Seems like an impossible ask. It isn't just the footer - it is so many other things. You might make all sorts of compromises than find that the tree dies anyway and that would be frustrating.

It would seem that 1/2 the canopy would need to be cut at the same time heavy equipment is driving over its roots. And then the new structure is breaking some roots and permanently cutting water supply.

As you probably know but reminder - roots typically run the size of the canopy. Heavy equipment often damages roots (not sure how fragile live oak roots are). Construction often kills trees when it is 10 feet away.

Consult an arborist but prepare to completely change your plans.

I agree to call an arborist. Live Oaks (and Post Oaks) are the most sensitive trees I know of when it comes to activity and disturbance over and around their roots. They cannot tolerate any amount of soil impaction and other changes construction brings.

They usually don’t die immediately, it can take 2-3 yrs depending on age and other factors.

There is zero chance your tree will survive building this close to it.

I’m in Texas and could fill this page and then some with how many times I’ve watched mature old Live Oaks die due to construction near them.

I had a feeling we were in a fair amount of trouble here. Ugh! What a pain! We are in Texas too. Shouldn’t our architecht have known that keeping the tree with this set of plans was going to be an impossibility? We made it very clear from the start that we wanted the tree to stay; no question asked. He told us that the tree would be fine with an injection…

Shouldn’t our architecht have known that keeping the tree with this set of plans was going to be an impossibility?

Yes.

Your architect won’t be around when the tree finally dies. Is there any way that you can move the front porch to the left and shrink it so it fits beneath the roofline in front of the living room. Lose the enormous front gable. (Does it contain living space? I ask because it doesn’t have a window in it.). The front facade won’t suffer as you will have a gorgeous live oak in front of it. Note, check with your arborist before you start to build. In a neighborhood commercial project, we demanded the preservation of as many century trees as we could. There was judicious pruning of the tree before building began. Good luck.

"...we were all set to start demo last week when our project manager took some measurements and realized that one of our the concrete footers for the front porch is about 7 inches away from the trunk of a veey large live oak tree. We WANT the tree to stay; thats a must."

If keeping the tree is a "must" at what point was that shared with the architect/designer? That's an important design constraint and needed to be considered from the outset. Now your at a point where you either delay construction and go into redesign--with cost and schedule implications--or say goodbye to the tree.

We had one arborist already come out

and he us that IF we were to keep our current plans and slim down the depth of the of the porch by 4 feet, and add a foot of mulch around the tree around the entire root area, put fencing up 5 feet from the base of the tree and a inject it with steroid, that it MIGHT make it.

Even if we took this route (not saying that we are going to) the new slimmed down porch, with the 2’ columns that he has on the on there would look ridiculously crowded/scrunched.

We have a another arborist coming on Monday mornin for a second opinion but Im pretty sure were going to hear the same thing all yall have echoed and go back to the drawing board.… no fun.

We told him we wanted to keep the tree frim our very first meeting with the architect which was back at the beginning of 2021…

I’m glad you’re getting a second opinion from another arborist, I think what the first one told you is a bunch of BS.

So glad you want to save the tree, I hope it all goes well.

Sort of irrelevant now but then what happened? SOP back at the beginning of 2021 would have been to then get an arborist out there then to assess the tree and give guidance on new construction distances needed before design even started.

"We told him we wanted to keep the tree frim our very first meeting with the architect which was back at the beginning of 2021..."

If that's the case, they've failed to meet a key design criterion. I hope they don't plan to bill you for the cost of the redesign.

I need to see the actual house since this is an addition maybe you will get some good ideas . I personally hate too many gables and roof angles but I need to see the house.I find the front of the house as designed way too busy.

Usu max 40% into the drip line is deadly. Don't know how this thing has survived so far.

Your likely decision is the tree or the covered entry.

I am so sorry - it's a disappointing thing to get this far, excited about the design and the possibilities only to find out that, as Charles Ross Homes said, a key design criterion was not met.

And also thanks to ARG for pointing out that it should have been addressed head on with the first site visit and quick consultation with an arborist. THIS is eactly why people are told to get an architect - so that the land / view / site is the first part of the design. So it's extra poor when it doesn't happen. And there is really no excuse.

Our house was built around several live oaks in the 90s, several within a couple feet. Thirty years later they are still very healthy, they can withstand a lot.

LA, beautiful home.

The OP’s tree is more mature/older than yours, it sounds like. That makes a difference.

It’s a big risk, regardless. Another factor is how stressed Texas trees are right now due to the past two years of record cold winters, a major drought, and record high temps we’re getting this summer.

Move the house back or redesign the house to accommodate the tree.

I am getting up on my roof today to trim the branches off my oak tree that is five feet away from my foundation. The tree has been there for 70 years. If you do not hear from me again, it did not go well.

Jinx, the arborist estimated these two trees to be around 100 years old, we have one on the side of the house that is 10 ft from the house that is over 150 yrs. The picture does not do the trees justice. We have not experienced any foundation issues from the trees so close to the house, live oaks root systems are deep unlike of tree varieties.

I’m genuinely glad yours survived … someone clearly knew what they were doing.

