That much soil will definitely put them under stress and most likely lead to an early demise. Could take 1 year could take a few. If they do indeed survive, part(s) of the trees will probably die. Are you in a region that has EAB?

If you want to add soil and keep the trees, I wouldn't go within 20-30 feet of their dripline.

not to mention the heavy equipment that would be needed to move in that scope of soil ... driving over the roots is just as bad.. add the two together.. yikes

ken

I have a favorite example of why this is detrimental to tree health that I drive by about twice a month.

Dan

What you all say makes a lot of sense. I was pretty sure that a lot of soil would be detrimental to the trees.

I took a closer look and walked around a bit and have come up with maybe a better plan.

The property is only about 35 feet deep and 60 feet wide. Most of the sunken parts are closest to the house and the mature trees are near the sidewalk. If we did terracing in three different levels, closest to the house could be about 6 inches. The next level could be about 4, and then within 10 feet of the trees we could get away with covering with only about 2 inches. That way it would probably give the illusion that we had built up more than we actually did.

If you can picture this, do you suppose that would work? Or would it look stupid?

Oh, and that way with far less soil to be brought in, we would only have to have the soil dumped near the edge of the property. We're very good with shovels and wheelbarrows =:)

One more thing. If we terraced, I could put hostas, etc., into the levels and as the years went by and the soil settled, it wouldn't be as noticeable as it is with lawn.

This project can be a 2 or 3 year thing if needed to hopefully get it right.

Would the trees adjust if we added a few inches every year?

Thanks for your input !

For anyone who would be kind enough to look, there's a picture of the type of thing I'm thinking of at the Paragon Landscaping Corp website.

www.paragonlandscapingcorp.com If you look at their portolio, the 10th picture shows the type of thing I'm thinking of.

Sure wish I had that house, too, LOL !

FYI We live in Canada, so there is no association whatsoever between us and the Paragon Landscaping Corp. I just did a google search and found it.

This is a recipe for disaster, at least as far as the two Ash trees are concerned.

If you *must* regrade and add the soil, have the trees removed first...

If you *must* keep the ash trees, don't go anywhere near them with this project (including the heavy equipment)...

anchor the house with retaining wall .... of 5 to 8 feet ... the top span ...... and forget about the other 30 odd feet .... and you will still need to avoid heavy equipment ... and that is a lot of backfill

and you may still harm the trees ...

w/o a picture of your actual site... we cant really be of much specific help ... i am finding it hard to understand how you claim that the site has settled so significantly .. but that the house hasnt crumbled with such settling ... surely something has happened.. but i dont understand from how you describe it ...

ken
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and then.. if you wish.. you can start collecting MINI conifers which grow a couple inches per year...

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