Evansville, IN
Stump Grinding & Site Restoration in Evansville, IN
Grinding depth, what to do with the chips, and why the surface roots matter as much as the stump.
Removing a tree leaves a stump and a root flare, and how far you take those down depends on what the ground has to do next. Grinding a few inches below grade is enough if the area is going back to lawn. Putting in a patio, a shed pad, a fence line, or replanting in the same spot needs a deeper grind and more of the structural roots taken out, because decaying wood left under a hard surface will settle for years.
Two things get overlooked. The first is the surface roots radiating out from the trunk, which on a mature silver maple can run well across a yard and will keep humping up the lawn long after the stump is gone. Those get ground where they are a nuisance. The second is what happens to the grindings. A stump produces a surprising volume of chip and soil mix, and it will settle noticeably as it breaks down. We can haul it off and backfill with topsoil, or leave it mounded on site to use as mulch. Neither is wrong, but the choice belongs to you and it should be settled in the quote rather than discovered in the driveway.