[Asia M Yelken]

There are two maple trees about 35 feet from the front of my house. Their roots spread all the way to the front of my house and are in my flower beds, stealing water and choking the flowers. The beds extend about 3 feet from the house.

In addition the roots may be damaging and causing leaks in my cement block basement walls. I have found roots of these maples the diameter of two of your fingers in the flower beds in front of the house. Will these roots go right into my foundation? Will they go down 6 feet to the weeping tiles and clog them too? How deep will these roots go?

If these roots are the culprit of my leaks what do you suggest?

I humbly await your wisdom.

[ballengerb1]

Maples roots can be a problem and do spread quite far beyond the branch canopy. They are primarily surface roots and do not go down very deep, maybe 6'. I love trees and almost never recommend taking a healthy tree down but they can damage your home. Short of removing the tree you could have an arborist come out and give you an estimate for cutting a trench between the house and sidewalk. This may have an affect on the overall health of the tree in the short run.