Expert: Jim Hyland - 10/21/2009

Question
We have a Red Maple that is located 9 feet from the condo that we live in.  It is now 3 inches in diameter.  Our concern is will the roots eventually damage the basement walls as it grows?

Answer
Red maples have a spread of about 15-30 feet depending on the variety of Red maple you have from Japanese to Autumn Blaze maple. This means the limbs will be about 8-15 feet spread from the trunk. The roots are about 1  to 1 1/2 time the spread of the limbs. These will be about 10-20 feet out from the trunk. The roots further from the trunk are small and cause no problems. Roots will not grow into the wall unless there is a water leak so they will IF they grow that far out turn along the wall and cause no problem. The problem will be the limbs rubbing on the building but this can be solved by pruning the limbs back when this occurs.