Welcome to my blog. My name is Kerry, and I love to do DIY work around the home. While painting high ceilings and putting in garden beds seems to be easy for me, I find climbing into a tree with a saw to trim branches very scary and potentially dangerous. Luckily, over the years, I have gotten past the fear and have found ways to service my trees safely and efficiently without risking grave injury to myself. Sometimes, I admit that I have to call in the pros, but I'll help you identify when that's a necessity as well. Take a look at these posts. I hope they move, entertain and inform you.
Even though with tree removal, felling a tree and clearing the log may seem like a big job, you might be surprised to learn that removing the stump left behind is the difficult part; the good news, however, is that it is doable. You'll get better results doing the job when you choose the right stump removal techniques.
When it comes to getting the job done right, the main thing is to take out the roots of the stump from beneath the ground. Here are a few viable methods to help meticulously remove tree stumps laying in your yard.
Digging
This is perhaps the most common DIY method of removing a stump from beneath the ground. You can be assured of complete stump removal, but this may turn out to be a laborious undertaking depending on how big or small the stump is. As you dig up the soil covering the stump, you must let the roots free of the stump buried in the ground. You can use a range of tools, e.g. an axe, spade shovel, handheld power saw, hoe, lopper, etc. to do this. If you so wish, you can dig and cut off all the roots from the stump entirely, but you should be ready to dig a large area surrounding the stump as the roots might have extended very far away from the stump. As such, this technique will work best when you want to remove small, freshly cut tree stumps that have shallow roots.
Grinding
In the case of dried stumps, it is better to avoid the onerous task associated with digging and use a tree stump grinder to get rid of tree stumps. The best part is that if you don't own a stump grinder, you can hire one at a reasonable rate. This machine has the ability to meticulously crumble the stump into tiny pieces, leaving behind a small colliery in the yard that is covered with clean fill. You may find this technique to be feasible when you've got quite a lot of stumps to do away with. You should prepare the work site, e.g. by clearing away any gravels and grits near the stump before digging. This will cut down the risk of dulling the grinder blade.
Pulling
Towing or dragging a tree stump from below the ground is a task that requires heavy-duty equipment, perhaps a tractor or mini excavator. Wrap a strong chain around the trunk of the tree stump, then peg the chain to the preferred piece of equipment. Gradually move the equipment away from the trunk to pull the stump from beneath the ground. If the piece of equipment you are using has a bucket arm, hook the chain to the arm and vertically lift the stump out of the earth. This method is best when you have quite a number of large stumps to remove. Hiring a backhoe, for example, to pull out only one stump from the ground might prove to be uneconomical, but can be a viable option if you've already hired the equipment to do other jobs.
Share10 November 2015
