Trees and Your Foundation

When you first move to a new home, you may not give much thought to the trees in the area. You’ll want to take those trees into account, though, if you want to keep your home’s foundation healthy.

Tree roots, as it turns out, can have increasingly detrimental impacts on your home’s foundation. How do trees damage your foundation, and what steps can you take to prevent that damage?

Tree root systems are more expansive than many homeowners think. A healthy root system can easily grow to be the same size as a tree’s canopy. Given their ability to grow so large, many trees can start to impact your home’s overall health. For example, if you’ve planted a tree too close to the perimeter of your home, that tree’s root system will start to interact with your foundation.

That said, tree roots don’t physically start to tear away at the materials making up your foundation. Instead, they move the soil beneath your home. When that soil shifts, your foundation will settle more frequently than it already does. A settling foundation is a foundation that encounters hydrostatic pressure more often than it should. When your foundation is exposed to that kind of pressure, it’s more likely to crack and otherwise suffer damage.

Tree roots can frequently cause unintentional damage around your home.