- Whole-job quoteNo surprise charges after
- We show upWhen we say we will
- Same-day call-backAnswered or returned
- Raked and tidyWe clean up when it's done
What the work is
Surface root grinding in Richmond
Surface root grinding takes the roots that lift your lawn, your walk or your driveway down below the grass, with the same stump grinder that takes out the stump.
We do it with a stump job or on its own, since roots that buckle a walk or get in the mower's way are ground without digging out the whole stump. Each root is chased out and ground in the same visit, so the yard mows flat when we leave.
Where they cause trouble
Roots that trip feet, catch mowers and crack walks
Raised roots trip people, strike mower blades and push against the walks, drives and foundations around them.
Lawn and mowing
A root at grass height catches a foot in the dark, and the mower finds it next, nicking or bending the blade.
Sidewalks
A root left growing heaves the slab above it until it cracks, and the lifted edge becomes one more thing to trip on.
Driveways and patios
The same slow push works under a driveway or a patio, lifting and cracking it from below.
Foundations
Roots that keep running toward the house press against the foundation and can crack it in time.
Step by step
How a root grinding job runs
After the buried lines are marked, the grinder chases each major surface root out from the stump and grinds it down to the stump's depth, and the deep roots are left in the soil to decay.
The wheel is the same one that grinds the stump: a spinning disc of carbide teeth that shreds wood into chips.
Walk the roots
We look at where the roots run, how far and how many, and which trees nearby are staying. That walk is what the estimate rests on.
Mark the buried lines
Grinding roots is digging, so before the wheel touches the ground a call to 811 gets the buried gas, water and electric lines marked for free.
811 before stump grindingChase each root out
The wheel follows every major surface root out from the stump, typically 3 to 5 feet, until the root dives too deep to be in the way.
Grind it to the stump's depth
Each root goes down below the surrounding grade, level with the ground-out stump, so nothing is left to trip on and the whole patch can be filled and seeded as one.
Leave the deep roots, rake it back
Deeper and finer roots stay in the soil and decay over 3 to 5 years; nothing is pulled out. The chips go back into the trenches and get raked level, or get hauled off for topsoil if you'd rather.
Before the cut
Roots of a tree you keep
Grinding can injure a tree that stays, so the roots near it are traced back to their tree before any of them is cut.
Trees that grow close together often fuse their roots into one another, a "root graft", and grinding through a graft can damage or kill the tree on the far end of it. Cutting the surface roots of a nearby tree you want to keep, a shallow-rooted maple most often, can send it into decline. A root that belongs to a tree you are keeping is left in the ground, and we go over which ones those are with you on the estimate.
The price
What root grinding costs
Root grinding in Richmond typically runs about $2 per linear foot of root ground.
One root lifting a single slab is a short job; a maple's whole spread across the lawn is a long one. We put a figure on it once we have walked the roots with you, the estimate is free, and the number on it covers the whole job with nothing added after.
On your estimate
Two things set the number
- How far the roots run
- How many roots get chased
Your exact price comes from the call, quoted before we start.
Protecting the yard
Turf-friendly equipment and the lawn after
The lawn comes back: the machine is kept light on the turf, the house is shielded from what the wheel throws, and grass grows evenly over roots ground to the stump's depth.
- Rubber tracksA tracked grinder spreads its weight, so the turf packs down less and recovers quickly.
- Boards under the machineProtective boards laid across soft ground keep the tracks from pressing ruts into it.
- A debris guardThe guard on the cutter deflects the rocks and chips a wheel can throw, so windows and walls nearby stay whole.
Once the trenches are filled, grass seeds across the whole patch at one level, with no ridge left where a root used to run.
Beyond the roots
The stump and lots full of stumps
The stump gets ground in the same visit as its roots, for residential and commercial properties alike.
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The stump in your yard
Ground below the lawn and below its root flare, then raked level with its own chips so grass can take the spot.
Richmond stump grinding -
A lot full of stumps
Commercial lots, building sites and common ground with stump after stump are a job of their own, ground one after another in a single visit.
lot full of stumps ground
Google reviews
From Yards We've Already Cleared
Left on Google by people who had us out, word for word.
We had trees removed by Elias who than used Garcia to remove stumps. Great work. Curtious, polite and got it done in no time. Thank you.
Garcia stump grinding is awesome! He took care of a lot of stumps we had in an efficient way. Our yard looks so much better! Highly recommend.
The Garcia Stump Grinding team gets it done every time rain or shine. We still have more work to do and we will call them again being that we only work with these guys. Highly recommend. Easy to get along with and they work extremely quick and clean. Really, these guys will steam roll a tree/ stump job.
Roots Lifting the Lawn? Let's Grind Them Flat.
One call gets a free, no-obligation estimate on the roots and the stump. We answer Monday to Saturday, 7 am to 6 pm, and return any other call the next working morning.
We show up when we say we will, and we clean up when the work is done.