Tree Stump

[malcolm]

I've got a big tree stump I want to remove. It's a Leylandii Cyprus about 800mm across. It pushed a garden wall about 8 inches sideways so the stump needs to go if I want to rebuild the wall in a straight line.

Tried some tree people first and they quoted £90 but don't seem to want to turn up and do the work and it's holding things up. Another guy quoted £350. Tempted to put a hold on the wall for a week and get more quotes as I'm not earning any money right now. Anyone know how much it should cost?

Otherwise anyone done it themselves? Tempted to buy a cheap chainsaw, dig out the roots and have a bash at it myself so it's done.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

I've got a big tree stump I want to remove. It's a Leylandii Cyprus about 800mm across. It pushed a garden wall about 8 inches sideways so the stump needs to go if I want to rebuild the wall in a straight line.

Tried some tree people first and they quoted £90 but don't seem to want to turn up and do the work and it's holding things up. Another guy quoted £350. Tempted to put a hold on the wall for a week and get more quotes as I'm not earning any money right now. Anyone know how much it should cost?

Otherwise anyone done it themselves? Tempted to buy a cheap chainsaw, dig out the roots and have a bash at it myself so it's done.

Drill holes and burn it out.

 

[gaz1]

drill through it burn it like a rocket stove

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Best way is to winch the bugger over before it's felled and rip the root ball out. Too late now.

 

[Barking Mat]

Chainsaw, can work, but bits of stone in the ground/ roots, don't do the chain any good.

Difficult to burn them below ground level.

 

[malcolm]

I'm liking the rocket stove approach. Could try that over the weekend.

 

[8ob]

400 × 320

 

[brightspark]

I f I realy had to id dig down round it clean the mud off with a hosepipe and use a chainsaw with cheap chains you will probably need a couple or just sharpen the 1st a few times having said that my mates have jcb so just get em to rive it out don't you know anyone with a digger

 

[rtcosic]

Depending on where it is and hence tolerance for mess a method I have used may work. A variation on the theme of @brightspark

• Dig out as much soil/stone/debris as practical.
• Jet wash to remove debris from around/under the target root, digging out the slurry as you go. I have used a wet and dry vacuum to do this with success
• Once the root is exposed use your tool of choice to cut it.
• Move to the next root.

The combination of hydraulic mining with a jet wash and wet and dry vacuum to recover the mined materials is a DIY version of the mining for diamonds I saw used in my first job in South West Africa, now Namibia.

 

[malcolm]

Started trying the cut roots out method. These things have shallow roots apparently at about 2 feet. I'm down 1 foot already so might be worth a look. Didn't take long to chop the roots at 1 foot with a reciprocating saw.

We're planning a small 2 tonne digger next week to dig foundations but I'm guessing that won't shift the tree unless I remove most of the roots first.

 

[brightspark]

Started trying the cut roots out method. These things have shallow roots apparently at about 2 feet. I'm down 1 foot already so might be worth a look. Didn't take long to chop the roots at 1 foot with a reciprocating saw.

We're planning a small 2 tonne digger next week to dig foundations but I'm guessing that won't shift the tree unless I remove most of the roots first.

get him to dig down round it then after that cut half the roots away from one side and he could probably pull it over and snap the others

 

[malcolm]

get him to dig down round it then after that cut half the roots away from one side and he could probably pull it over and snap the others

Sounds sensible. Will enlarge the hole and cut through some more roots over the weekend. It will be good to get back in control of the project.

 

[gaz1]

just to give you an idea

even more height would be better by a paint tin or a large can even a barrel would create more height to it and it will burn through it once you get it going

 

[Migmac]

Ive removed stumps, not quite as big as that one though. I did it by digging and cutting, a useful bit of kit is a farm jack. I used a chainsaw for the cutting. Wasn’t to bad on the chain, I’ve seen the moss that grows round the base of trees do more damage to chains. The heels and toes of my cutting boot# are well worn due to scraping moss of trees before I cut them

 

[m_c]

The easy answer (Well not quite the easiest answer, as that is paying someone else to do it), is to hire a stump grinder for the day.

Might take a while with a small grinder, but it'll still be easier than digging/cutting.

 

[Barking Mat]

Mini diggers work too.

 

[taxi ray]

A reciprocating saw is good for cutting branches and roots, screwfix sell some coarse blades, bosch branded they are great and seem to last a long time.

 

[bigegg]

^^^ what @gaz1 says.


Get a fire going in the hole, as far down as possible.
Once its going well, encourage with a blowerof some type.
Leylandii, in my experience, burn very quickly


Plus...
Its fire!

 

[Kayos]

Last one I did i borrowed a loadall from the site I was on, pulled the stump and 2/3 of the garden up in about 3 seconds

 

[malcolm]

I think I'll try digging down and cutting the roots as I find them. Bit of physical work will do me good right now. Can burn it later :-)