A petrol stump grinder takes a tree stump out below ground level with a toothed wheel, instead of leaving you to dig round the roots with a spade and a mattock for two days. Once it is gone you can turf, plant, pave or put a base over the spot where it stood.
It is the machine that finishes a tree job properly. Cutting a tree down is the visible half; the stump is the half that stops you doing anything else with that corner of the garden.
Getting it to the job
At 720mm it goes through a standard 900mm side gate, which matters because stumps are almost always in back gardens rather than on driveways.
It is self propelled rather than carried. Loading it needs two people and preferably a ramp, so if that is awkward, have it delivered.
The numbers
Stump Grinder specification
Width0mm
PowerPetrol
Hire typeDry hire
Against a side gate
720mmSide gate 900mm
180mm to spare through a standard timber side gate.
Measure the tightest point of the whole route in, not just the gate. The stump grinder is one of the machines it fits past.
The rest of the sheet
Getting it there
Collect or delivered
Ring the yard if a figure matters to your job and we will check it against the machine before you travel.
What comes with it
Serviced and tested between every hire
Fuelled and ready to work when you take it
Delivery to site, or collect it from the Etruria yard
Off hire from the day you ring, not the day it comes back
What you will need
The stump cut down close to the ground first
Goggles, ear defenders, gloves and boots
To know what is buried around the stump
Dry hireCollect or deliveredServiced between hiresSame day when we have it
What people hire it for
The jobs it actually gets used on
Six of the jobs the stump grinder goes out on most. Keep scrolling and they stack.
01/ 06
After felling a tree
The natural second half of the job, once the chainsaw and the chipper have dealt with everything above ground.
02/ 06
Clearing for a lawn
A stump under a new lawn is a bump that never goes away and a source of fungus that does not either.
03/ 06
Before a patio or a base
You cannot lay a solid base over a rotting stump, so it has to come out before anything goes down.
04/ 06
Fence and boundary lines
Old stumps sitting exactly where a post needs to go.
05/ 06
Hedge stumps
A grubbed out hedge line leaves a run of stumps that all need the same treatment.
06/ 06
Regrowth
Stumps that keep sending up shoots. Grinding it out is what actually stops it.
How it works
Hiring the stump grinder start to finish
01
Ring, message or send the details
Tell us the job and the dates. We will say whether it is in, when it is back if it is out, and whether it is the right machine for what you are doing.
02
Collect it, or we run it out
Pick it up from the yard on Brick Kiln Lane in Etruria, or we will deliver it to site. If you ring early enough and it is free, it can often go out the same day.
03
Ring when you are done
We off hire it from the day you ring rather than the day it happens to come back, and collect it from site if we delivered it.
Before you book
What you need to know
Stump Grinder, in the yard on Brick Kiln Lane, Etruria.
01
Cut it low first
Get the stump down as close to ground level as you can with the chainsaw before the grinder comes out. Every inch you leave is time and wear on the wheel.
02
Find out what is buried
Roots go where services go. Cable, pipe, land drains and old foundations all sit around stumps, and the grinder finds them the hard way. Check before you start.
03
Clear the stones out
Rake the area first. Stone against a cutting wheel blunts teeth and fires grit a long way.
04
Work in sweeps, not plunges
Take it a layer at a time, sweeping side to side and lowering gradually. Driving the wheel straight in overloads it and slows the whole job.
05
Mind where the debris goes
It throws chip and grit with force. Screen it if you are near glass, cars or a road, and keep everybody else well back.
06
It leaves a hole of chippings
You get a pile of stump chip and a dip where the stump was. Plan to take the chip out and backfill with soil if anything is being planted or laid there.
From the Google profile
Used Elite for the first time after using other companies before, wow what a breath of fresh air, prompt replies to messages, Cameron dropped the micro digger off and what a credit to the company he is…
Neil Gerrard · Micro digger
Fantastic experience with Elite Plant Hire! I hired a mini digger and a tracked dumper, and both were top-quality, modern, and reliable machines…
The yard is on Brick Kiln Lane in Etruria, a couple of minutes off the A500, so most of Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme is a short run either way. Collect it yourself if you have something that can carry or tow it, or we will deliver it to site and collect it when you are finished.
Below ground level, far enough that you can turf, plant or lay over the spot. How far depends on the stump and what is around it, so tell us the size when you ring.
It takes out the stump and the root flare rather than every root running away from it. For turfing or paving that is plenty. If you are digging foundations there, say so.
It needs 720mm, so a standard 900mm gate is fine. Measure the narrowest point of the route, particularly if the way through is an older entry.
They make reasonable mulch, or you take them away. Either way do not just level them back into the hole if you are planting or laying there, because they rot down and the ground drops.
Get it booked
Tell us the job. We will tell you the machine.
Ring the yard and you get a straight answer on whether the stump grinder is available, when it is back if it is out on hire, and whether it is the right thing for what you are doing. If it is not, we will say so.
