Tree Roots in Sewer Laterals: Diagnosis Before the Dig
A Sydenham villa off Colombo Street, July 2022: the gully trap outside the laundry was lifting its grate every time […]
Roots, Drains & Hard Surfaces
Roots, Drains & Hard Surfaces
Roots, Drains & Hard Surfaces
A Retaining Wall Next to a Waikato Peat Tree Line: Roots on the Wrong Side
In February 2019 I was called to a stormwater line that had stopped flowing behind a 1.6-metre timber retaining wall […]
Roots, Drains & Hard Surfaces
Frost, Loess and a Sycamore: Repairing a Dunedin Driveway Lifted by Roots
My brother bought a 1950s brick and tile house in Mornington in 2022, on one of those Dunedin streets where […]
Roots, Drains & Hard Surfaces
Trees Above a Retaining Wall in Auckland Clay: Roots, Weight and Drainage
In February 2023 I spent three weeks in Auckland on storm response after Cyclone Gabrielle, working out of a yard […]
Roots, Drains & Hard Surfaces
Building a Fence Through a Root Zone Without Killing the Tree
When the old paling fence between my place and the neighbour’s in Sydenham finally gave up in 2022, the problem […]
Roots, Drains & Hard Surfaces
Roots Under a Christchurch Driveway: Lift, Crack or Live With It
In February 2025 I put a straight edge across a concrete driveway on Glandovey Road, Fendalton, and measured a 38-millimetre […]
Roots, Drains & Hard Surfaces
Leaf Load: What a Row of Liquidambars Does to Hamilton Spouting
A Hamilton East landlord sent me three photographs in May 2024. The first showed a row of six liquidambars on […]