Removing Tree Roots from a Concrete Walkway

 

DEE: We have a holly tree, about 18 years old; probably around ten-inch in diameter. And it has – it sits between the corner of the garage and the sidewalk and it’s pushing up our sidewalk about an inch where they’ve cut it; you know, when they pour the concrete and there’s a cut.

 

TOM: (overlapping voices) Yep.

 

DEE: And we’ve got to do something because somebody’s going to trip.

 

TOM: Well, the only thing that you can do in a situation like this is you’re going to have to break out the concrete [2], dig down and cut out some of the roots and then repour that piece of the sidewalk. Now, if the sidewalk is in sections – say, it’s got three-foot sections or something like that –

 

DEE: It is in sections.

 

TOM: – well, you may actually be able to pull them up one section at a time and not have to actually break them up permanently; may be able to break them out into the three-foot by three-foot sections. Get a couple of the sections out, dig down and go to work on those roots. But I will warn you, Dee, that you’re only really buying yourself some time here. Those roots are going to continue to fill in; they’ll continue to push it up. If you take the sidewalk apart and you cut it down and you do a real good job, you know you might be able to buy yourself, say, three or four years but eventually you’re going to have to do it again.

 

DEE: So what’s – it’s such a pretty tree.

 

LESLIE: Yeah, I mean I wouldn’t get rid of the tree. It’s just something that’s going to need some upkeep.

 

TOM: Yep, exactly. And I think you’ll find that you can take out a fair amount of those roots without affecting the tree.

 

DEE: OK. I guess that’s what we’ll try and do, then, because …

 

TOM: That’s the solution, Dee. Alright? Thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.