Stumps Remain a Big Problem After Sandy

When Hurricane Sandy came barreling through the Northeast, the damage was immense. Many people are still cleaning up from the catastrophic flooding and wind damage. One of the lasting images of the hurricane is driving around (or trying to) and seeing all the downed trees.

Although most of the biggest fallen trees have been removed from people’s properties, there’s still one issue stumping a lot of people: the stumps.

Stumps left behind by those fallen trees are everywhere. Many companies just remove broken branches and the main portion of the tree, not the stump.

A recent article in the Star-Ledger lays out the problems with stumps and why so many of them remain. Basically, stumps aren’t usually covered by insurance and companies that do tree removal often don’t do stump removal.

Here are some options laid out by the article:

Some homeowners attempt to remove a stump themselves, armed with only hatchets, axes or chain saws. “Three or four days later, the spouse will call us and say, ‘Come before he hurts himself,’” Wighton said.

Grinding is cheaper than having a stump uprooted and removed — but may not be possible in all situations…

Stumps that are located on a steep hillside should be removed by an excavator, as should stumps that are leaning on a building or fence.

As you can see, removing a stump is not a simple task. It’s something you generally can’t do yourself and requires some heavy equipment in some instances. That means you’ll have to hire a stump remover.

Here at Grandview Landscaping, we offer various landscaping services including tree removal. There are a lot of things you need to consider when removing a stump. For example, you’ll need to consider what it will look like afterward since some stump removal companies will leave a large, gaping hole in your yard. A good landscaping company can come in and fix the landscape around your property to make it return to normal.