Stump removal advice/ideas? Thanks!

[Lu-Max]

I have an old Cypress stump next to my house with roots against the foundation. There are also old galvanized water and irrigation pipes next to and under it (I am the new, second owner of this property). I have had stumps ground out before, once with one that looked like a big circular saw and another that looked like a lawnmower, but neither will work in this case as there are open trenches for new water pipes already dug.

Other than spending a day or two hacking away at it with an axe and sawzall, any other ideas to make removing it easier? I got it as low as I could with my chainsaw. Explosives are not an option.

Thanks, my lower back thanks you too.

 

[lewis26]

dig under it enough to get a chain around it and pull it out with a truck?

 

[jives]

I would kill it and let it rot. There are many cheap ways to kill it, just check the internet, e.g., drill holes and add salt or Roundup. This is the safest way to deal with the stump so close to the house and pipes.

 

[ducksface]

Take the three minutes to fill the ditches you dug.
Grind the stump.
Take the twenty minutes it will take to remove the temporary fill from your ditches.

Half an hour added labor to do it right.

If you want it even quicker,
Fill the ditch with mulch
Grind
Shop vac the mulch from your ditch.

Or
Cut some scrap wood and cap that ditch.
Too many easy solutions....

The chain idea:
I saw that episode of
The Three Stooges.
Curly becomes homeless when the wall comes out with the stump.

 

[Lu-Max]

Which type of stump grinder can get up next to the foundation best without damaging the house?

 

[ducksface]

Which type of stump grinder can get up next to the foundation best without damaging the house?

A professional one with a professional running it.

 

[tarmy]

I use a sawzall and small floor jack.

Dig around it and keep the trench walls steep or verticlal...cut as many roots that a 12" or 15" sawzall blade can cut...put the beater floor jack on one side and jack..you can hear roots snap...keep working around that way...then get the jack under one place and pop it up...

I have dug out some big *** stumps that way...tough ones like you have there too...go slow...make it a project over a couple days...

 

[Captain Spaulding]

I would kill it and let it rot.

Might be a long wait. Cypress is pretty rot resistant.


I'd consider some digging around it and then hack at it with a chainsaw with a carbide tipped chain on it.

 

[ducksface]

Almost all of the solutions presented will destroy the pipes beside and under the stump. I don't know if the presenters don't care or didn't know of those pipes.
Maybe you should plan on replacing those sections(which I would do. Forget about the grinding, do a removal and fix ALL the pipes, whether they need it or not) once you use some of the recommendations.

A stump grinder WILL vibrate the existing pipe to failure.

 

[Lu-Max]

I do plan to R&R all of the pipes within the month, but for now I need the main line (1 1/4" galvanized at the bottom of trench on right) undamaged. It is very old. The two pipes directly under the stump are for irrigation so not critical, but I want to avoid breaking them if possible. I'll see about a carbide saw chain, I already dulled 2 standard ones getting the stump this low.

 

[laser3kw]

mythbuster style -C4

 

[buddyboy]

get out your pressure washer and blast all the dirt away from that stump

get it as clean as you can

cut out with sawsall

 

[evintho]

That's a project! I'm sure there's roots growing under the house too. If it were me, I'd fill in the ditch to the left. Rent a stump grinder ($300) and grind the stump flush to the house, or as close as possible. If you need to remove the 1-1/4" main water line, so be it. It's already excavated so it shouldn't be too difficult to R&R it.

I also like buddyboy's pressure washer idea although that'd sure be a mess!

 

[BgBmBoo]

get out your pressure washer and blast all the dirt away from that stump

get it as clean as you can

cut out with sawsall

This but with a chainsaw. You should be able to plunge cut down into the stump and come out the other side below ground. Work your way around the stump and take it out in chunks. You may end up ruining the chain due to the dirt, but any professional method will cost more then $20.

Once you are done cover it with dirt and let nature do it's thing.

