Treatment advice please...4-5' dbh doug-fir growing against concrete driveway

[southsoundtree]

Been doing a bunch of Root Crown Excavation and Stem-Girdling Root pruning lately.

This dropped into my lap today. Property owner type of guy with waterfront, fancy car. This looks like a meeting facility, residence. I was looking at pruning some low walnut limbs at this place and saw the doug-fir. I was at another of his properties for building clearance pruning and saw this beech (?) cabled and chained.



All starting by being at his neighbors' house and seeing a fading property line triple-trunk fir.




This tree is one of the large ones left near the Capitol. https://www.google.com/maps/place/16...4d-122.9046289


Seems like the basic part is to cut the concrete away from the collar enough for growth (start farther away from root collar), then work my way back close to the trunk. This will give me access to the enveloped concrete. Seems like I would need to try to bore horizontally with the concrete saw, if possible. Then 'carefully' chisel out pieces. How do you chisel concrete carefully when enveloped by compressed bark and wood? Once, when I cut a 2x4 deck board that was grown against by a western redcedar the bark kept expanding and closing the kerf. I imagine that this will be the case here, too. Easier to keep reaming the cut in wood. The cedar pushed out about 1/2".

After that, there is the question of how to care for the compacted tissues, and what to back-fill with (something very porous)?


Pics coming.

 

[evo]

I wouldn't obsess on trying to extract the concrete. Perhaps take a demo drill and carefully drill a line of holes about 1-2" around the perimeter of the callus wood spaced 1/2 to 1" apart. Then switch to a chisel to crack the concrete between the holes. Remove the large chunk out side your perimeter and then dig under the lip of the remaining concrete.
See if you can gently pull the embedded concrete out, but know when to give up. It may cause less damage to let it callus over the concrete in time.

I have more thoughts but need to read with my kid. You know how to get a hold of me.

 

[guymayor]

I'm with evo but my kid reads better than me. So fwiw.

 

[guymayor]

Depending on how hard and thick the concrete is, bust it up with sledge/pry bar/chisel etc. Drilling ok but don't damage tree rootswith it.

 

[southsoundtree]

My feeling is that the tree has overgrown it 3" and maybe more. Probably 3"-4" thick, possibly 6". I can investigate thickness elsewhere.

By bust up with tools, but don't damage tissues...I'm thinking that the bark was pretty thick when it started to press up against the tree, so it will provide some protection against impacts from chisels, and if the drill should hit bark, it will provide easy to observe evidence in the form of easier drilling after exiting concrete (immediate) and bark in drilling debris.

I haven't run a cut-off saw, and don't know what the rental store has for blade size. Sounds like its 'free-handable", so I could cut inward on an angle just outside the bulging trunk. Possibly use a simple jig made from wood for the baseplate to sit in. What do you think? Less to break away, less likely to impact healthy tissue.

 

[evo]

A cut off saw wouldn't bind because there is limited pressure. A demo hammer drill will be more versatile as it can act as a small jackhammer
My rental shop has these, but I own one from when I did stone work. It will be less invasive than using a hand sledge to bust up the concrete
If your worried about drilling in to the buttress just go out until you feel confident.
The bark will compress drastically even in a Doug fir, also that large callus will have very thin bark on the underside
https://www.boschtools.com/us/en/boschtools-ocs/demolition-hammers-23519-c/

 

[Tom Dunlap]

120v demo drill/jack hammer

If you feel like you're going to get into delicate concrete removal/sculpting an air chisel/hammer should do the trick if you have A high volume/pressure compressor. I just bought one from Home Depot for $14

This looks like a rewarding project for
The tree and for you too

 

[JD3000]

Yeah looks fun. What are you going to use to fill in once the concrete is gone?

How well do Dougies deal with partial girdling?

 

[evo]

Yeah looks fun. What are you going to use to fill in once the concrete is gone?

How well do Dougies deal with partial girdling?

They do quite well, when they grow into things such as chains or cables wrapped around the stem. "Ring" barking not so much. They are great with impregnating resins and very hardy trees.

 

[JD3000]

I figured that, long lived conifer and all.

Get out what concrete you can and go from there

 

[hatchetation]

Could Dexpan be useful here?

 

[southsoundtree]

Can't limit direction of expansion, three dimensional expansion will affect the tree, I believe.

Thanks for the idea.

Are you in Seattle proper?

 

[hatchetation]

Yeah, may not be feasible, would seem to depend heavily on the drill pattern. That initial expansion has gotta go somewhere, key would be to limit displacement while still getting cracking.

I'm in Seattle proper.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

Dexpan looks like a cool product!

http://www.dexpan.com/dexpan-non-explosive-controlled-demolition-agent-silent-cracking-breaking.aspx