Garden Wall Cracking

[crisper]

Hi, our garden is bordered by a brick wall, I have noticed that some of the top bricks... would they be 'topping strones? .. have moved a little, today I have noticed more of these, and a some bricks have moved right out too..I can see daylight through them..if they do fall, where they are it won't do any damage to property or people so thats good... just outside the wall is a HUGE silver birch tree... on a patch of land that belongs to the council...do you think it could be the roots of the tree going under the wall thats causing the movment? ... thanks for your thoughts on this ! Mrs C x

[Baldric]

Does sound like it is.

[The Builder]

It's called "heave" Crispy. Fairly safe to assume the growth of the roots is putting upward pressure on the base of the wall.

Try and speak to someone at the Council. They ought to take action.

[dustypuss]

Birch tend to produce shallow roots that spread out over a large area. The rule is that the extent of a tree's main root system extends out to what we call the dripline. If you dropped a line straight down from the most outer edge of the canopy, that is the drip line.

However, roots can extend further from a dripline, particularly if there is a concentrated water source. Roots will seek this source and concentrate their growth there.

If you're worried about the wall itself, that depends on the kind of foundation you have. The biggest problem is slab foundations that sit directly on the ground, and roots that grow big and fat beneath them can cause cracking. Slab homes often have their piping under the slab, and if there's seepage there, the roots can cause serious problems.



One of the best solutions is to go to the garden center and ask for root barrier sheeting. This is a geo-textile impregnated with tiny balls of root killer that causes root growth to stop cold when it comes in contact with them. Dig a narrow slot along the edge of your foundation where the tree is located and slide the sheeting down as far as you can. Then backfill the slot.

[crisper]

Thankyou Baldric, The Builder & Dustypuss for your answers..think I will look into this... don't want the wall falling down or any harm to come to the tree...!.. Ta everso Mrs C x