Construction Next Door Hurting Your Tree in Richmond Hill?

The house next door sold, the fence came down, and now there’s an excavator in their backyard. Your big maple stands a few metres from the property line, and you’re watching the digger work its way closer. It’s a common worry in Richmond Hill, where older homes in Richvale, Crosby and Bayview Hill get torn down and rebuilt bigger, and where pools and additions go in every summer.

How Construction Hurts a Tree

The trunk is rarely the problem. The damage happens underground, in three main ways.

Cutting Roots

A trench for a footing, a pool, a gas line or a new driveway slices through every root in its path. Roots spread far past the edge of the branches, and most of the small feeder roots that take up water live in the top 30 cm or so of soil. A trench three metres from your trunk can cut a large share of them.

Crushing the Soil

Excavators, skid steers and trucks driving over the root zone pack the soil hard. Roots need air and water in the gaps between soil particles. Squeeze those gaps out and the roots suffocate, even if no one dug anywhere near them. On the clay soils in the south end of Richmond Hill, compaction lasts for years.

Changing the Grade

Piling fill around a tree, even 15 or 20 cm of it, smothers the roots underneath. Scraping soil away to level a lot strips the roots out. Both are common when a new house sits higher or lower than the old one.

Why the Damage Shows Up Late

A tree with cut roots usually leafs out fine the first spring, running on stored energy. Then the top starts to thin. Leaves come in smaller. Branches at the top die back over the next year or two. By the time you notice, the work next door is long finished. A tree that lost roots on one side can also become less stable, especially in wet, windy weather.

What You Can Do Before Work Starts

Most of the protection happens before the first scoop of dirt comes out.

• Talk to your neighbour and their builder. Ask where they plan to dig and where machines will drive. Most people will work with you if they hear early.
• Ask about tree protection fencing. Richmond Hill’s Tree Preservation By-law 19-25 sets tree protection zones around protected trees, with the size based on the trunk’s diameter. Sturdy fencing around that zone keeps machines and materials off the roots.
• Photograph your tree now. Take pictures of the trunk, the canopy and the ground under it, with the date. If it declines later, you’ll have a record.
• Know whose tree it is. If the trunk grows across the line, the tree belongs to both owners. Our answer on trees on the property line explains what that means.

During and After the Work

Keep an eye on the site. If soil, gravel or building materials get piled under your tree, ask for them to be moved. If roots are cut, clean cuts heal better than torn ones, so ask the crew to cut exposed roots cleanly with a saw instead of ripping them with the bucket.

Help the tree through the next two summers. Water deeply once a week during dry spells, out to the edge of the branches. Spread a thin layer of wood chip mulch over the root zone, kept off the trunk. Don’t fertilize heavily, which pushes leaf growth the damaged roots can’t support.

The by-law protects private trees 15 cm or wider at chest height from being removed or injured without a permit. If you believe a protected tree is being damaged without one, contact Access Richmond Hill at 905-771-8800.

How We Help

Scott comes out, looks at where the digging is planned, and tells you honestly what the tree is likely to handle. Afterward, if branches at the top start dying back, we take the deadwood out before it drops and can lighten the crown a little so the weakened roots carry less weight in wind. See tree trimming and pruning for how that works. If the tree has lost too many roots to stay safe, we’ll tell you that straight too, and the decision is yours.

Signs the Roots Took a Hit

Watch the tree through the next two growing seasons. These are the changes that point to root damage from the work next door.

• Leaves coming in smaller or paler than in past years
• The top of the crown thinning, with bare twigs poking out
• Leaves turning colour and dropping early in late summer
• Clusters of small shoots sprouting along the trunk or big limbs
• Mushrooms near the base, or soil cracking on one side
• A new lean toward or away from the construction side

One of these on its own may just be a dry year. Two or three together, starting after the work, usually mean the roots were hurt.

Bringing Us In

Phone or text us at (289) 475-5822 any day between 8 in the morning and 8 at night, ideally before the digging starts. Pictures of the tree and the planned work area help. Scott can usually visit that day and price anything that needs doing for free, and the yard is left as tidy as we found it.