I share the arborist reluctance to get involved. We can't fix every tree that has been damaged and once we get involved we can be held liable. I feel the same way about most hazard tree evaluations.
I feel the tree owner is largely responsible for this damage by asking the contractor to put the walkway were it will damage this tree's roots. The research now being done should have been done before the work was started. I would be willing to bet the homeowner is more educated and financially better off than the contractor doing the paving. I'm not trying to say this lets the contractor off of the hook, but it does raise the question of who was better able to predict the future of this tree before the work was started.
A big Thank You to Soares for bringing his questions to us.
Dan |