Bit off more than I wanted to chew..

[MSgtBob66]

Took on a 6' silver maple stump for a buddy from my day job the other day. 6' across plus elevation from bricks around the base AND it had to be ground down to at least 12" below grade as it was on the back side of his garage and he is going to add a slab there for an addition to his garage.

I have a Rayco 1625 Super Jr., and I put that thing about 4' down into the hole to get the no kidding stump ground out. There are still roots down there, but I gave 'er he!!. I don't think there was room for a tow behind big HP machine, and anything else would have been in the hole like I was. Chip space under the machine would have been nice, I had to back out several times to start digging like I was back in Iraq waiting for incoming.

7 hrs total time on the job, machine ran for about 6 hrs according to the hr meter. Didn't make my normal $100/hr work goal, but I'll get referrals. Sometimes you think it doesn't pay...

It'll pay out in the end. Plus I got the workout I needed that day...

BOB

 

[OLD MAN GRINDER]

Took on a 6' silver maple stump for a buddy from my day job the other day. 6' across plus elevation from bricks around the base AND it had to be ground down to at least 12" below grade as it was on the back side of his garage and he is going to add a slab there for an addition to his garage.

I have a Rayco 1625 Super Jr., and I put that thing about 4' down into the hole to get the no kidding stump ground out. There are still roots down there, but I gave 'er he!!. I don't think there was room for a tow behind big HP machine, and anything else would have been in the hole like I was. Chip space under the machine would have been nice, I had to back out several times to start digging like I was back in Iraq waiting for incoming.

7 hrs total time on the job, machine ran for about 6 hrs according to the hr meter. Didn't make my normal $100/hr work goal, but I'll get referrals. Sometimes you think it doesn't pay...

It'll pay out in the end. Plus I got the workout I needed that day...

BOB

Hey Bob...

I have done a lot of large stumps like that, i grind the root flares up to the main stump first and then take my 660 and cut the main trunk off as low as possible, this will save u hours of work, sometimes i will push the chips back into the hole in order to give the machine a solid surface to work on, hope this helps..

Bob....

 

[MSgtBob66]

Did what you suggested...

Still was quite the workout. The thing is remember, he is pouring a slab over this thing. He told me he was going to do clean up, and I assumed he was going to have a trailer to shovel the much into. Nope, he had about 4 curbside 35 gallon yard waste tubs and his Dakota pickup. That's about 30 minutes worth of the grinding. We had a huge pile, a skidloader would have helped move it all. I advised him to get a Cat 420 or so sized backhoe (we call them rubber tired backhoes at the great city of MPLS), that way he could excavate and load with 1 machine. There were still roots down there that I didn't get out, but they were partially rotted.

Made up for that mis-estimate today. Just shy of $500 for 3 1/2 worth of work today, grinder ran for about 1 hr.

Semper Fi!

BOB

 

[LegDeLimber]

Not a grinder question here:
But is that ok to pour a slab over a ground out stump?
Just seem like a really big area compared to the small (15~25")
inch stuff that we had around our house.

I'm Just thinking about how every stump I've ever seen ground on,
always has some collapsing of the back fill/dirt after a couple of years
when the organics below rot.
and the ones my Mom had done many years ago (pines) were cut pretty deep 10~12"
as she grew up on farms and knew about stump rot
but still we had to keep shoveling in dirt in them after a couple of years.
I finally used my friends case 360 to just scoop out the last of the holes
and then back filled them (hand/foot tamped) with clean dirt to stop the problem.
the continual sinking spots Play heck with mowing and/or peoples ankles.

 

[OLD MAN GRINDER]

Still was quite the workout. The thing is remember, he is pouring a slab over this thing. He told me he was going to do clean up, and I assumed he was going to have a trailer to shovel the much into. Nope, he had about 4 curbside 35 gallon yard waste tubs and his Dakota pickup. That's about 30 minutes worth of the grinding. We had a huge pile, a skidloader would have helped move it all. I advised him to get a Cat 420 or so sized backhoe (we call them rubber tired backhoes at the great city of MPLS), that way he could excavate and load with 1 machine. There were still roots down there that I didn't get out, but they were partially rotted.

Made up for that mis-estimate today. Just shy of $500 for 3 1/2 worth of work today, grinder ran for about 1 hr.

Semper Fi!

BOB

Glad u had a good day, slow down here, i guess i got spoiled last year it was so busy because of the drought and now that its back to normal it seems to be slow, went out yesterday to do a large post oak and at the last minute the customers wife decided she wanted to leave the stump high and turn it into carving, so made a trip for nothing, it seems like everybody down here is getting into the stump grinding business, seen 4 ads in the sunday paper all new grinders, they are advertising to do stumps for 10 bucks each up to a foot with no setup fee, gonna be a long summer, good luck to ya...

Bob.....

 

[MSgtBob66]

I concur..

Not a grinder question here:
But is that ok to pour a slab over a ground out stump?

Leg, I say the same as you. In my opinion, he'll have to dig deep and then backfill/damp with gravel to ensure the slab doesn't get voids from the leftovers.

Bob,

It slowed down around here too it seems. I like it though, because last year stressed the heck out of me. I just hope it don't get too slow.

I just have more time to drink beer...

Semper Fi & Good Luck!

BOB