What this job is
Katy, Cinco Ranch, Sienna, Shadow Creek, Bridgeland, Cross Creek Ranch — the planting detail was the same. A 15-gallon oak in a strip that will never be wide enough. Year twelve, the panel cups. Grinding is a maintenance move. Barrier is the building move.
Driveway aprons fail at the flare of pecans and live oaks. First Colony and Pecan Grove see this constantly. We isolate the apron, not the whole driveway, unless the root plate has already traveled under the slab.
City parkways (Heights, Bellaire, West U, Pasadena, Deer Park) have restoration rules. We price the restoration. A cheap trench that leaves a rut is how you fail inspection.
Problems that actually show up
- Cupped HOA sidewalk panels
- Trip edges at the parkway oak
- Driveway apron lifted at the flare
- Second grind in three years
- City notice on a public walk
- Stamped concrete splitting at a pecan
Sequence
- Panel count We mark every cupped panel and the tree that owns it. One tree can own four panels.
- Trench the parkway Vertical cut on the tree side of the walk. Stay off the walk unless a panel is already coming out.
- Set and join 24–36 inch HDPE, joints locked so a root cannot thread the seam at a driveway cut.
- Restore Sod, soil, and edge. HOA and city walks get photos if they want them.
Sidewalk & Driveway Root Barrier near you
We run this work across Greater Houston. Start with the city closest to the lot: