Hello cerberus500-ga,
It seems you've gotten into a tricky situation. I'm going to outline
the options available to you.
With the situation you're in right now, they are right to tell you to
wait 4-6 months to resume building. You now have a dead stump and root
system in the ground very close to your foundation. As the stump rots,
so do the roots, if the tree surgeon has said it's dead and will not
grow back. The roots have displaced the soil for the last, however
long, the tree has existed, so...as the roots rot, that soil will
shift and settle back into the ground. That settling could cause your
new foundation to crack, or worse, fall apart. That's why they ask you
to wait and I agree with that suggestion. You need to give the roots
time to dissolve back into the earth and the ground to settle, and
then possibly be filled.
Now, 4-6 months is an estimate for the roots to destruct. It could be
a shorter amount of time or longer. If you want to resume construction
soon, you have another option for dealing with the roots and soil
displacement. You could get the roots dug out, the ground packed back
in, and fill dirt placed and packed if needed. However, this would
probably be an expensive and time-consuming procedure.
Most builders have guidelines for dealing with situations such as
this, so if the company says they want to wait for the ground to
settle from the now dead tree, it's probably because they want to
avoid either by law or by personal choice, anything that may result
down the road if your foundation crumbled in.
Overall, I'm sure this is a frustrating situation, but waiting is the
best if you want your new addition to be quality construction with no
settling or cracking in the future.
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"Rotting of tree stumps and roots can after many years cause the
timber to become brittle. If the root system was large earth may also
collapse into a hole once occupied by the roots. Care should be made
to remove as much of a tree as possible as back filling at a later
date will be expensive particularly if access is restricted."
http://www.housewiz.co.uk/repair-wizard/trees.htm
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"Anything which substantially disturbs the balance between the ground
and the structure can promote new settlement. Tunnelling, mining and
deep excavations, or altering loads - by building on old foundations,
for example - can promote new movement in all types of ground.
Ground-specific causes include frostheave, ground vibrations, changing
watertables, leaking drains, droughts and trees (see table Causes of
Ground Movement, below)."
http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/underp/underp.htm
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"What are Causes of Foundation Failure?
This movement can be in the form of shrinkage, which causes
settlement, or expansion, which causes heave. When dry conditions
prevail, soils consistently lose moisture and shrink. When moisture
levels are high, the opposite is true, and soils swell. Regardless of
the nature of the movement, it will most likely manifest itself in the
form of visible cracks in the foundation walls, exterior brick walls,
or interior sheetrock or plaster walls. Officially, any structure
movement is known as differential settlement."
http://www.brackettfoundation.com/faqtxt.htm
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If this answer requires further explanation, please request
clarification before rating it, and I'll be happy to look into this
further.
Nenna-GA
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