Thanks, guys. I'll address a couple of points and then point out what I will likely replace it with. "Decide whether you want a tall-growing shade tree, a narrow columnar tree of some sort, or a low-growing ornamental tree." Ideally, a medium to tall shade tree, from the size of a Shantung Maple up to a Red or maybe Sugar Maple, in size. But for this location, needs to be hard wooded/tough, due to somewhat near the house. I don't like the look of narrow/columnar deciduous trees. "To me standing water means plant bald cypress or water tupelo." The soil can be saturated a few days in Spring, or other times of year, but last summer when it was so hot the ground cracked open at places in our backyard. There's usually not standing water at this point, but of course 2 or more days soaking rain, downhill & clay soil, and it can be very wet for quite awhile. I just put in an order of a Blackgum 5 gallon 'Smart Pot' tree from Sooner Farms online. I figure if Blackgum tends to be slow-growing and form a taproot, the Smart Pot approach might be well worthwhile to help it get established quickly & start growing sooner. I doubt Water Tupelo would be easy to find with 'root pruning' technique used (could be wrong about that), and I figure Blackgum will be stronger & more breakage resistant than Red or Sugar Maple (could be wrong about that, too!). Richard.

Handymac, thank you for your input. Everything you say is true. My experience in a short time of trying to renovate after a flood has been that contractors give you a quote, drop off their men and then leave. Whether its a high quote, in between or low this is what they do. It seems to me that if I was a contractor I would like to also have a good reputation but once you have others working under you then it gets pretty difficult to control what other people working for you do or don't do. Do you work alone? I think to myself it's the only way. I'm so disappointed in the quality of work found out there nowadays. I called another company to get a quote on correcting this and they said $750. As far as the floor warrantee it's 25 years. I didn't know it could be voided by a splinter. I honestly thought the splinter could happen to anyone. Of course leaving it there is inexcusable, it should get repaired and my installer said he would. I just don't know if I trust him to do s flawless job. Ill begin by asking him how he plans on correcting it. At least it's a clue.

I would get rid of it. Trying to restore a declining/struggling tree in this type of situation is more often than not a losing battle, and it is rarely worth the effort. And sweetgums don't have the most attractive structure to begin with IMO. So if you are talking about one that is already struggling and losing branches, it likely will never be a beauty. Throw in the fact that it is a probably a wild tree in a less-than-ideal location for the seeds, and I cannot imagine justifying $$ on arborist consulting and rehab work. People on this board will often recommend calling in an arborist for various issues, but bear in mind that they are not cheap consultants, and they are pretty limited in what they can do for bigger shade trees. If you are bringing out someone to cut down the redbud, the incremental cost for removing this tree and planting a more suitable one will be minimal. If you really like the tree, you can always just wait a year and gauge whether it is continuing to decline or bouncing back, before spending any $$ on it. Just another opinion for you...

Looks like that one leaf may have bruised a bit. I'm not sure what can cause several little bruises like that. Was it caused by a gumming from a toothless squirrel? I'm joking but that looks like a lot of little bruises. I wouldn't worry about it. The other leaves look healthy and bruise-free.