Question
Hello Jim, I have a very tall and old tree in front of my house that provides plenty of shade. The roots have already damaged my concrete walkway and eventually will damage my house or drainage. If I cut off the roots and spare the tree, will it survive and will the cut off root grow back? Should I just remove the tree? Dennis

Answer
The walkway is damaged from the up lifting of the cement of roots near the ground surface. House foundations have deep footings and the roots usually do not damage the foundation unless there is a leak and the roots follow the water and can enter cracks in the foundation. You did not say how close the tree was to the foundation or the species of tree. The roots closest to the trunk of some species can cause some problems. Tree roots grow in the first couple of feet of soil and some species can be problems with septic lines and tanks. If the tree is growing close enough to the house to be a concern then the branch will also be a problem rubbing on the house. You can IF you are concerned install a root barrier along the house to deter the roots from growing that way. You can cut up to about 25% of the root system without seriously damaging the health of the tree. To make an estimate of the percent, you can draw a circle around the tree where the branches extent to and then make a cut where the root barrier will cut the roots and if this piece cut off is more than the 25% you can expect some branch dieback from the root cutting. Here is a web link to root barriers. http://www.4specs.com/s/32/32-9452.html