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, 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.