Each year, thousands of Arizona residents email or call Rosie Romero’s radio show with questions about everything from preventing fires in their chimneys to getting rid of tree roots invading their sewer system. His goal is to provide answers that suit the specific lifestyle wherever someone lives in Arizona.
Q: My yard backs up to an alley that seems to belong to the city of Tucson. I have a masonry wall at the end of the yard, and on the other side of the wall, there are fruit trees growing that don’t belong to me. The tree roots have now started doing damage to my wall. In fact, the trees are only about 2 feet away from the wall.
A: You need to contact the city. Hopefully, you can get officials to take care of the problem. Sometimes the issue can be resolved by cutting the roots of the trees. But in that case you need the roots to be about five feet away from the trunk before anyone can start cutting them. Since the trees are so close to the wall, the roots cannot be cut without killing the trees. It appears that the city has to take out the trees; you’ll need to discuss that with them.
Q: I have an older home with a flat built-up roof that has a number of low spots in it where ponding seems to take place. I’m afraid that those ponds will lead to leaks inside my home. Can I go up there and level off those low spots so this won’t happen again?
A: You’re probably talking about putting some asphalt sheets up there in the ponds and putting roofing coatings on top of them. It won’t work very well, I’m afraid. You will just be moving the low spots and ponds to other areas of the roof.
You really need to think about installing a foam roof over your old roofing. That’s the easiest way to take care of the low spots and prevent leaking. A good foam applicator can sculpt the new roof much more successfully than a homeowner with asphalt products.
Q: I have a house that was built on a post-tensioned slab. Can I drill on the edge of that slab in order to set big cables in the slab? I want to use those cables to anchor a water valve that I am installing.
A: The way your home was built means that stressed wires or cables were stretched between anchor points for your home’s foundation and then concrete was poured on top of the wires to create the slab. The cables were thus bonded to the concrete.
After the concrete hardens in this kind of process, the cables are trimmed off at the exterior wall. But we would never recommend drilling into the slab.
With a post-tensioned slab, drilling the kinds of holes you are thinking about could damage the cables and there also could be serious damage to your home. Instead use epoxy cement to fasten a bracket to the slab for setting your cables in place.
Q: I love the fragrance of citrus blossoms in the spring, but unfortunately, I can’t grow citrus where I live because of the 4,000-foot elevation and the types of frost that we get. Is there something else that I could plant to provide the same kind of scent in my yard?
A: Flowering honeysuckle or wisteria would probably be good choices in your area. They would both be dormant in the winter and less susceptible to frost problems.
