Yes, sewer piping has to be compromised for tree roots to get in. The City
of Durham, NC has some interesting info and offers another solution besides
snaking or augering the roots out:
"Tree roots are opportunistic. While they will not crack a sound sewer
service or water line, they will exploit cracks or failures in the lines.
The best defense against having tree roots in lines is to make sure that
your lines are in good condition and that they're not cracked. If you
suspect that tree roots are growing into your sewer line, you can have the
roots cut out using a process called "rodding". You can also flush Copper
Sulfate down the toilet two to three times per year to prevent roots from
growing into sewer lines. Copper Sulfate is an inexpensive chemical that can
be purchased at most hardware stores."

BTW, I've heard that copper sulfate is quite effective.

Suzy O
"Rod & Betty Jo" wrote in message
...

"Suzy O" wrote in message
...
Trees never wreak havoc on sewers. The piping has to be compromised
first
for tree roots to get in -- roots cannot break their way into sewers.
More
likely the dude wants the space for a parking space and is using the
sewer/root argument to back up his claim, IMHO and just surmising.

Suzy O



In older houses (like mine) many sewers are plumbed with 2ft clay tiles,
one
end has a bell shape and the male end fits in the bell.....tree roots can
readily penetrate this type of drain line.....luckily the neighbors
Popular
tree decided to croak and no longer plugs my line annually although said
tree just dropped a rather large branch on another neighbors roof (Big
tree)......the sweet lady whom originally planted the trees (since
deceased)
in 1966 had not idea such little twigs could get so big....Rod

Oh...OK. I wanted to be sure, because wishing won't make it happen. Find out
who your town justice is and try to set up a brief meeting. Sometimes those
judges think they can only be seen in the courtroom, on their thrones, but
there are some who'll talk with you outside of that setting and tell you how
to proceed, in order to get a neighborhood bonehead INTO the courtroom.

"Suzy O" wrote in message
...
What you said regarding backyard junkyard operations ...... " issue
injunctions to force people to obey the law. That gives the cops the
ability
to take them away in handcuffs."

Suzy O
"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
You wish what?

"Suzy O" wrote in message
...
I wish.

Suzy O

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
In some towns, you can actually speak to the town judge, outside of a
courtroom setting. Push him/her to take the law to its most extreme
conclusion, which MAY involve having the town remove the junk and place
a
lien on the neighbor's home. Some judges will also issue injunctions to
force people to obey the law. That gives the cops the ability to take
them
away in handcuffs.


"Suzy O" wrote in message
...
Couldn't agree more. We had just such a situation in our
neighborhood.
Neighbor of junker got fed up with looking at the crud. Even tho it
was
in
violation of city ordinances, the city only stopped the problem
temporarily -- over and over again. The junker's neighbor got a low
ball
price for his home.

Anyone have any good solutions?

Suzy O

"Vox Humana" wrote in message
. ..

"Ann" wrote in message
...
"Doug Kanter" expounded:

Would it bother you if your neighbor across the street parked an
old
car
on
his lawn, left it there to rust for 5 years, and for whatever
reason,
there
was absolutely no way you could block the view using plants, fence,
etc?

When I bought my house the next door neighbors basically had a
junkyard in their backyard. Dead washers, dryers, three rusting tin
sheds, a couple junk trucks, all kinds of tires, etc. Oh well. I
loved my house. They've moved on, new people live there now,
they've
cleaned it up, life goes on. It's amazing what you can live with
when
it really doesn't affect your basic life functions, like eating,
drinking, etc. Of course I'd rather not look at junk, but I'm not
paying their taxes or their mortgage. It's basically none of my
business.

How would you have felt if you needed to sell your house while the
neighbors
had a virtual junkyard? I don't mean WANT to sell, but NEED to sell.
What
if, due to the trashy neighbors, you found that there were few people
interested in looking let alone making an offer? The offers you do
get
are
low-balls. That is a situation where it does become your business
because
the junk reduces your property value or makes your house impossible
to
sell.

"Suzy O" writes in article dated Fri, 24 Jun 2005 05:10:58 GMT:
How 'bout noisy activities like lawn mowing, using the electric hedge
trimmer, etc. when you know the inconsiderate a-holes are sleeping? Then
when they freak out, tell them that's exactly how you feel when their dog
goes on a bark-a-thon. Way more fun than killing the dog -- the idjit
neighbors would probably just get another that might bark even more.

Noise-for-noise falls into the category of "****ing contest". So does the
potato idea. Much better to confront the offense in a timely manner.

-- spud_demon -at- thundermaker.net
The above may not (yet) represent the opinions of my employer.

"Spud Demon" wrote in message
...
"Suzy O" writes in article
dated Fri, 24 Jun 2005 05:10:58
GMT:
How 'bout noisy activities like lawn mowing, using the electric hedge
trimmer, etc. when you know the inconsiderate a-holes are sleeping? Then
when they freak out, tell them that's exactly how you feel when their dog
goes on a bark-a-thon. Way more fun than killing the dog -- the idjit
neighbors would probably just get another that might bark even more.

Noise-for-noise falls into the category of "****ing contest". So does the
potato idea. Much better to confront the offense in a timely manner.

You mean....have their house torched? Isn't there an intermediate
possibility?

How about planting some small trees among your shade plants, which is what I
had to do. What zone do you live in?

Barb C. in FL



"Toni" wrote in message
...
[whining mode] New neighbors next door- to the west.
Their first week in they've cut down a *beautiful* 30 year old Black Olive
tree that shaded my entire front garden- full of shade plants. Anthuriums,
calatheas, ferns, teeny little gems that I had cherished for years in
containers before putting them in the ground.
That garden is only one year old- and now I am having to reorganize the
whole darn thing. Plants are wilting faster than I can transplant them.

And I thought our town had an ordinance against this sort of thing without
a
permit- guess that explains the city trucks I've seen stopping to take
photos of the stump three times now.
Would I be evil to hope they get fined?

And I know about Black Olive maintenance issues- I have one. But had they
bothered to live here a while before killing trees they'd have noticed
that
*we* always keep their walkways pressure cleaned- husband just can't seem
to
stop once he gets going.
Not feeling too good about my new neighbors right now. [/whining mode]


--
Toni
South Florida USA
Zone 10b
http://ww.cearbhaill.com