Grade level
Stump Removal & Grinding
Stumps ground down below the grass line, so termites, carpenter ants and pine beetles have nothing left to move into.
Chapter 01
A stump is not finished being a tree
When a tree comes out, the stump left behind looks harmless. It isn't. A stump is soft, damp wood sitting in the lawn, and it can attract termites, carpenter ants and pine beetles that may eventually work their way toward your house. A big pine stump in East Texas red clay is exactly what they go looking for.
Stumps can also develop fungi and diseases that spread to healthy trees and plants in the yard, which is a problem if you left the other trees standing for a reason. And there's the plain nuisance of it: a stump is something to trip over and something for the mower to hit.
A yellow stump grinder beside a large fresh stump, sawdust and chips on the ground
Ground below the grass, not just cut low
The stump grinder chews the wood down past the root flare and below the grass line, throwing chips and red clay as it goes. Cutting a stump low and calling it done leaves the roots to rot in place. Grinding takes the part that matters out of the ground, so the spot can be raked level and seeded.
Older stumps count too. Gwen Thompson's crew “grinded an older stump that they didn’t originally bid”, one that was never part of the original bid. When you call, mention every stump you want gone, new or old, and Jesus will look at all of them on the same walk-through.
Chapter 03
Back to being lawn
Rake it level, seed it, and the spot goes back to being lawn.
Dan Herrin had trees and stumps removed from his property, and he wrote that the stumps “were ground down and in such a way that it was not easy to say a tree had been there at all”. That's the standard we work to. The grinding is done when a person walking across the yard can't find the spot.
Before the crew leaves, the commercial leaf blower takes the chips and loose soil off the grass and the walks. If you want a new tree in the same spot or a patch prepped for grass, tell Jesus at the estimate and plan it with the grinding.
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Grade · where the lawn starts again
The job ends at the line.
Everything the eye catches stands above grade: the trunk base, the flare, the roots that kept the tree up. Everything below it is what the grinder takes out.
A stump left in the ground is a risk to the yard. One ground under the line is a patch of dirt waiting for seed. If the tree itself is still standing, start with the tree removal page, or see whether a trim would save it.
Got a stump you keep mowing around?
Call or text Jesus about it. He'll come out, look at the stump or stumps with you and give you a free estimate around Tyler, Chandler and the towns near them.