"Understanding Your Home" by Building Inspector Mark Visser
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Planting Tips
Avoid placing trees too close to a house. Usually 25 feet from the walls or the roof line

Avoid placing trees directly under power lines or over underground sewer, water, or utility lines.
Space trees properly according to their anticipated mature size.
Avoid using evergreen species on the south side of a house.


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Trees Can Lower Your Energy Costs
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Deciduous
trees. Coniferous trees. Lower your energy costs. Planting tips.
Deciduous and Coniferous trees, planted in the right location, can make a big difference on how much you will spend (or save) on cooling and heating your home.


Deciduous trees
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should be planted on the south and west sides of the house. because they provide shade in the summer, deciduous trees cool the nearby air and your house which will lower the cost of cooling your home.
Don't plant poplar or willow trees too close to the house. Their heavy roots spread over a large area and can damage the weeping tiles and foundation walls.

Deciduous trees should be planted at least one half the height of the mature tree away from the house. During the winter they loose their leaves and allow sunlight to enter a room. This free warm air is drawn into the air return ducts and distributed to other areas in the house which will lower your heating costs.

Coniferous trees,
or evergreens (cedar, spruce, pine, etc.), should be planted on the north and north-west sides of the house. They should be planted at least 15 feet or 4.5 m., away from the house. Coniferous trees provide an effective wind barrier which will lower the cost of heating your home.






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