Imagine a tree falling on your home — an event where a windy storm or tree death are the common culprits. Unfortunately, such an incident has become a reality for this Redditor who posted the picture of the uprooted tree on their space.
How did it happen? Over the summer, "My neighbors cut their tree roots below the soil level and it just fell over onto my home," according to the OP.
While the homeowner isn't sure about why the tree owners made such a decision, they speculate, "it was because the plant became mature (planted about 30 years ago) and was touching their bump out windows or maybe their air conditioner."
Becoming a threat to a nearby structure, such as a home foundation, plumbing, septic tank, or utility lines, is a legitimate reason for needing to prune tree roots — but under the care of an arborist.
Based on how the Redditor described the neighbor cutting the tree roots, it sounds like they may have done it themselves. An arborist could have trimmed those roots properly and saved it or safely removed the whole thing if necessary.
Tree services advise never to cut tree roots more than two inches in diameter or more than 20% of the above-ground roots at once. Season can also play a role in tree stress since pruning is best in winter and early spring when dormancy is still in effect — the neighbors did this big pruning in summer.
Roots are like the mouth and feet of a tree. They provide stability in the ground while also being the part that lets the tree feed or absorb water and nutrients from the soil. Therefore, the tree loses two main factors to its survival with altered roots, which is why a professional should handle it.
The commenters were sympathetic to the homeowner and had some advice.
Someone in a similar situation said: "Cut the tree down, if you cut roots it's gonna uproot in a storm. My neighbor cut his roots to install those metal edges for gardens and the tree graciously rested on my house after a storm … they paid 3k to have it removed."
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Absolutely not 💯 More advice came as someone else suggested: "Get all the pictures you can. Especially of the cut roots. Possibly get an arborist out to tell whether or not the cut roots had a decisive factor in the tree falling. Give the neighbor the bill for everything."
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