stump removal advice

[mike223]

I've a question to all.

I am going to cut down 4 standing dead oak trees as well as two live red oak trees on my property. The live trees are fairly large, say 18" dia on one and 36" on the other. The dead ones are approximately the same sizes. There are no buildings yet, and the place where we will be putting the foundation will not be affected by the trees. I'm removing the live trees in order to have less trees close to the building going in there, and the dead ones for obvious reasons. Should I cut the trees down and grind the stumps, or have them pushed down with a CAT and sectioned and hauled. The hole where the stump was in the preceding story looked enormous and would require a boatlaod of fill. Would a ground stump cause severe problems later? Thanks in advance.

 

[EddieWalker]

When you say you might have them pushed over with a "Cat" are you talking about a bull dozer??

If so, it takes allot of effort for a dozer to take out a big tree. Massive amounts of dirt have to be removed and depending on the size of the dozer, a ramp needs to be built up on one side to push it over.

If you mean a trackhoe, than that's the way to go. The 18 inch tree isn't too hard for a backhoe, but that 36 incher is going to be a fair job. I've done pines that large with my backhoe and the pucker facter is definiately there, but never an oak. WOW.

How far from the buildings with the stump be if you grind it? The problem you face is settling as it decomposes. Being that it's an oak, this will happen very slowly over decades of time. If you can get to it with a load of dirt from time to time, I'd grind it and fill as it settles. There is also a good chance that you will never even notice the level of decomposition or settling.

Eddie

 

[Renze]

Oak stumps take a long time to decompose. we cut a big oak on the roadside about 15 years ago, and finally last year all of a sudden the spot packs down about 15 cm over a 1 meter circle.

Excavators can do a quite good job digging out stumps. What also works for me on oaks up to 40 cm in diameter, is cutting and pulling off 2 main roots and then just push a whole tree over with a tractor. I usually make the tree wave first by pushing intermittently to the tree, push, release and push again when the tree is at its dead end of the swing movement. then give it a push and keep pushing in a low gear.... If that doesnt work first time, try from the opposed side from firm ground that hasnt been dug loose by the tires yet. Most medium sized oaks bend before all soil is dug loose by tractor tires /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Anyways if i want to remove the whole tree i allways push it over before sawing it off it's stump, no matter if a tractor or excavator is used to dig the stump... Gravity is the best helper when pulling stumps /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[mike223]

Renze,
What's a centimeter? Only kidding! The trees in question are more than 20' (approx. 6.5 meters)from where the building will be. The reason for the removal of the live ones is because I am uncomfortable having them that close to the dwelling. Having gone through two hurricanes in FL year before last and having a gum tree drop next to my shop down there, I want to eliminate any threat of a repeat performance on my property in TN. We will be moving after we sell the house in FL this spring (hopefully) and I'm going to have a 40'x60' pole barn put up and build a 900 sq. ft. apartment in that until we decide to build the "big house" later.

Eddie,
I have followed your building efforts in your posts, and admire what you have accomplished. I am going to try something similar, but not quite so ambitious. I have about a million things to do, and trying to plan and accomplish things when you're 11 hours away and can only be there part time is difficult at best. Hopefully our FL house will sell soon, and we can move everything to TN and commence construction in earnest this spring or early summer. I was speaking of a bulldozer, as a friend of mine recommended pushing over the trees that way. Not having any experience in doing so, I thought I'd ask for second and third opinions on the matter. Looking at the size of the rootball, and the hole it left, I think that grinding the stump is probably a better way to go. As was stated earlier, I can always fill in later if needed. Thanks again for the advice.

 

[SnoFalls]

Pushing over a dead tree is a VERY BAD idea ... the likelyhood of a branch falling on you is much higher in a dead tree. I think I read that more loggers die from branch falls than from any other cause.

But ... do get rid of those trees near your buildings!

In my case the tree was probably 8" when the shop was built ... when the spetic was added, it was probably 20" so they just "built around it" ... when the water/power got added it was up to 24" and too big a pain to deal with. So another "build around it" ... grrr.

When I had loggers come in, it was ~30" at the base, but with all the "services" near it, I couldn't have the excevator "pluck" it out ... so yea, I had to make a crater, and a PITA with a "small" bota, but it's done now (I'll get some pics tomarrow with the cut/fill for this "project").

mike223, it sounds like you're bringing in a contractor for the excevation work, ... have them drop/remove the trees. My guess, they'll fall them, and then excevate the stumps. With the execvation for the homesite, you should have fill for the craters (and an excevator should be able to pluck a stump without the sorta crater I had to create).

 

[Highbeam]

This summer I had trees at and above the 36" mark pushed over with a big excavator that the logger brought in. The excavator was the loggers tool of choice for everything but actually falling trees where the stumps could stay. Mostly cedar trees, the operator would reach his boom up high and gently push on the tree in a steady motion the stump would roll out of the ground. The excavator would then track over and grab the tree near the base with his grapple/bucket, lift the stump and then the second man would cut the stump from the trunk, limb the tree and buck to log truck length leaving all the brush, top, and stump in the woods.

Once you've seen work done with a big excavator it is hard to imagine big time clearing done with anything else.

I owned a bulldozer and it is not the right tool for removing large trees. Grading roads, dragging trees, and small vegatation are where the dozer shines. Great fun though.

 

[LBrown59]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Pushing over a dead tree is a VERY BAD idea ... the likelyhood of a branch falling on you is much higher in a dead tree. I think I read that more loggers die from branch falls than from any other cause.


)</font>

I'd leave the dead trees for someone with the right equipment and knows what they're doing.

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[Highbeam]

I have had some experience with dead standing snags dropping limbs when bumped. Also dead branches from live trees. If the whole tree is dead I would gently fall it with a saw and dig the stump out later. The stump should be easy to pop. Another option is to chain off to the tree with a long enough chain and try and pull it down. The trouble comes when you are standing right next to it and shaking it.