Stump grinding and removal.
Getting the stump out so you can actually use the space it is sitting in.
Stump grinding uses a cutting wheel to reduce a stump to chippings, normally to around 300mm below ground level, which is deep enough to turf, plant or pave over. It is faster and far less disruptive than excavating the stump whole, because it does not require digging out the root plate or bringing a machine through the garden.
Grinding versus digging out
Grinding is the right answer almost every time. The machine removes the stump and the top of the main roots, leaves a hole full of chippings, and does not disturb the surrounding ground. A stump that took twenty minutes to grind would have taken a day and a mini digger to excavate.
Full excavation is only worth it where the ground is being dug out anyway, for foundations or a new driveway, and the whole root plate genuinely has to come out.
What is left behind
A hole roughly the width of the stump, filled with a mix of woodchip and soil. Woodchip locks up nitrogen as it rots, so if you want to plant or turf straight away it is best to dig the chip out and backfill with topsoil. If you can leave it a season, it settles and rots down on its own.
We can take the arisings away and backfill with topsoil if you want the ground ready to use immediately. Say so when we quote so we bring the soil.
Access and services
Our narrow-access machines fit through a standard 760mm side gate, which covers most terraced and semi-detached properties. What we do need to know about is anything buried: gas, water, electricity, drainage and irrigation. Grinding into a service is expensive and avoidable, so we check before we start and will hand-dig where there is any doubt.
Stumps within about a metre of a wall or a boundary sometimes cannot be fully ground out without undermining the footing. We will say so rather than risk it.
The short version
Common questions
Can I plant a new tree in the same spot?
Not directly into the chippings. Dig the chip out, backfill with topsoil, and ideally plant slightly to one side of the old stump so the new roots are not competing with decaying wood.
Will the roots keep growing?
No. Once the stump is ground out the remaining roots have no foliage and cannot photosynthesise, so they simply rot. The exception is species that sucker, like poplar, cherry and lilac, which can throw up shoots from the root system for a season or two.
Do you grind stumps you did not fell?
Yes, regularly. If someone else took the tree down, or it came down years ago, we are happy to quote for the stump on its own.
Not sure if this is what you need?
Describe the tree and what is worrying you about it. We will tell you what the options are and roughly what each one costs, including the option of doing nothing.