Tree Bump in Asphalt Driveway

 

VERNE: Yes, ma’am. I have a large Ponderosa pine growing alongside my asphalt driveway and there’s a large bump in the driveway. I think it’s due to the root and I was wanting to know what you think I should do.

 

TOM: Well, do you like that pine tree?

 

VERNE: Not really. (Tom chuckles) I’ve got – I live three miles from Calaveras Big Trees. It’s a state park.

 

TOM: OK.

 

VERNE: We do have lots of trees.

 

TOM: Yeah, so you can travel a bit to your trees; you can commute to your trees whenever you want them.

 

VERNE: Sure.

 

TOM: It’s not going to go away. The only thing that you can do here is you can dig up the driveway, cut out the roots, try to get them down well below the surface of the driveway but chances are you’ll kill the tree or send it crashing down if you do that. So that’s the issue; they’re not going to be able to coexist – cohabitate happily.

 

LESLIE: Peacefully.

 

TOM: Peacefully.

 

VERNE: Is there any root killer or anything like that that I could just dump down the hole? I’ve dug down – it’s 18 inches deep. Is there anything that I can just dump down that hole?

 

TOM: (overlapping voices) Not that I’m aware of. Not from a chemical perspective like that but if you were to go down there and cut out some of the roots …

 

VERNE: OK.

 

TOM: … the ones that were coming up, you know, it’s a start. But I’m not saying it’s not going to fix it completely – that it’s going to fix it completely because chances are it’s going to …

 

LESLIE: I’m sure there’s more than that one root.

 

TOM: Yeah. And you know, now that you’ve dug it all up, it’s nice and soft; it’s probably going to fill in with some more roots so a few years later you might be doing the same thing again.

 

VERNE: Yeah. OK.

 

TOM: Alright?

 

VERNE: Very good. Thank you very much.

 

TOM: (overlapping voices) Well, good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.