Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Mar 31, 2017 6:53 am Would like to know if anyone has experienced this situation.I bought this land from a small estate. We have some street trees right at the street walk path and Council didn't allow them to be removed during site subdivision. Now my builder - Clarendon wants to put piers to the corner of the foundation that is near the trees and charged us $4500 provisional allowance with no details of how many piers used etc, due to potential influence of the trees. If you look into the attached site plan and pictures, do you think it is safe not to put piers down. from what I estimate, the distance from the trees to the garage is probably 9m. My colleague's husband is a arborist looked at the picture of the tree and said it won't affect the foundation even when we told him initially the distance away from the tree was 6m instead of 9m. However I just want to get a second opinion from you here before doing a proper report to know the exact influence zone. Any reply is greatly appreciated. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Do I need piers due to the street trees 2Mar 31, 2017 10:06 am totally frustrating! I would be worried too about the zone of influence. And then especially frustrated that council in their wisdom decided that it wont affect a property owner's use of their land. two points i would consider: 1) I reckon it's worth getting a second opinion (other than your builder... unless you wholly trust them) to confirm or exclude that the influences will be an issue. 2) i would consider raising this issue with council at some stage as you could potentially claim that it was their stuff up... but that said, it could open up a can of worms, where they might just tie you up in admin fees for evening making the claim in the first place! Our home is next to a shallow water well (we have a town block with a well!) so one corner needs extra footing depths for that zone of influence. But from what I've researched, trees and their roots are a different kettle of fish. I agree, I would not want to pay for extra piering if its not necessary, but then I would also want some peace of mind if there is any possibility the roots will affect the slab in the future. I hope it gets sorted! Follow our first house build here! -> https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=86484 Re: Do I need piers due to the street trees 3Mar 31, 2017 11:50 am I would want extra protection as those tree roots will be in that general area meaning they will probably keep that area lots more dry, had the same situation 20 year's ago and ground moisture was sucked up by trees roots effecting my slab at the time. Re: Do I need piers due to the street trees 4Mar 31, 2017 12:33 pm We were told when we built that tree roots can spread out as far as the tree can grow high so any tree within their height range of the house needed to be removed. Our whole block was trees though and there were some on our corner that we couldn't remove because it was council land as well. Re: Do I need piers due to the street trees 5Mar 31, 2017 1:45 pm Thanks for the feedback, I am waiting for a revision of 1m further setback from the builder, that make the total set back to be the same as the tree high. Finger cross Re: Do I need piers due to the street trees 6Mar 31, 2017 1:47 pm ruraldoc totally frustrating! I would be worried too about the zone of influence. And then especially frustrated that council in their wisdom decided that it wont affect a property owner's use of their land. two points i would consider: 1) I reckon it's worth getting a second opinion (other than your builder... unless you wholly trust them) to confirm or exclude that the influences will be an issue. 2) i would consider raising this issue with council at some stage as you could potentially claim that it was their stuff up... but that said, it could open up a can of worms, where they might just tie you up in admin fees for evening making the claim in the first place! Our home is next to a shallow water well (we have a town block with a well!) so one corner needs extra footing depths for that zone of influence. But from what I've researched, trees and their roots are a different kettle of fish. I agree, I would not want to pay for extra piering if its not necessary, but then I would also want some peace of mind if there is any possibility the roots will affect the slab in the future. I hope it gets sorted! Yeah, I am thinking of getting an arborist to do a proper report. I don't know if Brisbane Council is nice enough to care about this situation. Re: Do I need piers due to the street trees 7Mar 31, 2017 1:56 pm Joker I would want extra protection as those tree roots will be in that general area meaning they will probably keep that area lots more dry, had the same situation 20 year's ago and ground moisture was sucked up by trees roots effecting my slab at the time. was there only 1 tree or many trees at your house, do you remember how big and high the trees were at the time? My colleague's husband is an arborist and from looking at the picture he said the distance away from the tree seems to be fine and it is a type of gum tree but a small one that won't grow too big. Re: Do I need piers due to the street trees 8Mar 31, 2017 1:57 pm tngo Thanks for the feedback, I am waiting for a revision of 1m further setback from the builder, that make the total set back to be the same as the tree high. Finger cross That's a decent idea! It will probably be a matter of weighing out the benefits of not having to deal with the risks of the tree roots to your slab, vs losing out on backyard space. Though, a positive might just be that if you are 1m further back from the road, might just be 1m less noisy! (can make a difference!) Yeah, I did wonder if you were in a city block given how tight your house is on your block!! I guess you probably won't have any connections in Brisbane council!! We have the benefit of a smaller council to deal with, and usually that comes with easy connections on the inside. (haven't used that privilege yet though..) Hope it works out! Follow our first house build here! -> https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=86484 Re: Do I need piers due to the street trees 9Apr 02, 2017 8:01 pm Tree was 8_10metres away and and maybe similar height, problem with nature strip trees is that they never get watered unless it rains, so their roots tend to travel out looking for water, cut any roots you find on your boundary by digging down on your side of your property. Re: Do I need piers due to the street trees 10Apr 08, 2017 10:38 am Joker Tree was 8_10metres away and and maybe similar height, problem with nature strip trees is that they never get watered unless it rains, so their roots tend to travel out looking for water, cut any roots you find on your boundary by digging down on your side of your property. hi Joker, you're right, my builder has told me the moisture issue is what they fear too, they claim life time warranty on the foundation so they wouldn't budge. we have to go with that, in overall positively the tree will give us some breeze from the east to the house. Re: Do I need piers due to the street trees 11Apr 08, 2017 11:34 am Tngo You will need a geotech report anyway... then check the codes You may need 6 piles approx? ie, pile driller, 2 m3 of concrete, Plus labour $1.2-$1.5K or about $200-$250 ea? I suggest you do it yourself Designer,Engineer (Civil,Const & Envir),Builder,Concrete & Masonry Contract.Struct Repairs Re: Do I need piers due to the street trees 12May 03, 2017 3:36 pm Thank you, builder said they might need 10-15 piers each 2m apart and 2-3 m deep. They said $4500 is provisional only and the sale person said she think it won't be up to that, so finger cross. How good is Simeon?! Always taking time to help others out! Wish we were building in NSW and could work together. Thanks for all that you do! 7 6562 DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair That’s very helpful information. Will find out more from there. Much appreciated. 11 13446 3 1372 |