Hi, i have a jacaranda close to the house. I like it but was told to cut it by a friend since it's getting big. I know leaves can go to gutter and I may need to trim the top. However, will it hurt the house/root will affect the foundation? Any opinions will be appreciated. Thanks. Just tossing if we should keep or cut. Council said ok to cut. Thanks. Pics are below. Apologies for orientation.
Tree Close to House Should We Remove It?
Bargain-er on 17/12/2021 - 10:52
Comments
Your house will get warmer with less shade
You are very lucky to live somewhere that jacarandas can grow. If it were me I would definitely keep it.
Although that being said what side of the house is it on? If the north side it will affect your solar if you choose to get some.East facing near kitchen
Not blocking possible solar is a reason to keep it, but not blocking harsh Western sun is a reason not to - I guess you just have to decide if you like it or not. Personally I love jacarandas. Those plus rainbow lorikeets make me jealous of Sydneysiders.
Jacarandas have a bad habit of dropping small branches and limbs and can have a spread of 10 metres or even 15 metres
Beautiful tree but close to a house can be risky.
I have a 15 year old one that's well away from the house and already has a spread of about 6 metres.
prune
Cut it down, you don’t want trees within 5 Mtrs of your house. Make sure the stormwater drain from the gutters is flowing freely once you remove it. You don’t want and wet areas near the foundations as you will get further movement and cracking in the brickwork.
It's nice. But tree roots damage stuff so would remove as so close to house.
Looks way too close to house for my comfort level. They have massive roots.
Cutting down a tree takes a day
To replace it takes a decade.IMHO when i work on my sites we endeavour to retain as many as possible. The last thing you want to do is end up in a 50 degree dustbowl with zero tree cover.
Our local council has valued mature trees at ~$20,000 a tree given the benefit to the neighbourhood amenity etc.Yes they can get messy 1 month a year but honestly i'd keep it.
I ll be happy to keep it if the root won't grow but who knows
Every 5 years I start to grow a new tree to replace the old ones. It's very expensive to maintain an old tree and it can cause catastrophic damage to the pavement. Depending on what you want to grow it shouldn't cost you more than $50 to get started again.
There are rules in place to prevent cutting down of trees that have grown too big. The best way to get around this is to start growing a new tree in another area of the land and prune with the intent to remove the whole tree. It can cost tens of thousands to remove a larger tree which is often ignored by those who push keeping the trees. Old trees also suffer and attract termite damage.
Yes, you should move the house.
Not helping
Others trees I might keep. Jacaranda would be gone pretty quick if mine. While they look nice for about a month each year, the mess isn’t worth it IMO. Tony leaves that block everything and that horrible brown, slippery mush when the purple flowers inevitability drop and rot.
Needs to go and while it is still small.
Pity it's a great tree.
You will need to plant many more in exchange for it.It's considered small? How old do you think it is? Thanks
looking at the width of the trunk it's pretty small.
I know someone who grew on from a sapling (put an umbrella over it and kept it warm in the winter). I was at least four times the width of the trunk.
The roots started to wreak havoc on the concreting and pipes.
It started well away from the main part of the house too.Mmm sounds like we need to cut n remove it. Used to be an ivy choking the tree… I killed the Ivy… Should have left it alone.
I would do the following:
1) Cut the top out of the Jacaranda below the gutters and leave the bottom. The tree may dies, but you will eventually remove it.
2) Plant another tree further away from the house and away from any pipes (look at you sewage diagram when you bought the pace for where the pipes are/should be)
3) In a few years when the new tree is bigger gut down the Jacaranda and get the stump ground so it is below the soil level so you can plant over the top of the old stump.if you do leave it then check for cracks in the brick work and and concrete for about 3 meters in all directions away from the trunk. if there are cracks then cut it down ASAP as the cracks will get bigger and cause allot of damage that you will need to fix, aka $$$$$
I could see a hairline crack above the white pipe hole where pipe is connected to the house. Not sure if it is caused by pipe or tree. Ta
The pipe will not have caused it, but as it's a hairline crack it could also be settling of the house or bad brickwork.
You are looking for cracks that are caused by the tree roots growing and forcing anything above the roots vertically up where the roots are, but the cracks may manifest themselfs above the roots or else where as the brickwork may rotate instead of going straight up and you may find a crack in the corner of the house that gets worse the higher it goes.
I like the look of that tree:)
But I can see your dilemma. I am not helping, I know.
Yeah the tree looks nice actually. So nice to look out from kitchen window to see green n purple. However still don't understand why previous owner planted it so close. This year all trees around my house seems to have a race up… I guess we had a wet year this year.
That is very close to the house, how old is the tree? If its still immature I'd pull it out immediately, the roots will already be affecting the footings for wall its placed against but a trees root systems typically extend at least as far out as the trees height, often further, if that's the case I Imagine it could affect your whole house. Sadly if the tree is mature and the soil is reactive then the drying effect from the trees removal could cause similar problems. its tough to judge from the pictures, maybe ask an engineer or a geotech
This is a CSIRO Info sheet for homeowners on how footings work and how to maintain them. it specifically addresses tree roots. Might be worth a look.
I dunno how old but a friend guessed it's about 15 years old? It's still going up this year. I never seen it so lush but I just moved in abt 2-3 months lol
If you like it keep it. If you don't like it cut it.