root ball Advice needed on how to remove a large uprooted tree base from site.

[handymidi]

Hello, 

The builders used an excavator to dig out a tree base and left it on site. 

It's pretty big and compacted with earth. 

It's essentially a huge mass of pulled trunks and roots on its side. 

 

I want to break it up so that I can put it on a trailer or in a van to take away. 

 

So far, we have tried most things. 

Digging the earth out. 

Chainsaw bits off. 

 

But it's like chipping bits off a rock. 

 

Have you ever tackled anything like this, and if so, what would you recommend? 

Thanks 

 

 

 

 

[Stubby]

Digger or similar with a grab and wang it into the skip .

[NJA]

54 minutes ago, Stubby said:

Digger or similar with a grab and wang it into the skip .

They are a nightmare to get rid of.  This is best idea, just check you won't get stung by skip company as they don't like stumps.

 

I have used a pressure washer in the past to blast mud off and make it lighter and a bit more chainsaw friendly (you'll always hit something that finishes the chain off tho).  And a very messy job

 

Most recently I've just dug a hole in the corner of the garden and rolled it in or piled up behind a hedge to rot.

[handymidi]

1 hour ago, NJA said:

They are a nightmare to get rid of.  This is best idea, just check you won't get stung by skip company as they don't like stumps.

 

I have used a pressure washer in the past to blast mud off and make it lighter and a bit more chainsaw friendly (you'll always hit something that finishes the chain off tho).  And a very messy job

 

Most recently I've just dug a hole in the corner of the garden and rolled it in or piled up behind a hedge to rot.

You are dam right, and no one wants to touch it. 

They have a skip at the front of the house, but you couldn't get it there because it must weigh over a ton. 

 

Someone else mentioned about using a pressure washer to clean it up so I can see the wood and get a chainsaw onto it. 

 

I tried my chainsaws on it the other day, and I hit a stone, and the chain came off. The Chain is pretty much gone but that's ok. 

 

Digging a hole and burying it was another option too but I'm not sure how they would like that. 

 

 

[Stere]

A digger with  cone/screw spitter  would  mash it up into bits....

 

Easier plus cheaper just to bury it though.

 

 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 10:41 by Stere

[handymidi]

1 hour ago, Stere said:

A digger with  cone/screw spitter  would  mash it up into bits....

 

Easier plus cheaper just to bury it though.

 

 

 

I don't think I am going to be able to get one of them easily. 

 

Would it grow back if I was to bury it? 

[Rob_the_Sparky]

I had something like this but not a big when I dug up a large bamboo.  Big tangled block of roots and mud.

 

I tried and killed a hand saw, was not going to kill my chains saw chain.  pressure washer got some of the mud off but not as much as you would think.  In the end I used a mattock to break/cut it up into managable pieces that I could then dispose of but it was hard work and took a while.

[Stubby]

1 hour ago, handymidi said:

 

 

I don't think I am going to be able to get one of them easily. 

 

Would it grow back if I was to bury it? 

I suppose its nearly Easter but ....No . If you could make that grow back it would be a neat trick !

[handymidi]

3 hours ago, Rob_the_Sparky said:

I had something like this but not a big when I dug up a large bamboo.  Big tangled block of roots and mud.

 

I tried and killed a hand saw, was not going to kill my chains saw chain.  pressure washer got some of the mud off but not as much as you would think.  In the end I used a mattock to break/cut it up into managable pieces that I could then dispose of but it was hard work and took a while.

 

I tried a Mattock on it, too, but it was like hitting concrete and chipping off splints!!! 

This is when you realise how hard and thick wood is. 

The Mattock was bouncing off the wood. 

 

I intended to break it up into small pieces too and then dispose of it in sections, but that would take me years!! 

I thought about the pressure washer, but I had the same thoughts about that. I only think it would have removed the mud and exposed a humungous lump of solid wood. 

 

I am going to advise that they bury it and put something over it to make sure that it doesn't get any light. 

 

TBH, I have broken down and buried something larger than this, but that took time. The problem here is that they want it gone offsite asap because of their building works, and I can't find a way of doing that. 

 

No other trades want to touch it, and I don't want to be wasting my saw and equipment on it anymore. 

 

 

 

[rapalaman]

A decent stump grinder would sort that in a morning. Whereabouts is it located? 
What’s the width of access?

Edited Thursday at 15:26 by rapalaman