What to do with this stump?????

[Boom Stick]

I dropped this nasty box elder that the former owner allowed to grow in this position on the corner of a block garage building that will be bricked this summer. I have to get a steel angle iron for a brick shelf along the bottom of the building. The stump has to go. I have several other stumps on property that I have been saving up to call a guy in and grind them which I already have a call in for. What can I expect to have to happen with this thing to see it gone?? The cinderblock next to building are no longer there

 

[ScotO]

Yer gonna have some fun grinding that one....but that's probably the ONLY way you'll get it cleaned out. You CAN spend a couple weeks hacking at it with a mattock and axe, but it's gonna be a B*TCH to get that manually.....I know, I've done several by hand like that.....

 

[jdp1152]

Well, it's next to masonry. If there aren't any combustibles near by, you could drill it out, soak it with kerosene and burn it. If you've got a little more time, you could just keep dumping hot charcoal on it and after a week or so it will be gone, though the same issues with kerosene burning occurs (ash, sparks, etc) so you have to do your best to contain it all. I've used an angle grinder and cut the bottom off a metal trash can in the past...that way I could choke the fire when I wasn't around. Or just drill the hell out of it and hack away. I've got a lot of stumps I need something done with, but it's been so damn dry here, I'm probably just going to have them ground.

 

[bogydave]

Stump grinder.
If they/you can't get it all with a grinder , waste an old chain to get the rest of it out.

 

[Boom Stick]

I guess my question is would a tree service attempt to use a grinder on a stump in this location? Seems like a few things could go wrong potentially.

 

[ScotO]

They make chainsaw stump grinder attachments, as well as small stump grinders (around the size of a rototiller) that you could rent......that may be your best option.......

 

[mywaynow]

Since the foundation has blocked any root growth for 170 degrees of the stump, wouldn't this be a fairly easy excavation removal? That is my vote. If all you need is the iron shelf, you could take a power washer and blow out all the dirt/rocks for the first 6 inches and get some cheap chains for your saw and just start cutting a notch for the shelf. Go at it from the top at an angle that would remove just enough with a single cut. Nose the bar in and look for darker chips to start flying. That is bark and your indication to move the cut to fresh wood. Get it close and wedge/sledge the chuck off. Don't skip the powerwasher though. It will triple the chains used.

 

[StuckInTheMuck]

Find out if anyone else in your neighborhood needs to have some stumps ground and then have them pay for this (broken link removed to http://www.sunbeltrentals.com/Equipment/equipment.aspx?itemid=0390075&catid=s364) and you provide the labor to get it done. The $315 for the day usually includes 8 hours on the meter. You can get a lot done with that.. I've rented one of these twice. Once just for my property, once for the neighborhood. I ground more of my neighbors' stumps than my own, but I drank for free for the rest of the summer. Just be careful on the extra fees, they add up quickly..

 

[Bocefus78]

x2 on the burnout.

 

[lumbering on]

I had a similar situation
I took it out myself, with a maul, mattock, shovel, and sawzall , one root at a time.
It took weeks, worked on it a little each night.
It was actually fun and good exercise.

 

[swagler85]

Stump grinding is cheap here, I couldn't rent a machine for what I can get stumps ground down for. Ive got a guy that I have given a lot of business to and he usually does 2-5 stumps when he comes out. He did 2 spruce stumps that were both about 18-20 inches and 3 small cedar bush stumps for me last time out. He charged me less than $100 for those.

 

[lukem]

Its box elder. I will probably be rotted out next week.

Can you just notch out what you need to get you brick ledge in and let ma nature take care of the rest? Throw a nasty old chain on the saw and give it heck.

 

[TimJ]

I had a similar situation
I took it out myself, with a maul, mattock, shovel, and sawzall , one root at a time.
It took weeks, worked on it a little each night.
It was actually fun and good exercise.

Lumbering on I call what you did " lumbering on "

 

[Backwoods Savage]

That would be short work for a stump grinder. It might get a bit tricky really close to the building but if they have to leave just a couple inches, it will not be difficult to that that out by hand. Not sure what it costs there but I know it is not expensive here and they can make very short work of it.

 

[lumbering on]

Lumbering on I call what you did " lumbering on "

I've got about 10 projects going on at once, all in different stages of completion. Kind of ADHD, I guess.
I'm in no particular hurry, just enjoying the process. Sort of Lumbering On...

 

[lumbering on]

Stump grinding is cheap here, I couldn't rent a machine for what I can get stumps ground down for. Ive got a guy that I have given a lot of business to and he usually does 2-5 stumps when he comes out. He did 2 spruce stumps that were both about 18-20 inches and 3 small cedar bush stumps for me last time out. He charged me less than $100 for those.

Stump grinding here in the 4th most expensive state ((broken link removed to http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-most-expensive-state-to-live-180732578.html)) is not cheap. All my quotes were over $200 just for one stump. The rental for the grinder would have been more than that as well.