Of course there are cases like yours — but that doesn’t mean the OP’s tree will be so lucky, and I think it’s best to err on the side of caution in this particular situation. Especially anything being buried within the root line. I don’t think there’s a chance that will go well.

I watched three that were well over 100 yrs old each die over the course of a few years when a neighbor added on to their house (and put in a pool). Having to cut them down was a very expensive nightmare, they were giants. I could share many more recent stories, as my town is being heavily developed right now, commercial and residential.

Point being, we all have examples — do some live through construction? Yes. Do some die during construction? Yes. People asking should be warned of the risks. And I’ll reiterate that we are in very stressful environmental/weather conditions. I don’t know where in Texas the OP is — in my area Oak Wilt is very prevalent and a stressed tree is particularly susceptible.

(Your yard is gorgeous, btw.)

Sometimes it isn't the actual construction that kills a tree. In my area we have a type of pine tree and a beetle that attacks them. The trees usually manage to deal with the beetle, except when they get stressed, like during construction, and then the beetle wins. Our neighbors tried to keep a couple of the pine trees on their lot and they died right after construction was finished. Then you have to spend more money to carefully remove large trees when all your landscaping is already in place.

I don't understand how you got this far into the project, without anybody pointing out you were going to be building right on top of the tree? If the tree was so important it should certainly have been shown on that site plan.

Whatever you said to the architect made him think that your remodeling wants/needs were more important than keeping the tree and he designed it accordingly ... and no one questioned or stopped him along the way!

Many of my clients build on wooded sites. I point out to them that a tree removed from the site before construction starts may cost a couple hundred dollars, after the house is built that same tree may cost a couple thousand dollars to remove.

I'm going to tag onto Mark Bischak's question about the porch, but with a prescription:

1. Shift the steps to the left.

2. Make the porch shallower.

3. Eliminate the hip roof on the nook.

4. Connect the nook and porch with a lean-to roof with standing seam metal. Eliminating the hip roof at the nook will help tie things together better on the front elevation. The hip is a bit of an "odd bird."

5. I think you'll need to add (2) single shed dormers on the right side of the front elevation to help balance the large visual mass of the current shed dormer. You can make a more informed call if your architect will draw it for you with and without the dormers.

To help convey the above to your architect--whom I suspect may be memory impaired--I've set it to music--at least the kind of music featured in the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Tune = "Time Warp"

Just jump the steps to the left.

And pull the porch in tight.

Get rid of that hip.

And you'll make it just right.

Beware of rafter thrust---

In the wind and the rain-hay-hane.

Let's do the porch design again.

Let's do the porch design again.

Houzzers should feel free to add verses as they feel inspired.

If you really want to make the above a painful learning experience for your architect, just call my office when you're meeting with him/her and I'll sing it for you.

It’s surely possible with a pretty significant restructuring of your plans. Put the entry and porch on the left—- and even cut the house back where the tree is, creating a sort of courtyard with garden around the tree. Bonus: lets more natural light into your house and creates a magical unique architectural feature and special outdoor space.

Verse iii:

Do not forget the bleachers.

At the bathroom window.

You will get many voyeur

With camera in tow.

Was the tree not marked on the initial survey? This is a major oops… it seems that of the options sliding the porch to the left and giving it a shed roof tied into the adjacent bump out is most likely to work. And specify hand digging the footers. NO HEAVY EQUIPMENT IN ROOT ZONE

I am sorry your architect did not desgn around the tree. I feel it would have been a great opportunity to design something amazing to accomodate the tree. i applaud you for trying again so that this beauty can carry on living.

In addition to shifting the porch left, have the engineer design a pier and beam foundation instead of a continuous trench footing. That will disturb the roots the least.

HALLETT & Co. - he had the tree in earlier versions

The original structure shown there is so much more well proportioned, aesthetically pleasing, and authentic, than the awkward monstrosity he designed. He kinda suks aa a designer. As well as him being a non detail focused tree murderer.

You got a complete dud in a designer. Is he really an architect? Because the results would seem to contradict that. Or he finished at the very bottom of his class.

Mark Bischak— your suggestions give me a little hope but better than the duggestions the manner in which you suggest them. I love it.

Sometimes good advice is blurted out for others to decide whether to take or leave. In rare instances good advice is stated in a way that makes others think beyond a thought, challenges the mind, enhance the human spirit, and leaves the listener in a better place.

We did a major reno and addition last year with limited space and several very large trees. The front portico below was added about 6ft from the base of a giant water oak tree. We also added a back porch with footers about 6ft from a walnut tree. Construction finished about 1yr ago, trees were all trimmed by an arborist in the fall and got a clean bill of health. The arborist said one of the advantages of trees this size is that they are so well established (probably predate the original house) and the root systems are very deep.

It looks like you’re expanding the driveway - might be good to ask the arborists about that too. We’ve been discouraged from expanding our parking due to the trees. Good luck!

Verse iv:

Cut the live oak down.

And plant four more trees.

And move that porch over,

If you please.

I've found that creative people often demonstrate their creativity via more than one medium. I may have pressed the "start" button on a rhyming machine that was previously at rest. I'll leave it to houzzers to decide whether or not that's a good thing.