Penn Hills, Allegheny County
Stumps out, below grade, ready to seed
The grinder rides on the truck, so most Penn Hills removals finish with the stump gone the same visit. If you have an old one sitting in the lawn from a tree somebody else took years ago, we do those on their own too.
How deep it needs to go depends on what happens next
People assume a stump is a stump. What actually determines the job is what you intend to do with that ground afterwards, and it is worth telling us up front because it changes both the depth and the price.
The other variable in Penn Hills specifically is what is in the soil. These plans went in through the fifties and sixties and there are water lines, gas services, old clay drain tile, and a fair amount of construction debris buried at exactly the depth a grinder wants to work. We call PA One Call before we grind anything that is not obviously clear, and if the utilities come back tight against the stump we adjust rather than guess. A grinder wheel finding a gas service is not a small event.
Surface roots come with it where they need to. On the older maples along these streets the roots that lifted your walk are the ones you actually care about, and taking the stump without them leaves you with the problem you called about.
Four to six inches below grade
Enough to get it under the lawn, backfill, and seed over it. This is what most people want and what is included with a removal unless you say otherwise. You will be mowing over it without knowing it was there.
Twelve inches or more, chips removed
If a new tree is going in near the same spot, the grindings have to come out and topsoil goes back, because a hole full of decomposing wood chips pulls nitrogen out of the soil for years and a young tree planted into that struggles.
As deep as the build requires
Pouring a pad, laying a patio, or setting a shed over it means going deeper and taking the major roots out too, so nothing is left to rot and settle under a slab you just paid for.
Deep enough to clear a post hole
Common here where a stump sits right on a property line. We take it far enough down and wide enough that a post can go in where it needs to rather than a foot off.
Why leaving it is a false saving
Skipping the stump saves a little on the day. Here is what it tends to cost afterwards, in the order people usually discover it.
It sprouts
Maples, and locust especially, do not accept being cut down. The root system is still alive and it throws suckers from the stump and along the roots, sometimes twenty feet out into the lawn. You end up mowing a thicket for years or paying for herbicide treatment. Grinding ends it.
It becomes a nest
A rotting stump is exactly what carpenter ants and termites are looking for, and if it is within a few yards of the house you have installed a colony next to your foundation. This is the reason we push hardest on stumps close to a structure.
It sinks, then it is a hole
The stump and root plate rot over several years and the ground above them settles unevenly. What was a stump becomes a soft depression that catches water and turns an ankle. On a sloped Penn Hills lot it also becomes somewhere runoff sits and starts cutting a channel.
It is in the way of everything
You cannot mow it, you cannot plant it, you cannot fence through it, and it is the first thing anyone looking at the property notices. It is a small thing that makes a yard look unfinished.
What the ground looks like when we leave
Grinding produces a surprising volume of material. A stump makes a pile several times bigger than the stump looked, because the chips are loose and full of air.
The default is that we rake the grindings back into the cavity, tamp them, and leave it level with the lawn. Grass will not do much in pure chips, so if you are seeding, ask and we will pull the chips out and put topsoil in instead. It is a small extra step and it makes the difference between grass in six weeks and a bare patch you look at all summer.
Either way it gets tamped rather than left heaped, because a mound of loose chips settles into a dip after the first few rains and then you are looking at a low spot instead of a stump. Expect a little further settling over the first season regardless; that is normal and a bag of topsoil sorts it.
If the chips are useful to you, say so and we will leave a pile for mulch. They are fine spread on beds away from the stems of plants. Otherwise they go on the truck with everything else. One and done, same as the rest of the work.
Stump work runs alongside removals throughout Penn Hills and across Allegheny County. Finished jobs are in the gallery.
Old stumps from somebody else’s removal
We do a lot of these. Somebody took a tree out five or ten years ago, left the stump, and now it sprouts every spring or has gone soft in the middle. Age makes it easier if anything, because rotten wood grinds fast, though it can hide surprises like a rock ring somebody built around it or a buried fence post. Send a photo with something for scale and mention roughly how long it has been there. It is often a cheaper visit than people expect, especially if there are two or three in the yard and we can do them in one stop. Call (412) 526-2028.
Penn Hills, Allegheny County. Old stumps in the plans, fresh ones behind the removals.
Stump questions
Asked most often after the tree is already gone.
Is the stump included when you take a tree out?
Yes, unless you tell us not to. The grinder is on the truck and most Penn Hills removals finish with the stump below grade before we pull out. Some people want the stump left for a seat or a planter, which is fine, just say so on the walk-around.
How big a mess does grinding make?
More than people expect, and we clean it up. The wheel throws chips and soil, so we set up boards or mats to contain the spray, particularly near siding, cars, and windows. The grindings go back in the hole or on the truck, and the surrounding lawn gets raked and blown off before we leave.
Can you get the grinder into my back yard?
Usually. The machines come in different sizes and the smaller one goes through a standard gate, roughly three feet. If the only access is through the house or over a wall we will tell you on the phone rather than turn up and discover it. Photos of the gate and the route help a lot here.
Can I plant a new tree in the same spot?
Not directly in the same hole unless we take the grindings out and backfill with topsoil, which we are happy to do if you say so up front. Wood chips decomposing pull nitrogen from the soil and a young tree planted into that struggles for years. Better still, plant a few feet to one side and let the old root system rot down on its own.
What about the roots running across my lawn?
We take surface roots out with the stump where they matter, which on these older street maples is usually the ones lifting a walk or breaking up the lawn. Roots running deep under a driveway or a foundation are a different conversation, because removing those can undermine what is above them. Chris will tell you which is which rather than grinding everything in sight.
How long does it take?
A typical yard stump is under an hour. A large old maple with a wide root flare can be half a day, and several stumps in one yard usually work out faster per stump than doing them individually because the setup is done once. Access is the biggest factor, same as everything else.
Have a stump you want gone
Send a photo with something next to it for scale, and tell us what you want to do with that ground afterwards. Grass, a new tree, a shed, or nothing at all. It changes how deep we go and you will get an up-front number either way.