TIME TO READ
Hey,
Did you guys think I meant that we have regular houses in Oregon?
We live in Teepees here. The cracks in the foundations I was referring to are the cracks in the hides used on the floor.
Our pruning tools are Obsidian wedged in the end of a stick.
I wish had been more clear.
At least with our bows and arrows, we can get our climbing lines up into the trees.
We tried fastening deer antlers to our moccassins for climbing spikes, but that did not work as well as planned.
MR. SANBORN - you would not really want to see that slab. If you came to Beaverton, you would blow beets at some of the soil damage here.
That particular slab was a 1970s home. Fortunately, more and more newer homes are having slabs only in the garage.
Was it Eric that said why would roots go under a slab - no air, no moisture? Well, if they are pouring slabs here whenever they can get away with it, and the soil is wet most of the year here, why search for the answer? Of course there is moisture under slabs here.
Oh, and the soil ruined so bad on our new construction! - if you think that roots don't go under a slab due to lack of air, then you would really wonder why the roots would not jump out of our soil.
I did a landscape installation 2 months ago. The soil was so hard, that the pick barely penetrated. No chance for a rototiller. And with 4' and 5' side yards - gate / fence already in, there is no way to get equipment in with enough power to break the surface.
And yes, people still want trees in a place like that, and they do not have the funds to correct the soil damage.
Now the yard next door, was easy to dig in.
It depends on if the various subcontractors were working on a very rainy week. They use 4 wheel hi-lifts to move roofing, sheetrock and other stuff.
Excess gravel from the concrete work gets spread around in the soil. Digging for shrub planting opens up "horizons" of gravel layers.
This is one reason we have boosted our advertising in some surrounding areas, to increase the proportion of our work at larger, older home lots, and some of the semi-rural areas.
John, we had a Flowering Cherry in our yard (3 actually) with a 12" DBH trunk. It had a surface root 8" to 9" in diameter - like a horizontal trunk. We cut in in sections with a chainsaw, and a pick just popped the little firewood piece out. Hardly any secondary roots from it.
We took those out as soon as we acquired the house since they were thrashed with sunburn damage. But they are still typical of many, many Flowering Cherry in this area. Huge surface roots like trunks.
Across from our kids school, the Sweet Gums have lifted and heaved the asphalt so much in only 25 years, that its becoming like a miniature roller coaster to about 10' from the curb where cars would park.
Mario Vaden
Beaverton, Oregon