A Guide to Tree Protection when Renovating

Renovating your home is often times a disruptive endeavor. As such, you can your family will opt to leave for safer accommodation until the project is completed. However, your trees will not. Tree around your home may impede equipment and supplies while the additional foot traffic and equipment traffic might negatively affect its health.

With this in mind, if you plan to undertake a home improvement project, you should consider the health of your tree. Plan for how to ensure your trees protected from removal during the project. Advanced planning should include how to protect the trunks, the roots, and the branches.

Protecting The Roots

Many homeowners tend to forget the importance of protecting the tree root system, all because the roots are invisible. That said, they should be protected. While the roots can support a huge oak tree, it is still susceptible to damage.

With this in mind, contractors should be cautioned not to carry out any excavation and construction around the tree root system. Additionally, contractors should be cautioned not to run heavy equipment over the root’s system as soil compaction will affect the root system. Typically, a tree root system will extend towards the edge of the drip zone, which for many trees is the edge of the tree canopy.

If the construction zone and the root zone overlap, it is a good idea to contract a professional arborist to help protect the trees. They will advise on the steps you need to take to negate tree damage during construction. Additionally, they will help you or advise you on how to mitigate damage after the project. For instance, they might recommend using an air spade to reduce air compaction. They might also recommend canopy thinning and root pruning.

Protecting The Trunk

Although it might not seem like, tree trunks are very easy to damage. A glancing blow from a heavy machine is enough to open a dilapidating gash in the tree bark. The gash will obviously open the tree to insect and diseases.

Again, to avoid this from happening, it is best to keep everyone away from the trees. However, in many cases, this is not possible. As such, you should consider erecting a temporary barrier fence to protect the tree trunk from injuries.

Protecting The Branches

Just as it is the case with tree trunks and roots, the best way to protect the branches and their leaves is to minimize any construction activities around the tree trunk. However, as mentioned above, it is more often than not, this is impossible. As such, you will almost always turn to the next best thing – prune the branches that will most likely be affected by the construction project, assuming that it will not affect the health of the tree.

Branches are susceptible in the same way as the trunk – any wound will give insects and disease an opportunity to ravage the tree. Pruning will reduce the risk of the tree suffering such dilapidating wounds.

When you invest in a renovation project around your property, you should consider the impact it will have on your existing landscape. If you want to end up with healthy trees at the end of your project, you should consult professional arborists to take care of your trees beforehand and after the project. Proper planning will negate your tree’s risk exposure and safeguard your precious trees.