Are there any structural engineers or surveyors on here?
I’m a bit concerned that a neighbour’s tree might be causing damage to the house. I don’t need an official report or anything yet, just after an initial informed but honest opinion first.
Obviously I’ll pay for transport and time.
Nah, your house is fine. That will be £800 + Vat. 
Council will check for you!
That’ll be 1k without VAT! :w00t:
Have a word with TimR LB’s resident arboriculturist 
i’ll check it out for you
i’m a CEng MICE, chartered civil engineer, going for fellowship soon.
if you send me some photos of the structure and the context of the trees etc i will have a look
(yes there is a professional side to me too 
)
cost: free
If it’s a crack in the wall, it’s worth sticking a tell tale on to see if it’s getting bigger - you can buy special ones for a few quid or you can buy a 15cm ruler for 50p, cut it in half and stick one half on each side of the crack so they overlap, take a picture and see if two sides are moving relative to each other.
If you punt in “Trees near buildings” or “Buildings close to trees” or some sort of derivative, there is a ton of stuff out there on the internet.
The problem is that mostly it’s borrocks. All the stuff I’ve seen assumes all trees have the same root structure and behave in the same way when in truth the only constant is that they all take up water from the ground.
And there is an interesting situation. When you cut a tree down, the water content of the ground changes and you can get “ground heave” as the water content expands the ground. Particularly a problem if you cut down a small clump of trees.
Not a huge problem, though it did break the back of one of “my” two storey school’s with piled foundations six years ago. And the school has not quite yet stopped moving.
Get proper advice even if you have to pay for it.
Whether it is likely to affect your house will depend on proximity, size and species of tree (i.e. spread of roots), type of ground, type and depth of foundation. Post up a picture.
Thanks for the comments.
Bricking_it and LiM, I’ve sent some more detail and pictures in a PM, much appreciated for wanting to have a look at this!!
I would rather not say to much in public at the moment. So just a couple of pictures:
Trees (there’s actually 2 of them, about half a meter apart):
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-CazAIEIL5Ic/Ub3BCuqWm4I/AAAAAAAABH4/AdjEO_cnIr0/s512/WP_000301.jpg
Cracks in the boundary wall (no visible cracks in the house yet):
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-jlMWqWzHptI/Ub3BAk0mDeI/AAAAAAAABHg/RL1026UJ5RE/s512/WP_000299.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-PyKMvfPRe38/Ub3BAXqzuSI/AAAAAAAABHc/qFrpth3MV7g/s640/WP_000298.jpg
The trees are about 7-8 meters from the house.
got the PM Dries, will have a look and come back to you
Dries - PM sent
some of text has lost its spaces somehow, but its still legible I hope :crazy:
What tree is it? because if its a weeping willow your screwed them things cause carnage
pretty poor brickwork in the last picture … maybe the footing below it is of the same quality :rolleyes:
Looks like evergreens bang on the boundary?
If so, this might be of use. https://www.gov.uk/how-to-resolve-neighbour-disputes/high-hedges-trees-and-boundaries
You can also get the roots of any tree in/under your foundations genetically analyzed to trace what tree it is and then take it from there and see if you can prove its causing the issues.
I live in a terrace with subsidence, made it a very cheap buy, insurance is eye watering though. I keep an eye on the drains and make sure theres no trees within 7 metres.
Saying that theres the biggest ash tree I’ve ever seen, is just over the fence, right near where the previous subsidence was, which is why I know some of this.