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Can we talk about the foam root barrier trick?
I always thought root barriers were a scam or just for big commercial jobs. Then I had this client whose maple was tearing up their sidewalk three feet from the trunk. My boss made me dig a trench and put in that rigid foam board before I poured new concrete. Six months later and zero cracking, the roots just hit the foam and turned down. Anyone else have luck with this stuff or am I just getting lucky so far?
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colemartinez1mo ago
Oh man that trick is legit. I've used it on a handful of jobs now and it's never let me down. The key is you gotta dig deep enough and make sure the foam goes at least a foot down, otherwise the roots will just go around the bottom. Had a crew one time try to cut corners with a shallower trench and sure enough the roots came back up a year later. Also if you can get the 2 inch thick stuff it holds up way better than the thinner boards, especially with bigger trees like maples that put out some serious pressure.
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Correction: its rigid insulation, not foam board, but yeah works great for redirecting roots.
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