Wanted to hardscape a patio and the first thing three different landscapes said was some variation of “what idiot put this tree here”. It’s 8 feet from the house and 5 feet from the garage. The lack of stairs to the backdoor is on the list. Should I remove it? It’s as tall as the house now.
by Roughly95Pandas
14 Comments
If you want a nice transition area off the house (deck/Hardscape). Which would look awesome.. I’d drop that tree.. you can always have it removed. Had one priced to be scooped and it was 2500.00 to scoop and transplant. I cut it down and removed root ball. For that price I could get a few nice sized trees planted new. That area is prime for a Mack Daddy outdoor area! If you want shade just put a transom sun shade or something above the deck that you can roll out and in..
The landscapers are right and you need to cut that tree down. Putting a tree squeezed five feet from a garage and eight feet from a foundation is a structural headache waiting to happen. The roots are going to heave whatever patio you put down and it completely chops up the only usable footprint you have in that narrow corridor. Take it down, grind the stump, and reclaim your square footage. Then you can excavate a proper sub base and build a real set of stairs leading down to a functional patio that actually flows with the house.
While you are at it you need to fix the planting against that back fence. Those two solitary evergreens are exactly what I call polka dot planting. They look like green traffic cones dropped randomly in the yard and offer zero structure or visual calm. Once your hardscape is set you need to design sweeping connected masses of native shrubs and groundcover around the perimeter. Wrap the edges of your new patio in a continuous flow of plants to soften the hard corners of the buildings instead of sticking random things in the middle of your usable space.
Get rid of tree . If you are handy cut it yourself or ask around the neighborhood . Cut up for firewood and stack . A deck will look so much nicer than your steps now . Good luck . Please update ❤️
Idk I like it doesn’t seem super problematic at this point. But then I have 200 ft redwoods within 10 ft of my house. 🤷♂️
I know it’s not what you asked about, but I just had to mention how much I dig the color of your house and trim. It looks great.
That tree is plenty far away from buildings, unless it’s an invasive tree it’s not going to cause foundation issues. Landscaping businesses just like to cut everything down because it’s easier, I would love to have a tree like that giving great shade and ambience in my backyard.
Just imaging sitting under that tree in a comfy chair on a summer day, listening to the leaves rustle in the breeze, birds who live in the tree chirping away. What a relaxing thought.
Trash the tree. Never a good idea to plant anything jammed up next to a structure. It will forever be annoying.
Keep it and build around it.
Live with the tree through the summer. You may realize its worth.
It looks like it’s in the path between the house and garage door. That will get annoying, especially if it’s still growing. I would remove it.
When my now-ex and I bought our house, there was a beautiful crepe myrtle in back, outside the dining room, about 6 feet from the house. It grew to be taller than the roofline (it’s a rancher). We had basement flooding issues and one by one we dealt with underlying causes until.all that was left was crepe myrtle seeds clogging the gutters. The tree had to go.
The tree service (reluctantly) cut down that tree and not only did the basement stop flooding but I suddenly had a full view of the backyard – and I loved it. We planted a new Crepe Myrtle deeper in the back yard. I like trees, but there are few good reasons to keep a tree in a bad location, and yours just looks awkward to me..
I would keep it trees are insanely valuable in any yard
I’d lean towards build the path around it. Reddit seems to veer like a drunken man staggering down the street from extremes of never cutting down trees to trees are going to destroy your house and foundation. We had to make some hard decisions because we love trees but strategically taking out a few lets so much more light in that our backyard really came to life. But it its not a shade issue for you I’d limb it up some amd just walk around it.
I’d keep the tree- give it some thoughtful surgery
I am always pro-tree… but what will a mature version of this tree look like with the garage. I can’t quite tell how close it is.
In making your plans, pay to get an arborist consultation.
We have a nearly 100 year old mighty oak in our backyard— it is “the yard”, the trunk is so big that two people have to hold hand to wrap around it.
What will your tree look like in 100 yrs?