However, unintentional construction damage has them marked for the chipper. Include tree preservation in your construction Master Plan. It pays huge dividends through improved curb appeal, enhanced reputation, and wider profit margins.
Site development that preserves trees requires careful planning and thoughtful communication between all the members of the construction team. First, you must understand what a tree needs to remain healthy.
Problem The most obvious injuries to trees are made to trunks and branches. Dangling branches are pruned and bark injury is trimmed with a limited degree of success.
But damage to roots is lethal. The resulting death is unsuspected. Valuable trees often die several years after the project is complete. Homeowners mistakenly think their favorite tree has a disease. There is no association made between a thinning crown and the long-forgotten construction project. It costs10 times more to remove a tree near a house compared to the same tree on an open lot. A recent project I worked on is a perfect example. A builder in Denver was asked to preserve a 50 year-old Chinese elm.
His clients loved the tree. Its wide-sweeping branches provided the homeowners with free air conditioning and a beautiful landscape environment — for four years!
The case was arbitrated and the parties split the cost. But the process was painful and damage completely avoidable. Tree preservation programs must be thoughtful, involve a certified arborist and be a central element in the original design process.
Serious construction damage is almost always root damage. Root networks are shallow, limited to the top 18 inches of soil. The one deep root, the taproot, only provides stability. All other roots provide the nutrients and moisture required by the plant. Roots extend well beyond the drip line of a tree. They extend in a radius that equals 2 times the height of the tree.
So feeder roots for a foot tree extend 40 feet from the tree stem. The very fine feeder roots grow like branches. They extend further every year. As the crown of a tree grows and expands, the roots must grow to supply the extra food and water required to support new growth. Construction threats There are 3 construction activities that kill most trees. Builders cut roots when they trench or dig near the dripline of a tree. Digging cellar holes, septic systems or even grading a lot will cut roots and kill trees.
When roots are eliminated, the tree is not able to draw the water and nutrients it needs. The tree becomes dehydrated and starts to die at the top of the tree crown. Soil is compacted when trucks and heavy equipment drive over the root zone. Stockpiling lumber, building materials, loam, or excavation soil over the root zone also compacts the soil, smothering the roots.
Everyone thinks trees breathe in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. The only part of the tree that does that is the green leaves during photosynthesis. Other living cells take in oxygen for respiration to convert stored sugars and starches into energy food. The byproduct is carbon dioxide. Excavation fill is often spread over the site.
This raises the grade and smothers the roots. If you lower the grade, you expose roots. A good guide is to maintain the root flare at the bottom of the tree.
Do not bury the trunk flare. Some professionals claim you can add 2 or 3 inches of well-draining topsoil to an older, well-established tree and get away with it. Unfortunately, removing all the roots from one side of a tree is a common practice. Wooded lots are frequently cleared to leave little islands of trees in the median of a 2-sided driveway.
These trees are doomed. Soil compaction, root smothering and wind-thrown trees are inevitable. Unstable trees are lawsuits waiting to happen. As trees die, people notice they are infested with disease or insects and think this is the cause of death.
This is a secondary problem. The real problem is root damage. Cut enough roots and this will effect food production. The tree will weaken and the secondary organisms finish it off. Solutions Effective tree preservation must be integrated with the project design and land development process. Hire a certified arborist that works with residential construction projects and knows what builders are up against. A construction project is no place for an idealistic theorist.
The arborist must be familiar with the roles played by members of the project team and become a central member of the team. During the pagan era, it is said that an evergreen tree would be hoisted to the tallest point of a building to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck to its occupants. Another aspect of the tradition involves the ancient Scandinavian rite of placing a tree atop a new building to appease the tree-dwelling spirits displaced in its construction.
Modern day, topping out ceremonies are celebratory affairs that bring together project teams to observe the progress made on site, as well as an opportunity to thank the people involved in erecting the structure. In honour of tradition, often an evergreen tree or sapling branch are still included in these ceremonies. Placing the final structural beam in place on a building is a significant project milestone.
The view looks east from Kirby Drive. State highway department engineers estimate 80 percent of the total right of way has been obtained. Schwenke, head of the county right of way department, said tracts for right of way out of needed, have been obtained. Preliminary construction on the freeway began in November last year. Land is cleared and storm sewers and right of way preparation for construction of the Southwest Freeway in December, In , a worker steam-cleans a frontage road on the long-awaited Northwest Freeway between Mangum and Pinemont.
The Texas Highway Department expects the roads to be open in about three weeks. Right-of-way preparation for the next stretch of frontage roads, Pinemont ot Jersey Village, is about 75 per cent complete. The freeway will ultimately link Houston and Hempstead, following U. Gulf Freeway Pierce Elevated cuts across middle of photo bordering downtown buildings. Sharpstown Center pre-construction site, later opened in September When the Sharpstown Center was just a vision for a vacant plot of land alongside the nascent Southwest Freeway, the climate was right for a new kind of mall.
A aerial of East End area near Gulf Freeway construction. Pierce is on the far right, parallel to the Gulf Freeway construction. Markle Steel Company, Delano, is seen in the center of photo. Houstonians driving through the city where new buildings are rising up may have noticed trees perched at the highest peaks on the top of structures still being completed.
In the world of construction, it's customary to place a tree sometimes even a Christmas tree at the top of building when it is being topped out or once the highest peak is completed. My boss's grandfather was an iron worker and was even doing that back way back then.
The origins of the practice go back a lot further than some would think. Apparently Viking chieftains were topping out their houses with evergreen to celebrate the end of construction.
October The Houston Texans celebrated the formal topping out of Reliant Stadium with tours for local dignitaries.
0コメント