Speaking about 'getting rid of roots,' we hired a service to trim a 30'+ pongam tree and to remove roots which had crossed under a sidewalk, into the frontyard, and also ruined a driveway apron, the land between the driveway/sidewalk, and the street (in the swale). It was raised 3" in places. We had the swale concrete removed, and the roots removed by one crew, and they replaced the swale concrete w/a new pour. The arborist crew who came next trimmed the pongam tree, and that allowed much-more light into the front windows and the door (a single-pane impact glass door). It will also allow sun to reach the yard to promote grass growth. We had a sprinkler system installed, w/a timer, it's fed by a well. The yard was sodded after the sprinkler system.
The machine for cutting roots (Carlton) was very neat, it's made in NC, I think the owner said, the operator can ride it, or he can operate it via wireless remote control (he's holding it). It made short work of the roots anywhere in the yard, and it went down about 1 ft.
Like others, I use a recip saw for roots. I have a 120V Porter-Cable Tiger saw, and a couple of Craftsman C3 19.2V cordless. I use a long pruning blade.
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neophyte, I use a breaker bar, I call it, steel w/a wide chisel profile on one end and a maybe 3 to 4" disc of thickness on the opposite end. I bought it new many years ago, I can't recall where. It's a good tool. Nearly as tall as me, a bit < 6'.
