Your permit needs a root investigation. The AirSpade gets it done.

Toronto, Hamilton, Mississauga and other municipalities regularly make AirSpade root investigation a condition of development permits. If you’ve received one, here’s what it requires and how I satisfy it.

Urban Forestry needs to know where the roots are, what the work will affect and whether the trees can realistically survive it, before construction begins.

The condition usually reads something like: “Prior to permit issuance, the applicant shall conduct exploratory root investigation within [specified area] and submit findings to Urban Forestry.”

What it means: the work near those trees waits until the investigation is done and the municipality has accepted a report on the impacts.

How I handle it: I excavate with the AirSpade inside the areas the municipality specifies. Every root is measured, photographed with a scale reference and mapped to its location. The report answers Urban Forestry’s specific concerns and is usually ready within three business days of the field work.

When foundations, excavation or services overlap a tree protection zone, municipalities usually require the roots to be cut cleanly before the machine digs. That protects the rest of the root system from the tearing and crushing an excavator causes, and it’s often the difference between a tree that survives construction and one that doesn’t.

The condition usually reads something like: “All roots within proposed excavation areas shall be pruned cleanly by a qualified arborist using pneumatic excavation prior to mechanical excavation.”

What it means: under that wording, machine digging near the trees waits until the roots have been exposed and pruned.

How I handle it: the AirSpade exposes the roots intact inside the approved excavation area, and I cut them cleanly at the boundary with sharp tools. Mechanical work can then go ahead without touching the remaining roots.

Equipment traffic, material storage or unauthorized digging inside a tree protection zone compacts the soil. When that happens, municipalities issue stop-work orders and want documented impacts and a remediation plan before work resumes.

The order usually reads something like: “Construction has encroached on tree protection zones. All work shall cease. Applicant shall document impacts and submit a remediation plan within [timeframe].”

What it means: the project is stopped until the extent of the compaction is documented and the City approves the remediation.

How I handle it: AirSpade investigation shows how deep and how far the compaction goes. Remediation uses radial trenching and vertical mulching to break up the compacted soil, restore air and water movement and encourage new roots. Documentation includes photos, compaction measurements and a monitoring plan for Urban Forestry.

When a tree is declining and nobody can see why, the cause is often underground: girdling roots, buried root flares, grade changes, compaction or decay at the base. Root collar excavation exposes what’s actually happening without damaging the roots in the process, so you get a diagnosis instead of a guess. See tree diagnosis.

Compacted soil is one of the most common and most overlooked causes of decline on urban sites. Roots can’t get air and water, and no surface treatment fixes it. Vertical mulching and radial trenching break up the compacted layer and give the root zone a real path to recovery. It works especially well for established trees on sites with a history of construction or heavy use.