People love to plant trees and other plants on their property. When doing so it is a really good idea to think about what they will be like when they grow up into big trees. Trees falling on homes is almost never a good thing and they can sometimes cause extensive damage when they do.
The roots of large trees can damage foundations and even cause the foundation to collapse.
Here is a picture of a cedar tree that was planted too close to the house and over the years it eventually came in contact with the gutter and the roots were damaging the foundation.
Besides these consideration is the fact the fact that trees can dump a lot of debris onto the roof and clog the gutters. They also represent a pathway for vermin to get to the roof structure. Usually if rodents can get to the roof—they can find a way into the attic or roof structure.
Very large trees that are too close to the home should most likely be removed and vegetation in general around the home should be kept cut away to prevent vermin entry to the structure.
Many jurisdictions have regulation regarding the removal of trees from the property, so tree maintenance and removal should always be done by a qualified professional. Many times this would be a licensed arborist.
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I enjoy your blog and learn from many of your posts. I hope this particular opinion is also shaped by the appropriate use of trees to mitigate the effects of too much sun in the summer and not enough sun in the winter (i.e., passive solar management). USC has a nice outline on the issue.
Cheers!
Sophia—oh absolutely—the properties vegetation in terms of energy efficiency of the home should always be considered.
Good to know!
This book on residential energy landscaping is newly out, with a very good review of solar gain and tree placement. I learned of it here:
http://blog.thbfarm.com/2010/12/03/book-review-energy-wise-landscape-design.aspx?ref=rss
Thanks, again!
Cool Sophie. Another thing we used to think about in the 70’s in upstate NY was the “shape” of the landscaping. An example of which is creating berms to purposefully drift snow in front of south facing glass on the home to increase the amount of reflected radiant energy (heat/light) into the home or on solar panels.