 

[nes999]

That's a project! I'm sure there's roots growing under the house too. If it were me, I'd fill in the ditch to the left. Rent a stump grinder ($300) and grind the stump flush to the house, or as close as possible. If you need to remove the 1-1/4" main water line, so be it. It's already excavated so it shouldn't be too difficult to R&R it.

I also like buddyboy's pressure washer idea although that'd sure be a mess!

I would look on Facebook and Craigslist. Company's in my area are offering any stumo ground for 50 bucks.

 

[WhiffySpark]

You won't be able to get the back 1/3 with a grinder. I wouldn't grind it with the lines that close either way

 

[Lu-Max]

Thanks everyone, looking into a few of these ideas.

 

[Radix2]

What are you trying to accomplish by removing it ?

- planting bed, sidewalk, brick...?

Unless something structural is going there, I would say work on it to get it closer to the ground for looks, cover it up and forget about it. When it finally does rot, then pull it out and backfill. Chainsaw slots in the top will allow you to break it up to get it down below ground level easily.

 

[Milton Shaw]

Skill saw and then sawzall start at the front and take it out 2 or 3 inches at a time. Use the skill saw to cut deep slots for the blade on the sawzall to follow. Cut some and then pry with a wonder bar etc to break the pieces out. Its too close to house and plumbing to use much more power than one man working on it. I agree that a stump grinder would be too much vibration and could even crack house plaster walls shaking that stump.

 

[TractorJeff]

I agree with Radix2, just get it as low as possible, then cover it up! After its only Cypress, so it should be gone in a 100 years or so?

 

[James-W]

I agree with Radix2, just get it as low as possible, then cover it up! After its only Cypress, so it should be gone in a 100 years or so?

I agree, just get it below grade and put dirt on top of it. Then plant grass seed and nobody will know a stump is there. Eventually the stump will rot and the ground will "sink down" right where the stump once was, but it will take many years before that happens. When it does happen, just cut out the sod, fill in the depression with dirt, then put the sod back in place.

 

[Lu-Max]

The stump is right next to where the garage meets the house, it is in the way of new plumbing (limited space). It has also caused some cracking of the garage footer and curb that I need to repair. I want to get it out of the way for the new plumbing and to fix the garage foundation for some upcoming modifications to the garage (stretching the garage by 6 feet in length and adding two room just outside of the kitchen-garage door for a pantry and utility room either side).

Trust me, nothing would have made me happier than leaving the beautiful tree in place, but it was damaging the foundation and had to go. Can't just cover it up, it has to come out.

 

[6768rogues]

 

[James-W]

Do you know someone with a really big tractor? If you had a large tractor and large chain, you may be able to pull it out. Depending on where the roots go you could have an issue with the foundation or the pipes, but once the stump is out you would be able to replace the piping and repair the foundation.

 

[Radix2]

The stump is right next to where the garage meets the house, it is in the way of new plumbing (limited space). It has also caused some cracking of the garage footer and curb that I need to repair. I want to get it out of the way for the new plumbing and to fix the garage foundation for some upcoming modifications to the garage (stretching the garage by 6 feet in length and adding two room just outside of the kitchen-garage door for a pantry and utility room either side).

Trust me, nothing would have made me happier than leaving the beautiful tree in place, but it was damaging the foundation and had to go. Can't just cover it up, it has to come out.

In that case, reroute or disconnect the plumbing that is there and get someone with a miniexcavator or backhoe and dig it out carefully, you will then have the needed space for your repairs and not risk causing further damage. Since the backside is against the foundation, once the ground is removed from the other sides it should be able to be gently pulled out.

 

[John Timmins]

Make a fire or get charcoal from your grill.. Place the hot coals on the stump. Keep the embers in the middle and let them burn down the middle of the stump.

