Update, Mar 2023:
The tree is damaging the wall and patio!!!
Gloria, the people I have met who know you or work with you all say you are extremely cheap and don't care about anything but money. Fine. Your tree is damaging my propery now. A court can force you to pay for the damages, which are only increasing. I still can't do anything about the tree without your permission, since it is your tree, on your property. Just give me the permission and I can take care of the tree. I will still take you to Small Claims court if you refuse to pay, but at least the damage will stop.
The fence is pushed up With the rain, the rate at which the roots are growing has increased. This is at least the third time the fence has been pushed up like this. Tobias keeps repairing it.
The roots are thicker, and they don't stop at the wall
You can see how thick the roots are. They don't stop when they get to the wall, under the dirt. They have to go down, sideways, or both. The one at the top of the image, by the basketball backstop, are pushing up the wall and the patio concrete.
Cracking the sidewalk
Notice the crack at the bottom of the screen. Also notice the growing gap where the patio meets the wall.
Pushing up the patio and the wall
Here you can see where the planter wall is bring pushed up, disturbing thge bricks. If you look along where the pation and wall meet, you can see that the patio concrete is being lifted. You can also see the crack in the patio to relieve the pressure from the root damaging it.
Gloria, stop being so damned cheap and do the right thing!
Update, Jan 2023:We have an estimate for removing the tree, including the stump, pulling out the roots from my planter, and repairing the fence: $3000.
Hi, Gloria. your tree has repeatedly damaged the fence, which I own half of; the tree's roots have taken over almost half of my planter; and the shadow cast by the tree makes it impossible to grow the vegetables and fruits that we used to plant, due to lack of sufficient daylight.
As the tree has grown, the roots are filling up more and more of our planter, lifting up the fence and knocking sections of it down, repeatedly. Your tenant, Tobias has been kind enough to put it back together, but it's getting out of hand. Just the branches block any sunlight from getting to the plants until well into the day. The lemon tree, seen below, is dying, and one of the roots has made its way under the walkway in front of the planter and is coming up below the lemon tree.
This used to be a simple fence issue, with the tree pushing against the fence. But since this all started, years ago, the tree is now encroaching on and damaging our property, affecting the state of the yard, and lowering the property value. Now it's a legal matter. I have spoken to a couple of lawyers, but they always want to get a $5000 retainer before doing anything. So let me just put it to you this way: Your tree is damaging our property and it needs to be removed. You'll need to do it eventually anyway, but it will cost a LOT more if the tree falls and damages my house, and it will also cost more if we need to get lawyers involved.
I'd really like to get this taken care of, and now that the rains have come, the ground will be softer and it might be that much easier, faster, and potentially cheaper to get the tree removed. I hope to hear from you soon.
You can reach me at 510.796.3816. You can also come by any time after 4pm or on the weekend to see for yourself. Call first, of course, but we're usually available.
Sincerely,David DelGreco
Today's View This is from today, Dec 19 2022. You can see the leaves all over the yard, covering the lemon tree and generally making a mess. The gardeners will be here this week to clean it up, but I wanted you to see this. We need to take care of this Gloria, and only you can make it happen.Postscript: Given the rain and how wet the ground is and will be, there is an ongoing threat that the tree may fall over. Please respond soon, to save my property and cost you a lot less than it will otherwise.
View of fence
This is a view of the fence from my side. You can see where the
fence has been pushed up by the roots, which are partially visible
in the photo. The section of the fence affected by the tree has
fallen down twice and been propped up by Tobias.
Roots under fence
This photo shows the roots more clearly.
Roots under fence - annotated
Same photo as above, but annotated with colored lines to make it
clear where the roots go. This is based only on what's visible and
what I could detect by digging a bit with a hand shovel. I expect
they run pretty deep. The smaller roots run all through the dirt.
Easily a third of the planter has been overtaken by the roots.
Overhead view
The larger problem is the lack of sunlight to the planter. This
Google Maps photo was taken later in the day, when there is direct
sunlight on the planter for a couple of hours. The additional
photos below that show how little light there actually is for
almost the entire planter.
Overhead view - annotated
Same photo, annotated with measurements to show the extent of the
problem.
Actual shadow - noon
This is a photo out the rear window of our house, taken about noon.
You can clearly see the lack of sunlight to the planter, making it
useless for actually planting anything for most of the day.
