I just had some hackberry trees removed, and one of them was really close to my house, about 7 feet away from my slab foundation. I heard the tree removal guy using a sledgehammer on the trunk, making a lot of noise and even causing my windows to shake a bit. I'm worried—could this hammering actually cause any damage to my foundation? Also, there's a city water line about 4 feet from the tree; could the vibrations affect that too?
3 Answers
If the tree had grown around the pipes, then maybe, but in most cases, sledgehammering shouldn't do much harm. Just keep an eye on things!
Using a sledgehammer on a tree trunk is pretty unusual! Generally, the vibrations from a sledgehammer aren’t strong enough to cause any real damage unless he's swinging wide and accidentally hits your house. As for the foundation, unless that tree was somehow wrapped around something, you should be in the clear. Just keep an eye out for any cracks!
Exactly! I imagine he was just trying to get the stump loose, but if he was careful, it should be fine.
In my experience, the vibrations from a sledgehammer shouldn't affect the foundation or water pipes unless those pipes are really close and somehow compromised. If everything looks good now, you should be alright!
Yeah, I've never heard of sledgehammers being used for that either. A jackhammer would definitely make more sense if they were trying to break the trunk.