With the summer weather fast approaching, now may be the best time to plant shrubbery or trees in around your mobile home lot. However, before you go out and start buying your favorite trees, you must first discuss your plans with your mobile home community manager to request approval.
The fact is that trees and shrubs, while beautiful, can cause extreme damage to manufactured homes and underlying infrastructure. There are three main concerns caused by trees.
Roof Leaks – trees, when planted too close to a home can cause leaves to fall into the gutters, and this causes water to backup under the shingles and through to the interior ceilings and walls. Although gutters can be cleaned annually, it is best to keep trees lower or away from the roof.
Sewage Backups – many types of trees have invasive root systems that can penetrate the smallest crack in a sewer system. After penetration, they grow larger over the years causing backups and cracking. In fact, in a recent case, mPark Homes called a plumber to solve a sewage issue and he pulled a 300-pound root from a sewer system (see photo courtesy of Davidson-Bush LLC). Additionally, roots can crack concrete manholes and septic tanks.
Electrical Issues – electrical issues include underground problem due to root infiltration to overhead problem caused by falling branches. In fact, the most common cause of power outages is due to tree branches falling on electrical lines in stormy weather.
The best types of trees to select include those without invasive roots that are sized appropriately for the space. Some of our favorites include Japanese Maples, Crape Myrtles, Eastern Redbud, smaller varieties of Arborvitaes, and Hollies. Please call your landlord to be sure you are not directly planting over a utility line, however.
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