I recently purchased a house built next to a giant sequoia. The tree is perhaps 35 years old, with a trunk 5 feet in diameter. I am told they grow quite rapidly in the Puget Sound area. The house was built 7 years ago and is only 10 feet from the tree. Apparently there were sentimental reasons for this. The tree suffered no apparent harm as a result of construction and looks to be in perfect health, as is the house (so far). The house is built into a slope so the foundation is around 10 feet deep where it faces the tree. I am planning to put a good deal of money into the house using the existing foundation. I realize that there will eventually be conflict, but the tree is fantastic and I would like to find a way to coexist. Thanks for any suggestions.
I just looked at a Giant Sequioa recently, which was probably 15' from a house. I suggested root barrier panels or a root barrier. And if I owned the house, 100% I'd keep the tree. If your is 10' away, that could be different. 5 feet can make a difference. It may almost require an arborist being there at the location to form an opinion. Hey ... it's this image is not a Sequioadendron, but here's a pic of a coastal redwood to help set some vision ...
Need to have an expert or two look at the situation as the roots on one side may have been cut off. Established redwoods are very wind resistant but if the anchorage of the tree on the house side has been removed... An old place (something like 1920) in Seattle has one pressed against the foundation like a giant snail's foot; this is one of the few places where I have seen a cracked foundation near a tree trunk. It looks like the pressure from the trunk has cracked the foundation, but maybe even in this instance that isn't actually what happened.
Horror stories with Redwoods being planted too close to a home are usually exaggerated. The one time I saw some invasive roots crack a foundation was due to the homeowner not watering the tree at all and had a long term plumbing leak to which the roots tapped into for water. The biggest concern around here is that we have hard pan and clay pan layers both natural occurring and man made or in most cases man worsened. Redwoods will have shallow roots in areas that do not supply enough deep watering for these trees. We can see some surface roots here in soils that have a compacted hard pan layer less than a foot below the soil surface. Even then a good way to relieve that stress is to either deal with the compacted layer of soil or we give the tree more frequent deep watering. We've had other issues in this forum dealing with invasive roots and pretty much in every instance a change in how we water the tree and how much water we apply and how often could have satisfactory results rather than going in and root pruning or creating a solid barrier that the roots cannot penetrate. No one talks in terms that the roots will just grow under the barrier so at what depth do we put the barrier and feel secure that we can prevent the movement and spread of the roots. It is not so much that Redwood roots have a penchant for cracking foundations and sidewalks but rather the real reason why people worry about a tree planted so close to a home is in case the tree falls over. Without root support to hold the tree in the ground this can and has happened to homeowners. Much of the time it was not the trees fault for the falling but more so the lack of attention given to the tree by the homeowner. Sure, there are cases in which supreme gusts of wind and perhaps combined with the weight of heavy snow can knock the tops off of the trees and have them crash onto the roof and sides of the home but those are rarities in nature. Many landscapers around here have primarily been using Soquel and Aptos Blue Redwoods in landscapes planted even less than 10 feet from the foundation of the home and that close to swimming pools. I think your immediate concern about the roots can be a potential problem if you do not monitor where those lateral roots are going but in most cases with deeper watering those lateral roots will again grow downward well under the foundation of the home and really not be a problem. A 35 year old tree that has been well kept and watered 10 feet from the foundation is not an issue with me, unless you have a stress crack from settling of the foundation and the tree has been water neglected. By the way your Giant Sequoia will have less total root volume, less lateral root growth than a Soquel Redwood would have for a long time. Giant Sequoia roots and Redwoods as well want to grow downward first and once the roots have a hold in the ground send out lateral side roots to help secure the tree later from side to side movement.. Jim
Seems that the complaints I hear most often for redwood type trees near homes are not so much about the roots, but about the needles they drop in gutters and on roofs.
