Stump Grinding Basics, Tips, and Tricks

Trees are beautiful and majestic. They provide a lot of things to the environment and the people around them. Trees offer shade, provide privacy, and purify the air. But then, trees have to be cut down for some reason. If this has to happen, the once beautiful tree now becomes just a stump.  

Even if you want your tree remembered, keeping the stump protruding out of the ground is never a good idea. If you have hired a professional to remove the tree, then you also have to have them remove its stump. It’s a separate service so don’t expect the tree company that you hired to cut your tree, haul it away, and remove the stump all in one go. Stump removal has to be done on another day.  

Why Stumps Should Be Removed 

There are some rare cases when you may get away with letting the stump remain in your backyard. But practicality-wise, you must have it removed or you may encounter some logistical problems in the future. If you decide later on that you want to install something where the tree used to be, then removing the stump may mean damaging all the other structures around it.  

Stumps are also the favorite breeding ground of insect and pests. Unless you want your home invaded by these unwanted guests, be sure to have the stump removed as soon as possible. Rats, ants, termites, and other insect love living on tree stumps and the rotting wood underneath it.  

Why Stump Removal is a Separate Service  

You might be wondering why you have to pay for stump removal separately after you have requested for tree removal. Well, the roots of the trees are very huge. Usually, the stump is impossible to remove completely. But digging it out is still an option, although it’s a very big undertaking. You do have another option, which is to grind the stump using a grinder. Either way, both are labor-intensive jobs that may take at least half a day’s work.  

Tree removal would almost always take a full day so stump removal would have to be done on the next day. And because the tree service providers would have to drive all the way to your place again, it’s only right for them to put stump grinding as a separate service. That may actually work to your advantage, as you may choose to get the job done on a later date.  

How is Stump Grinding Performed? 

There’s a machine called a stump grinder that professionals use to chop the stump in a million pieces. There are smaller versions of this machine that can be rented at hardware stores. If the tree stump you need to get rid of is no bigger than a foot in radius, then maybe you can do the job yourself. Otherwise, you have to call in the professionals to handle it.  

If you need help with stump grinding, then hire a professional tree removal O’Fallon. They should be to help you out with the project. It would be best if you hire the same company for tree removal and stump grinding for easy job coordination.