am unlucky enough to have city-planted liquid
amber planted on my little strip of meridian. The
damned tree is older than my house and over 70'
tall with a trunk that measures 20". The root
system for this behemoth is extensive and a
source of constant pain for me.

The latest issue I have is the off-shoot root that is
now lifting my driveway entrance slab. It's lifted
the entire _piece_ of cement three inches making
entrance and exit of my driveway exciting. The
cement isn't broken; I'm not looking to destroy
it either.

I'd like to lift the slab and thus remove the root
causing the problem without breaking the slab
into multiple chunks. Is there a way of do this?

There was a TV show a while back on what a liquid
amber tree could do to a swimming pool, concrete slab,
foundation and the house itself. The tree was something
like 60' away and yet the it was able to destroy the
foundation, got inside the house and moved it out of
level, breaking tiles, etc. Cutting the roots didn't help
as it come right back, maybe killing the tree won't help
either. Everywhere they dig around, the owners
found root systems getting under the foundation,
concrete slab, etc. Some of the roots look like
10" in diameter running under the house. Incredibly
aggressive and tenacious. The structure engineer
hired by the owner estimated it would take somewhere
on the order of $800K for repairs, which was the
cost of the house. Dream house not covered by
insurance for this kind of damage became worthless
due to one liquid amber tree.


When we remodeled a little less than a decade ago, I found the
root system under my house. They were all around 2" in diameter
so removing them wasn't too painful. When I moved out into the
front yard, I encountered those mamouth 10" - 14" diameter
hogs. I tried EVERYTHING from chemical dowsing to copper
stakes. The tree just won't die!

Right now I would be more concern about the foundation
and what's under the house more than the driveway. You
maybe lucky if the city admits liability and willing to fix
the
problem.


Since my remodel, knock on wood/formica/steel, I don't have
that issue anymore. I've been trying to contain the roots to
specific areas and tackling them as they lift things.

Further, I have not seen anyone lifting a large concrete
slab to extract roots. Trying so with heavy machine will
most likely break it. I've done in on a small scale by
saw cutting into smaller slabs but be aware in time the cut
slabs will become uneven due to soil movements -
you need to pin it with rebar dowels by which time
would be just easier to replace the whole slab.


I was afraid of this. sigh More trouble than it's worth and a
job half-done is twice done...

What I've seen is grounding the high spots to
eliminate tripping hazard but 3" seems to be too
much as you wound not have much of a slab left.


It wouldn't last one drive-over, were I to grind the high-spot
down.

A friend of mine had a problem with trees planted
by the city. City selects type of trees, not property
owner. Once its planted it became the owner's property and
responsibility but she was not allow
to cut it down even when she had root problems
lifting her driveway! She finally was allowed to remove it
due to tree rot at her expense and after
paying a permit fee.


That's my little burg's policies in a nutshell...

Anyway hope your city is more reasonable and wish
you luck having it fixed by them.


They aren't... And thanks. It looks like breaking up the slab
and repouring another is where I have to go. sigh Another
$2600* wasted on that fine specimen of city beautification.

* Cheapest bid for a simple pour. I get to put in the forms,
tie the wire mesh, and work the cement myself.

The Ranger


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