I doubt you did much damage...
If the roots seemed wrapped around the tree, they were probably the shrub roots... the tree roots tend to radiate straight out from the tree (there are exceptions, of course), not wrap around it...

Just tamp the dirt back down lightly and leave it alone. I agree with Joe Pye that those were probably not oak roots. In addition, some experts advise people to remove "girdling" roots from their trees so, even if they were oak roots, you might have inadvertently helped.

Also, oak is one of the strongest trees. Ours was hit by lightning a couple of yeqars ago. The advise of our local extension agent was to give it time and see if it would live and it is begining to heal. It did kill one set of roots on one side of the tree.

Thank you all for the help. I have looked a couple of times and think that it will probabaly be fine. In my very humid zone 9 I am worried about fungus attacking any part of the tree, particularly damaged roots. Thanks again.

I want to build a paver brick walkway that runs within five feet of my white oak tree trunks.
The depth required is 6-9 inches below grade 4 ft wide.
How dangerous is this project to the health of my oaks?

For a real answer "Hale 5" you'd want to talk to a tree expert but I think you'd be fine.

I've been working on a woodlands restoration on a steep bank by a stream in our neighborhood. Because I don't want trees to fall out of this bank when they mature in a couple decades I've picked only deep rooted tall tree species and ornamentals.

Oak trees in general are characterized by having a strong tap root when young that transitions to deep lateral roots when older.

So while I'm sure you'll damage some feeder roots while putting in your walkway - your tree should have plenty of other deep roots to keep it stable. And since it is only a walkway there should be plenty of feeder roots left to keep your tree nourished.

If you want to be more careful, do your work in the Fall when your tree is going dormant and is not being stressed by heat.

The U.S. Forest Service publishes a very handy resource online called the Sylvics Manual. It's entitled "Sylvics of North America" and comes in two volumes, Vol 1. Conifers and Vol. 2 Hardwoods. It is available online as html and downloadable pdf.

I envy you your White Oak! It's a magnificant tree. Good luck with your project.

-Helen

Here is a link that might be useful: Silvics of North America

I have an oak three feet from my garage. I am in the process of removing all the "landscape" rock and such and we will be putting down pavers from the garage wall to the tree. It gets so muddy, is a winter walk-way, no grass will grow. I am not worried about he tree at all. It is way too big to be bothered by us.

We had an oak tree die because of construction close to the tree. The tree guy told us oaks have surface roots that are very important to the tree. Some trees the surface roots dont matter but oak is one that does.

I found the link below. Scroll below the ad for the answer. Hope it helps

Here is a link that might be useful: oak tree

Thank you all for the feed back

Based on what I've read I don't think this will be a major problem but I'm going to error on the side of caution and talk to a local arborist.

I'll let you know what this "expert" has to say.

I need some help too. Our tractor scooped up some dirt, but also a chunk of our White Oak tree's root. It's about the size of my arm. It also scraped another root. I don't know how old the tree is, but it's about 50' high. I don't want to lose it. Should I just put the dirt back on the scraped root, or is there some kind of medicine that I should use? Thanks, wendy