Two years after relocating out of California, and after a tumultuous start in Texas (long story, but our son had a medical emergency soon after we arrived), we finally started working on our home. Due to north Texas’ exclusive clay soil composition and juggling the balancing act of watering our foundation during summer, we decided to remove one of our two 30-year old live oak trees.
The Reason
We really hated to see the mature live oak tree go but it was an easy decision: the tree or our property. You see, in north Texas summer, the clay soil dries up during the brutal Texas summer heat. When the soil beneath the home’s foundation dries, the soil loses integrity and becomes brittle and the house begins to settle around the perimeter of the foundation. To counteract this, homeowners in northern Texas water their home’s foundation during the summer to keep the soil damp.
Yes, it’s the literal act of running a soaker hose along the perimeter of the house, 16″ away from the actual foundation and soaking the ground with water for several minutes, several times a day and a couple of days a week (or run an irrigation system with each zone operating for a minimum of 15 minutes [smart cycled], every few days) during the heat of the summer to keep the soil beneath the foundation damp and supportive. We noticed in the past two summers that no matter how much we watered our foundation, the right side of the house is always showing recurring drywall cracks and the soil always separates from the foundation by about an inch – telltale sign of differential foundation settlement.
However, once rainy season arrives (March through May), the clay soil beneath and around the perimeter of the foundation absorbs moisture and expands (like a sponge). The expanding soil lifts up the settling foundation and the seasonal cracks on our drywall closes up and seemingly disappears. We determined that the mature live oak tree is absorbing all our foundation watering efforts during the summer, because let’s face it, at 100°F or higher temperature, trees get real thirsty!
Because of this, we decided to remove the live oak tree that was causing the most obvious damage, stump and exposed root ground, and all. We have another live oak tree on the left side of the house, but it wasn’t causing any damage – yet. We decided to keep it and wait until next season and then re-evaluate.
Tree Removal Day
We hired a local tree removal company to remove one of our two live oak trees. It took the crew just one hour to cut the tree down. It took them an additional half-hour to remove the residual trunk and another hour and a half to grind down the stump and exposed roots. They took about half an hour to limb-up and trim the the second live oak tree. That one live oak tree took them two full chipper trucks to mulch up! The total damage was $3,000 for tree removal, stump grinding, removal of exposed roots, debris removal and trimming and limb-up the second tree.
The Result
With one live oak tree removed, our curb appeal shot up drastically. We still need to repair our irrigation system (which we finally got to it on April 16, 2025) and then rehabilitate our lawn. But that will be another post and the process will be similar to what I did back in our Torrance home. Although soil composition will be predominately clay here in Texas vs. sand/loam/clay combination in California.
This time, we’ll layer the lawn with warm weather Bermuda grass seeds instead of cool weather Tall Fescue. Besides an instant boost in curb appeal, the right side of our home instantly became brighter. That alone warrants cutting down the remaining live oak tree! Literally, the exterior and interior of our home instantly brighten up and only looks half like a haunted house!
Preview of Front Lawn Rehabilitation
As mentioned previously, we had our front yard irrigation system re-done on April 16, and on April 18, I started overseeding the yard with Scotts Turf Builder THICK’R LAWN Bermuda Grass Seed, 40 lb. bag. I decided to go with the overseeding route first, because in the past, I’ve used Scotts Turf Builder THICK’R LAWN Tall Fescue for our home back in California to rehabilitate both our front and backyards and this product has been tremendously successful.
I mentioned that I want to try the overseeding method “first” because according to our neighbors, the previous owner of the house had an 18-wheeler full of Zoysia grass sod pallets installed on the front yard, only for it to eventually die out. I am assuming because of the shade from the live oak trees. If overseeding doesn’t work, I will lay down either St. Augustine or Bermuda grass sods. But it’s definitely cheaper to spend $60 on a bag of tried-and-proven method than go all in and spend $3,000+ on 4 pallets of sod and sod installation!
Good News
After 10 days, I started to see seedlings sprouting all over our front yard, which is a great sign. If this method follows anything like the front yard rehabilitation project in our old home, or even backyard restoration of our old home, then I can expect a lush front yard around five to six weeks. That is, watering the front yard twice a day with each zone running for a minimum of 5 minutes each. Here in North Texas, we are entering our wettest month, May, so I won’t have to use as much water this time around.
I will post some before and after photos in and an account of the rehabilitation process in a separate post, stay tuned!