Can Trees Damage Your Foundation?

While trees won’t directly attack your foundation, they can cause problems for your foundation’s structural integrity. Roots that grow too close to your foundation can cause the soil underneath it to shift, leaving behind holes for your foundation to sink into. Should your foundation sink unevenly, you may find yourself contending with unsafe floors or cracks that threaten to expose your home to water damage the next time it rains. 

Luckily, you don’t have to go to bat against the trees in your yard alone. The professional contractors serving Grand Junction, CO, can walk you through the process of protecting your home while preserving the beauty of your landscaping. 

How to Protect Your Home from Tree Damage 

You have several options available to you if you want to protect your home from root-based damage. These include: 

Depth-Test Your Foundation 

As you’re getting started, you’ll first want to try and determine just how deeply rooted your foundation is. If you did not invest in the building of your home, you can do this through collaboration with your local foundation and basement repair professionals. Contractors can come out to your home and help you determine at what level your foundation was installed and what tree roots may have a chance of disturbing it. If your home’s already begun to fall victim to damage, these contractors can help you determine whether it’s roots that are causing your foundation problems or if there’s something different at work. 

Plant Non-Invasive Trees 

If you have the opportunity to build your home’s landscaping from the ground up, you may rapidly find yourself overwhelmed by your options. You will want to discuss those options with a representative at your local nursery before committing to one path over another. There are some trees that can have more of an impact on your home’s overall health than others. These trees often have invasive root systems that are more likely to cause your foundation damage than others. 

With that in mind, you’ll want to consider avoiding the following as you’re building up your future landscaping:  

• Bradford pears 
• Weeping willows 
• Chinese flame trees 
• Eastern cottonwoods 
• Ginkgo trees 
• Southern magnolias 
• Sweetgum trees 
• Sycamore trees 
• White mulberries 
• Tulip poplars 
• Mimosa trees 
• Silver maples  

Transplanting Trees Throughout Your Yard 

If you can’t build your landscaping from the ground up, you may already have some of the aforementioned trees in your yard. Alternatively, you may find that the previous owner of your property planted trees too close to the home’s perimeter for comfort. In these cases, know that you don’t immediately have to cut down the offending trees. Instead, you can invest in tree transplants. 

When you transplant a tree – with the help of local professionals or family members willing to get their hands dirty – you can preserve the tree’s beauty while also protecting your home. Note that after you’ve stabilized an older tree in its new location, you should consider taking diluted root killer or another chemical treatment to the spot where the tree used to be. This way, you can kill off any roots you didn’t transplant and keep them from sprouting a new tree. 

Waterproofing Your Foundation 

When in doubt, it’s always a good idea to waterproof your home. Even if you don’t act against the trees in your yard, you’ll have the means you need to keep water from making its way into your home. Note that these solutions can help you cope not only with invasive root systems but with other sources of hydrostatic pressure or stress that might otherwise result in leaks. 

Some of the most effective waterproofing measures worth investing in can include:  

• Sump pumps 
• Interior drains 
• Vapor barriers 

Note that you can use these solutions in tandem with one another, as well as with other means like dehumidifiers, to eliminate excess humidity in your home. 

You don’t have to go to war against the trees in your yard. Instead, with a little bit of work and the opinions of the experts in your area, you can determine whether they pose a threat to your home’s structural integrity. The foundation and basement repair professionals serving your area can inspect your home and property to help you take the first steps in this direction. After an inspection from Foundation Repair of Western Colorado, you can benefit from a free quote on the services you may need to preserve your home’s overall value.