Elms are stately trees...but they do tend to be delicate also... I had one standing in my back yard in Houston... it was only about 8 feet directly out the back door and when I had my patio poured, the contractor dug around the roots to set the forms... just that disturbance killed the tree in about 2 years...
When we bought our place here in TN, I had a 50 or 60 foot elm standing near where I wanted my shop... when I had the ground prepared, the contractor ran his bobcat about 3 feet from the tree and tore out some roots... 2 years later the tree was dead and dropping 6 inch x 10' limbs on my shop roof... I had it cut and figured I would have some good turning wood, but it's rotting faster than I can turn it.
