Tree roots vs XPS basement insulation

Hello everyone,

Our garden has been laid out by the landscaping company and all the slopes have been filled. Now we have a brown dusty desert.

We usually have a lot of rain during "normal" summers, but we built on sand. The rainwater drains quickly and it is rather dry in the summers. Basically, it looks here like what was removed for Tesla in Grünheide. Therefore, we wanted to focus on a more Mediterranean planting and avoid irrigation as much as possible.

I would like to have a fig tree on the south side of the brick house, to which I would like to offer the facade heat in the evening hours. After some research, I assumed that a 1m planting distance for the fig tree is still okay. Closer would be better for heat utilization. The shading issue is of course also important in the increasingly hot summers.

My core question now is what the roots will do to my exterior basement insulation. They will not penetrate through the waterproof wall, so the house will never get leaky because of roots.

Do I need to worry about the insulation with a fig tree, or is 1m enough?

If you walk around in France, or even the Palatinate etc., you can see fig trees growing out of all corners and cracks. Their houses are still standing too.

Just go ahead or take precautions?

Attached again are pictures of the shell construction and after landscaping. Distance from the light well also 1m, same as to the outer wall.

Do I need to worry about the insulation with a fig tree, or is 1m enough?

You can try googling "root + fig tree." Then you will find the information that fig trees a) develop superficial roots to stabilize the trunk and b) form a taproot downwards.
In summary: No worries.

You could at most add a root barrier as a precaution against the surface roots in between. The previous owner of our property had insulated the shaft of his cistern with EPS and XPS. The EPS was intact and the XPS was partially root-penetrated. I wouldn't really worry so much about the house now.

I never plant trees / larger shrubs closer than 10m to the house. If it’s not the roots, then it’s the leaves in the gutter or the shading in front of the window, the dryness under the tree canopy or, or, or.

I never plant trees / larger shrubs closer than 10m to the house.

However, a fig only grows as a shrub or small tree and does not get taller than 4m (of course it can also be pruned and kept smaller). So, no real problem.

But that means that in most gardens no trees would be allowed if you base it on your distances ;). Even in my 1,100 sqm garden I would only have one spot for a tree.

[Trees / larger shrubs I generally never plant closer than 10m to the house. If it’s not the roots, then it’s the leaves in the gutter or the shading in front of the window, the dryness under the tree crown or, or, or.]

We don’t have gutters on this side due to the direction of our ridge. Shading of the facade is explicitly desired and it will be dry under the small 4m south green strip on sandy soil anyway. :)

I’ll just plant the thing next spring.

My dream would be for it to grow about 4-5m high and partially shade the children’s room at the top in summer. Then I wouldn’t have to fully close the roller shutters during the daytime.

I’m not too worried about the size of fig trees in OWL now.

The drainage for the east roof runs at about 2.5m depth. I would have to monitor that over the next decades. But I hope that the roots won’t be able to crack the green sewer pipes.