Fast Growing Trees & Your Home
11 Spicies
The shallow root systems tend to invade sewage pipes and drain fields, and is notorious for cracking driveways and walkways. Here is a link that may help you about fast growing trees to avoid planting, from fine gardening. Read more...
Planting and shrubs.
Planting and shrubs should be low in every sense of the word. Low maintenance, low in height, and low in the root systems that do damage underground. Spending money under ground is costly and there is normally no advantage other than prevention and routine maintenance.
Nurishment means water
By watering plants near the home means the likelihood of watering the envelope and keeping the foundation moist increasing the RH relative humidity, comfort in the home. Especially the basement.
Your home should remain dry. The sun does a wonderful job of drying out materials for one. By having large tree and shrub canopies blocking any sunlight can be counter productive.
After a rain the plantings stay wet again creating a moist environment at the foundation envelope intersection.
Water is an amazing element but also one of the worlds most destructive elements as well. Water is called "the universal solvent." Need I say more?
In all directions
Although you can visually watch the height and width, predicting any downward directions and what utilities are under the ground are one part of a complicated equation.
Consider certain tree roots systems as being relatively shallow, not more than 2' to 3.5' deep. The roots can spread out very wide. They effectively re-landscape the lawn, drive and walkways.
Other trees have root systems that wander deep into the soil.
Orjan Stahl, a tree researcher in Stockholm, made an exhaustive study of over 500 trees that had root and utility conflicts. He regularly found roots at depths of 7 to 9 feet (2.1 to 2.7 meters) and the deepest root he encountered was at 23 feet (7 meters). Read more...
Before you do any plantings make a plan and choose the right plants that are best suited to be non destructive, easy to maintain and you should be just fine. It is extremely important to plan out your lawn and avoid certain species of trees.