Plants That Damage Houses
Are you paranoid? Do you break into a sweat when you have trees or shrubs in your garden because you know their roots will destroy your house, your deck and your paving?
Well, you have nothing to fear except paranoia itself.
The vast majority of trees and shrubs do no harm at all.
The usual culprit when damage occurs is… clay soil. Some expansive clays (especially in South Australia) expand and shrink when wet or dry. Those can dry out and crack houses. Most plants do no damage at all.
The few plants that are a little bit nasty are: evergreen figs, very large gum trees, liquidambars and evergreen alders.
Usually when damage occurs it is because of shoddy workmanship in the path or deck.
To repeat (for the paranoid) very very few plants ever damage houses, paths or patios. But they often cop the blame.
The worst of all trees are the weeping figs used indoors initially then planted out into the garden.
Hooroo!
