I would strongly recommend against cutting the tree back hard, as Mark had suggested. Current understanding of tree physiology indicates that trees establish much more quickly and suffer less stress if not cut back (except in some cases of unusually severe root loss). If a proper rootball is dug (a reasonable amount of root system remains with the tree), the tree will be more likely to survive and establish more quickly if not cut back. The tree will need all of its foliage to produce food to supply proper root growth and doesn't need the extra burden of having to cover over a bunch of unnecessary wounds. Also, by removing a significant amount of top growth, you increase the root to shoot ratio, which further inhibits root growth. By moving the tree in its dormant state (between fall and early spring), the concern of moisture loss from foliage, immediately following transplant, is greatly reduced and there is even less reason to even consider unnecessary pruning. If you watch a professional tree moving company move a large tree, you won't see them cutting it back hard. They won't remove any of the topgrowth unless it is dead, diseased, rubbing, or in some way preventing physical access. I think this recommendation may have been based on "old school" thinking, which is unfortunately still followed all too often by homeowners and less up-to-date nurseries.

Thanks for your response John. The problem is that I just purchased this home and I am not sure of it's history. It was built in 1952 (I'm in south florida), and the patio appears to be at least 20 years old.

We lived in our 'starter home' for thirty years, too. It had a southwest-facing patio that we enclosed with a 'screen box' (sides and top). It was only nice until noon in the summer. Now we have a real screened porch -- with a real roof. It's on the southeast corner of our new house, with shade from a giant sycamore on the south side. (That would be the sycamore that holds its leaves past the last landscaping sweep so it can let them swirl in the wind on top of the snow in winter.) I hope you enjoy your *covered* patio as much as we love our porch!

I know this is an old thread but... I started researching paint removal from stucco after buying our house in 2013. It has two layers of paint- the most recent is a faded cheap Barney purple acrylic and the first is a presumably oil based light gray. I too wish we could turn back time and stop both paint jobs before they happened. Especially the first, which was sprayed on by a less-than-competent painter who painted the slate roof along with the dormer's stucco. He then came back and painted over his mess with a 'slate gray' color- and you can imagine what our roof looks now... I still have a purple house but I have gone down many avenues in search for a solution. There are commercially available paint strippers that will do exactly what you need but they become incredibly expensive when you start looking at the amount needed to do an entire house. Dumond makes several lines of strippers for various surfaces and paint types. More prevalent now are the soy and citrus based strippers that are 'safer' but require multiple applications if there are multiple layers of paint. The good news is that there are more and more contractors specializing in large scale paint removal as more attention is being paid to the importance of restoration/preservation but also with the rise in repurposing industrial buildings throughout various urban areas for housing etc. I was given a quote by a company who sounded knowledgeable and experienced enough to do the job, but the price was simply too high for the house. Sand/media blasting is an option but as noted is a huge cost and mess. I went as far as to make my own alkaline based stripper and wasted a lot of time testing recipes and applications etc. It was labor and time intensive as well as messy and dangerous but cheap. Multiple applications were required but in the end the alkaline stripper disolved the underlying oil based coat, allowing the purple acrylic paint to be powerwashed off with a bit of effort. Still after all my trouble I only completed one gable before calling it quits. If your paint will come off just by powerwashing -without damaging your stucco- then by all means take advantage of that situation! Spend some time caulking around windows and doors with silicone (think of using big globs that you can peel out later), duct-tape between storm windows and frames and seal up any possible entry point for water. Mine wouldn't budge with power washing alone but after applying the stripper, I had luck using a rotary surface attachment on my powerwasher wand- it's designed for concrete driveways etc and is awkward to hold up against a wall but it greatly reduces the mess. I am now planning to use a mineral paint over our painted stucco. After working inside and out of this house for 5 years, I have concluded that the two poorly applied layers of paint aren't causing any serious issues with breathability- as long as they arent continuously added to! This house is old and drafty and there is plenty of ventilation behind our stucco as it doesn't reach below our brick foundation and is open into the soffits/eave cavities and roof system etc... It gets enough air. This is also helped by the fact our stud bays are not filled with insulation or foam, there are no vapor barriers, and our climate isn't terrible... Where are you now with your stucco project?