as long as you do it by hand .. rather than heavy equipment or backhoe .... you should be able to work it out... without significant damage to the roots

where are you.. big city name... is snow load... shoveling... etc ... an issue ...

invest in a good underlayment to make the repair last longer ... there are a lot better options than just dirt ....

ken

Thanks, Ken. The property is near Austin, Texas.

and.. btw... i wouldnt lay down cement.. and i wonder if you can do better than those patio stones that are there ... if they are the inch and a half ones ...

but your intuition is correct.. dont go in there and start axing out roots in any significant manner ...

and.. an ID of the oak might help dictate if there are any limitations on pruning the oak tree in your area .. which i presume would include cutting roots ...

we can probably ID it with some good pix of the leaves ...

ken

You wouldn’t lay down cement? What would you suggest as an alternative?

This is my friend’s property, I’m helping her. I think it’s a live oak, but not sure which kind.

id probably reset what she has there.. with a proper underlayment ... and call it done ...

a proper cement pad would need to be rather thick.. and by that point.. you will probably be doing some major root damage ...

cement colored paving stones would be better than those though.. if they are the red they appear to be ...

i doubt this spot needs to support a car weight .. so patio blocks or paving stones should be just fine for the application ... isnt the use of that surface.. simply for getting out of a car and not stepping in dirt/mud/grass ....

your original concern is the tree ... and to be safe with the tree.. you cant go doing significant digging in the root mass ... the only saving grace.. is that it looks like the soil level falls away.. enough that you could add some fresh underlayment on top.. to properly lay/set the patio stones ... and it being such a small area.. i doubt the thickness will harm the tree ....

pix of the tree leaves will get you the ID ... as i said above .... it probably doesnt matter ... but knowledge is power ...

ken

Thanks for all the great feedback. I’ll ask her for pics of the leaves and see what we can understand from that. Thank you!