Stump Grinding · Waterloo
Stump Grinding in Waterloo
A Waterloo lot that has lost a row of spruce has a row of stumps, and a lawn with twelve stumps in it is not a lawn until they are gone.
Stump grinding is the second half of a removal, and on Waterloo's big lots it is often a bigger job than elsewhere because there is more of it: a row of eight or ten spruce stumps along a lot line, a metre-wide silver maple stump in the middle of the lawn, or a cluster of dead birch. Left in place, stumps sucker, attract carpenter ants a few metres from the house, trip the mower and block whatever is meant to replace the tree.
What grinding involves
The machine is a stump grinder: a carbide-toothed wheel on a tracked or wheeled carrier that is swept back and forth across the stump, cutting it into chips a layer at a time until it is gone below the surface. For a spot going back to lawn, 15 to 20 cm (6 to 8 inches) below grade with the big surface roots followed out is the norm; for a spot taking a fence post, a footing or a replacement tree it goes deeper and the quote says how deep. What is left is a hole full of chips, which either stays as it is or is dug out and filled with topsoil, depending on how soon you want grass on it.
Spruce rows
A screening row that has been removed leaves stumps a metre or two apart along a line that is usually right on or beside the property boundary. Grinding them is efficient because the machine moves straight down the row, but two things need settling first: whose side of the line the stumps are on, and whether a replacement screen is going back in the same place. If it is, the stumps are ground deeper and the row of holes is cleaned out and filled with soil so the new trees are not planted in rotting wood chips.
Why the locate comes first
A grinding wheel spinning below grade will cut a gas service as readily as a root, so nothing is ground until Ontario One Call has marked the gas, hydro, water and telecom in the area. What One Call will not mark is anything you or a previous owner installed: the feed to the pool pump or the cabana, irrigation lines, an invisible dog fence, low-voltage lighting, a gas run to the pool heater or a barbecue. Waterloo's big back yards tend to have several of these, and it is the owner's job to say where they are.
What affects the quote
- Diameter at the ground, including the root flare, not the trunk higher up. An old silver maple can be well over a metre across at grade.
- Number of stumps. A row is cheaper per stump than one stump on its own.
- Access. A compact grinder fits a standard gate; most Waterloo side yards are wide enough for a bigger, faster machine.
- Roots and grindings. Chasing surface roots across the lawn and hauling the grindings for a topsoil backfill are separate lines.
Replanting over a ground stump
Wood chips rotting in a hole steal nitrogen from whatever is planted above them, which is why sod laid straight over fresh grindings sinks and goes yellow for the first summer. If the spot is going back to lawn, the chips come out and topsoil goes in. If a replacement tree is planned, it goes in a metre or two to the side of the old stump, or the old hole is cleaned out to soil first. Tell us the plan for the spot and the grinding is done to match it.
Frequently asked questions
Can you grind a whole row of spruce stumps at once?
Yes, and it is the efficient way to do it. The machine works straight down the line, and the per-stump price for a row is lower than for one stump on its own. We settle whose side of the boundary the row is on first.
What happens to the roots left in the ground?
They die and rot away over several years once the stump is gone, and the lawn above them settles slightly as they do. A few species, poplar among them, send up suckers from the roots for a season or two; mowing or cutting them off as they appear exhausts them.
Can you grind a stump next to the pool deck?
Close to it, yes, with care. The grinder is kept off the deck and the coping, and roots that have gone under a footing are cut and left rather than pulled. The pool and its lines are located and protected before the machine starts.
Serving Waterloo and surrounding areas. Contact us for a no-obligation quote specific to your property.