Discussion
Disclaimer: don't do this, you may kill yourself or others to death or set fire to things.
I remember reading a tale of stump removal in the dim distant days of Usenet; the protagonist drilled holes in the stump, covered it with plastic and filled the drilled holes with saltpetre(I have read the same account but with permanganate instead of saltpetre, which should work the same but less energetically). Whenever the saltpetre was absorbed he topped it up, and after 6 months or so he set the b
d ablaze, whereupon it burned for days; once the above ground section was consumed and the hole collapsed in, he would every so often get puffs of smoke from patches of his lawn or bits of turf going brown. After an indeterminate time this stopped and eventually the hollow bits collapsed and made his lawn lumpy. Whether this is apocryphal or true I have no idea, but I like it enough to want to try it! 
I remember reading a tale of stump removal in the dim distant days of Usenet; the protagonist drilled holes in the stump, covered it with plastic and filled the drilled holes with saltpetre(I have read the same account but with permanganate instead of saltpetre, which should work the same but less energetically). Whenever the saltpetre was absorbed he topped it up, and after 6 months or so he set the b
d ablaze, whereupon it burned for days; once the above ground section was consumed and the hole collapsed in, he would every so often get puffs of smoke from patches of his lawn or bits of turf going brown. After an indeterminate time this stopped and eventually the hollow bits collapsed and made his lawn lumpy. Whether this is apocryphal or true I have no idea, but I like it enough to want to try it! Edited by hidetheelephants on Monday 20th April 19:32
I used a Citroen xantia in the past, park car over root , lower suspension , attach chain to a root, raise suspension, typically this exposes a bit more than usual. Cut the root
Repeat all the way round, the drag it all away
This is easy with good access and you need a Citroen xantia
Other cars are available
Repeat all the way round, the drag it all away
This is easy with good access and you need a Citroen xantia
Other cars are available
lordturpin said:
The stump has been fully ground out and no longer visible, its really more the map of roots below that i was thinking of building upon. I am a assuming a will just have get a digger in to be sure.
In some ways I would prefer to leave the roots in as if you are using a digger the compaction of the soil is going to be greatly reduced and it may well settle more having done that.One thing no-one's mentioned... The tree will have been removing a lot of moisture from the ground (especially on your clay soil). Removal of the tree means there is a possibility of soil 'heave' where the soil swells due to an increased water content. This could impact upon your drive surfacing.
Many years ago my uncle and grandfather removed some smallish tree stumps from the lawn (steeply sloping on the escarpment of the North Downs) ... with ... plastic explosives. I wish I'd been alive to see it. But then I'd probably be dead now. They popped most of them into the woods at the bottom of the garden, but apparently one did go a bit sideways into the neighbour's garden. Still, it's a great example of proper manly gardening.
cahami said:
I have a tree stump that is in the way of my new garage build, Had the tree felled to about 5 foot with the intention of pulling it over 4x4 etc. ive had a good look at it and the roots are huge and go under my existing garage floorslab.
so i am thinking of cutting it down as low as possible drilling into it as deep as possible filling it with petrol and lighting it. Has anyone ever burnt out a tree stump? or is there another way? stump grinding seems expensive?
Cahami where are you in essex? I had the same problem week before last. Was also suggested to me that I drill it out and soak with petrol before lighting by an Australian relative (maybe that's how they do it in the outback, didn't fancy it smouldering against my fence for hours) Ended up hiring a stump grinder which made surprisingly light work of it. Can recommend hire firm if required.so i am thinking of cutting it down as low as possible drilling into it as deep as possible filling it with petrol and lighting it. Has anyone ever burnt out a tree stump? or is there another way? stump grinding seems expensive?
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