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Garage foundation near a tree

2 years ago

I want to have a new garage built that is fairly near a pair of oak trees, 1 is 8" and the other 10". Is 10 feet too close for the footing?

Comments (11)

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
2 years ago
Can you show us a picture?
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
2 years ago
8 and 10 inch what??? ... diameter??? ... not feet right ... your talking width not height is the ?????

the issue is how much root damage you will do.. and how will it impact the tree ...

a tree is 2 to 3 time larger underground.. than you see above ... in a flat pancake shape.. usually most in the first foot or two of soil ...

so any soil grading ... footing/foundation work .... and/or heavy equipment can impact the roots.. and if you harm the roots.. you harm the tree ..

soooo.. the further you can be.. the better off it is ..

pix will really help .. and do you have acreage and alternatives ... and what will the floor be.. etc .. all you mention is footings ... where are you.. big city name... and what does footings mean where you are ... are we talking the 32 inch footing in a ground freeze area ... and what will the actual floor be ... etc ... give us some more facts ...

tree time is counted in decades .. even if you do damage to the roots.. it could be 5 or 10 years or longer.. before you see the result ... if i were limited to location.. i might include a couple new babe oaks in the build budget ... and plant them and get them going.. so if in a decade or so.. the old ones have to go ... you will have replacements.. cant ever have enough trees on the property ...

ken
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The easiest approach would be to center the walk to the landing, and make the landing width equal to the opening between the porch posts. The walk, again, is figured out from a center line. Pretend for a minute that instead of the walk connecting to the drive, it comes straight from the street. As it nears the landing it flares out at each side with quarter-circle radii as a transition to meet a greater width landing. Where these flares begin is represented by a blue and green line in my sketch. It represents the landing front-to-back depth plus flare radius. Along the blue line is where the radius point will occur for the center line of the large curved section of walk. It cannot be closer to the to the house. [It could be farther if you wanted to add a straight section of walk to the landing before the curve begins. This would only likely happen if you need the planting bed place next garage to be greater depth.] But the radius of the curve itself can change. If the radius is smaller, the curve is tighter and the walk is closer to the garage. Conversely, if radius is greater, the curve is less tight and the walk is a greater distance from the garage wall. The radius would alter based on all the needs collectively, in priority. I strongly suggest, Allison, that you lay out the walk in bright pink or orange upside-down marking paint. (Here, you can get at Walmart, Lowes, or H.D. Get a couple of cans because it goes quickly. It helps a lot to have the long-handled dispenser, but the short one would work and no handle at all would be passable. if the latter, it helps to use a straight edge for a guide.) Following some marks that you've made to work out center-line, create paint marks for the termination points/flare corners. After creating key points of walk in paint, then create a dashed line for the walk and landing edges. At this point appraise the feature from different distances and viewpoints and determine if you are satisfied with it or if there is something to fix. Remark key points for fixing and double check everything again. Once you are satisfied that the basic layout is correct, connect the dashed line with a solid line of carefully applied paint. You can go over lines to heavy them up and you can scrub out error lines with the sole of your shoes. Stand back and appraise if from various angles and make sure you like it. If you find something about the layout you don't like, you can change in paint and appraise the new version.
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mtvhike
Original Author
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Sorry, Ken, 8 and 10 inch diameter. And yes, I'm worrying about root damage.

Location: Northern NY (Eastern Adirondacks/Champlain Valley). Very hilly, forested land. I'll try to get a better photo, but I'm not there right now. The tree in question is at the right edge of the first picture.

North side of house showing location of garage.

View looking East of the rock wall which will be removed, from the upper deck seen in the first picture.

Here is a drawing of my idea: a 24 x 24 foot deck supported on the East (top of drawing) by the existing driveway surface and on the west by a N-S beam (not shown) which, in turn, is supported by new supporting column and the foundation of the house (on the right. Retaining walls with foundations will be added as needed.
callirhoe123
2 years ago
Where are you planning to put the garage?
mtvhike
Original Author
2 years ago
Where the 24x24 deck is.
callirhoe123
2 years ago
Where the two story deck now stands?
mtvhike
Original Author
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
The two story deck is not shown In the third image (drawing), The garage deck (the gray square) would be immediately to the left of the building. This is just west of the entrance deck. Both decks are shown in the first photo. The issue is the closeness of the trees which are to the left of that deck and where to put the foundation.
tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
2 years ago
So are you saying that embankment may need to be pushed out closer to the tree?

tj
mtvhike
Original Author
2 years ago
No, the rocks would be removed and a concrete retaining wall put in behind where the rocks are now. My concern is that the footing for that retaining wall might kill the tree.
mtvhike
Original Author
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Well, I've decided to not put the garage there, but go back to Plan B, which is to put a long, narrow garage between two groves of trees. (Plan A was to excavate a place in the side of the hill, but it was vetoed by DW because it would entail cutting down too many trees.) The link below is my thread about Plan A.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6140826/new-garage-in-the-woods

Question to Houzz: is this the best way to link to another discussion - that is, to post the URL of that post?
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
that is a very common way to link posts ....and i have nothing to do with houzz

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