Stumped! How do I remove them?

[Nolar Dog]

I've got a house with some old trees in the garden to the rear.

They have been chopped down to stumps, just above ground level.
They are about thirty years old and roughly 300mm diameter.

Can anyone advise the best way to remove them please?

Nuking them from orbit is not going to cut the mustard as far as the neighbour is concerned.

Do I just dig them out?
Kill them with petrol?

Or what please?

Sorry if it's a daft question but I've never done it before and don't want them to beat me.

Many thanks.

[randlemarcus]

Ooh, stumps

Choices involve (boring to fun):

• Watching them naturally rot and return to the soil
• Digging them out by hand
• Paying someone to remove them
• Ripping them out with a low ratio 4x4
• Hiring a stump grinder and grinding them out
• Digging them out with a hired mini digger
• Burning them out with petrol
• Blowing them out with strategically placed small amounts of high explosive

please be aware that while the second to last is enormous fun, eyebrows are fragile things

[Simpo Two]

Digging out by hand costs nothing and will keep you fit - for days!

[aussiebruce]

I cut down a few trees in my garden. I ut the stumps as low as i could with the chain saw, then swung an axe vertically at them 'til below ground level, covered 'em with top soil and let the grass grow over.

Except for one big bugger, you can't see where they've been at all.

[Plotloss]

With a stump grinder...

[JustinP1]

How quickly do you want to do it?

I cut a stump down to ground level, sprinkled soil over the top a couple of years ago and grass is there with the stump rotten underneath.

To get it lower reasonably quickly I would put some vertical cuts in and just let it get wet and rot away.

Anything else is a machine tool job or a lot of work.

[Busamav]

get on to any decent tree surgeon and have them in to use their stump grinder.

Probably 10 minutes max on each stump .

They will probably be able to grind them away to about a foot below ground level.

[Nolar Dog]

Just popped in for a quick look at this thread and thanks guys for the advice so far.

I don't want to get a tree surgeon in as it's something I want to do.

I need to remove them as they are were the concrete base of the new garage is going to go.

If I chop into them with an axe and butcher them as low to the ground as possible then lay the concrete over them, will that pose any long term problems to the structural integrity of the garage do you think?

Or am I better spending a few days totally digging them out?

[mickk]

Get one of these, save all that digging.

http://www.hss.com/g/62836/Tree-Stump-Chipper-Petr...

[ssray]

we had a quote for 25 stumps of varying size of over £900 with vat, The ones that made most impact-middle of lawn etc were cut to just below the ground level with a chainsaw, I dug some out of the veg patch-flipping hard work. The large one(3ft+across)in the middle of the garden had 2 huge (10ft wide and tall) bonfires that just charred the surface, I think it would take a week of constant burning to dent it.
I was going for the diy stumpgrinder at around £125 per day.

Ray

[Nolar Dog]

Thanks for that link Mick.

Edited to make sense.

Edited by Nolar Dog on Friday 22 May 23:08

[Wacky Racer]

Nolar Dog said:

If I chop into them with an axe and butcher them as low to the ground as possible then lay the concrete over them, will that pose any long term problems to the structural integrity of the garage do you think?

Vicky,

If a little small weed has the power to grow through concrete, I don't think a bloody great tree stump will have any trouble.......

Depending on whether a mini digger can get on the site or not, I can put you in touch with a reliable first class guy in the Rochdale area who will rip 'em out, complete with roots in no time, did the same for me when I was having my conservatory built.

[GreigM]

Nolar Dog said:

If I chop into them with an axe and butcher them as low to the ground as possible then lay the concrete over them, will that pose any long term problems to the structural integrity of the garage do you think?

yes, you need to get as much of the tree + roots out as possible - I had a garage subside because it was built over some ground where a few big old trees used to stand - over time the dead roots decayed into literally nothing and the garage floor cracked and basically subsided into the holes....needed a whole new garage.

You want a stump grinder - you can hire them from various machinery hire shops and they are great fun...just don't get yer leg caught in it

[treehack]

Stumpgrinder is the way to go, don't even bother trying to dig 'em out.As they are just above the ground then you'll have no leverage to help get them out.
Your best bet is to get a local treesurgery company to grind them out, 4x300mm stumps should be arouns the £200 mark tops.

[Nolar Dog]

Wacky Racer said:

Depending on whether a mini digger can get on the site or not, I can put you in touch with a reliable first class guy in the Rochdale area who will rip 'em out, complete with roots in no time, did the same for me when I was having my conservatory built.

Sadly it's pedestrian access only but thanks all the same.

If it's okay I might contact you in future for his details as we have several houses that need work and a mini digger may be useful for certain things.

[Nolar Dog]

treehack said:

Stumpgrinder is the way to go, don't even bother trying to dig 'em out.As they are just above the ground then you'll have no leverage to help get them out.
Your best bet is to get a local treesurgery company to grind them out, 4x300mm stumps should be arouns the £200 mark tops.

I'm going to hire a stump grinder and do it myself.

I really don't want to get someone in to do it. Any fool can pay to have a job done. I'd rather learn how to do it myself.

Thanks for all the info guys. This is why I love PH.

[Chrisgr31]

Nolar Dog said:

Wacky Racer said:

Depending on whether a mini digger can get on the site or not, I can put you in touch with a reliable first class guy in the Rochdale area who will rip 'em out, complete with roots in no time, did the same for me when I was having my conservatory built.

Sadly it's pedestrian access only but thanks all the same.

If it's okay I might contact you in future for his details as we have several houses that need work and a mini digger may be useful for certain things.

If it is pedestrian access only why are you putting the garage there?

[Nolar Dog]

Chrisgr31 said:

If it is pedestrian access only why are you putting the garage there?

Because when I have built the new garage there will be a revised vehicular access to the property via the side elevation.

Currently the house has access from the front but the existing single garage is blocked by the extension.

The perimeter wall will be removed and rebuilt, new vehicular access to the new double garage via a new drop kerb, the old access will be bricked up when the wall is rebuilt and the old drop kerb removed.

At the minute though I only have pedestrian access.

[mybrainhurts]

It's a shame Blaster Bates is no longer with us...

He'd have blew 'em out in a trice...

Edited by mybrainhurts on Sunday 24th May 23:28

[stackmonkey]

Nolar Dog said:

treehack said:

Stumpgrinder is the way to go, don't even bother trying to dig 'em out.As they are just above the ground then you'll have no leverage to help get them out.
Your best bet is to get a local treesurgery company to grind them out, 4x300mm stumps should be arouns the £200 mark tops.

I'm going to hire a stump grinder and do it myself.

I really don't want to get someone in to do it. Any fool can pay to have a job done. I'd rather learn how to do it myself.

Having dug up 10 conifers myself, then used a combination of axe and chainsaw, I wish I'd hired a stump grinder myself!