JUST USE COALS

After you've burned down as much as you want, kick the sides to break them. Obviously this is a slow process. but you have those pipes to worry about if you want to grind or saw the stump out.

burning it is easy on your back too. waiting for cypress to rot will be a LONG time

 

[strutaeng]

Air space will cause the least amount of damage to the surrounding area:

Reroute pressure plumbing and dig away. After it is exposed cut/sever roots under slab and pull out with tractor.

Good luck!

 

[EOC_Jason]

I wouldn't want to pull on it as a whole because of the water lines and also going under the slab, don't want to cause any more damage than has been done.

Perhaps get like a hole hawg with a large auger bit and drill out a bunch. Then a sawzall to cut up between the holes to hopefully remove some larger chunks.

 

[WhiffySpark]

You can buy stump decomposing chemicals

 

[Bert_]

Can't remove the stump because of plumbing. Can't replace plumbing until stump is gone. Quite the conundrum


Or you could just shut off the water, grind/ rip out the stump and replace plumbing all in the same day. Sounds pretty doable to me.

 

[Daveyclimber]

I grind stumps for a living, but given the situation I would use either ship auger bits or hole hawgs and drill the snot out of it and then chisel away with a pry bar, Mattox and axe.

 

[Shawn S]

I burned one out next to my driveway. I lit a bag of charcoal (several batches using the charcoal chimney). After two days of burning I blew the ash out with my leaf blower, and then I blew it out every day after that. It took about a week to burn the whole thing out.

 

[langss]

I had a neighbors tree right on the property line on his side. The neighbor finally realized that the tree was undermining the foundation/slab of his Garage so he had it cut down. The crew did the best they could to grind the stump but they left a lot above ground. I need it gone so I can put the walkway back. I drilled a bunch of holes and used Epsom Salts and Water. Of course the tree came back so Roundup was employed. Next I added Vinegar, that I had from another project, and that seemed to speed things up. Its decomposing nicely and I have only spent my time drilling 1" holes in it. If your not in a hurry, its not quick, but it is effective.

 

[jonesg]

Might be a long wait. Cypress is pretty rot resistant.


I'd consider some digging around it and then hack at it with a chainsaw with a carbide tipped chain on it.

Any organocide such as glycol coolant will kill it dead.
Doesn't matter how long it takes to rot, its dead.

 

[jonesg]

Can't remove the stump because of plumbing. Can't replace plumbing until stump is gone. Quite the conundrum


Or you could just shut off the water, grind/ rip out the stump and replace plumbing all in the same day. Sounds pretty doable to me.

In that case a small backhoe.

 

[Lu-Max]

So if you recall there were two pressurized galvanized pipes going right under the stump:

Since they were not visible in the new water line trench I assumed they both took a 90 degree turn and went under the garage slab:

I cut out the center of the stump to find this, the pipes were connected with a water heater hookup flex-pipe forming a loop (yeah I know, it's an old house and NOT my work):

So I got out my pipe wrenches and put a temporary connection in about 10 feet to the right of the stump. Yes it's PVC but it will only be in place until Tuesday so no sense making it fancy. More on this stupid loop later, it gets worse...

This removed the big obstacle with the stump allowing me to really go to town on it. FYI, it is very green, no way you will get this thing to burn. No time to let it rot or dissolve, it has to be out within 5 days.

Making pretty good progress so far. Tools used? Chainsaw, Sawzall, Skill Saw, axe, pry bars, etc...

 

[Radix2]

Good job, these are the tough ones that nobody else wants to do !

 

[raddksn]

Hire this guy!

 

[jd_1138]

Burke bar or spud bars come in handy. I helped a friend with some stumps. I couldn't get the last one out so I called a pro. Was only 40 bucks. He had all the right equipment.

 

[EOC_Jason]

Hire this guy!

LOL, reminds me of a video of a friend doing similar with his pickup and a cedar. There was no real truck, just a bunch of thick branches that grouped together at the ground. So they had a strap tied around one, he floors it, thing rips out and goes flying towards the truck, fortunately lands just shy but I pictured that thing whacking the tailgate and putting a nice big dent in it.