Stump grinding

A stump left in place does not go away. It rots slowly, feeds fungi and insects, throws suckers for years in the case of a poplar or an elm, and prevents you from seeding, replanting or building anything in that spot. Grinding settles it in a few hours.

Step one: locate the services. Before grinding, underground lines and cables are located if the stump is near a service entrance, a buried service drop, a water line or a septic field. A grinder goes 200 to 400 mm below grade and does not distinguish between a root and a telecommunications cable.

Step two: prepare around the stump. Stones are cleared, the collar is cut down flush with a saw, and windows, siding and cars are protected, because a grinder throws chips hard. On a sloped lot, how the machine gets in and out is planned first.

Step three: the grinding. The toothed wheel sweeps across in passes and reduces the stump to chips down to 200 to 400 mm below grade, depending on what you intend to do next. For seeding, 200 mm is enough. To replant a tree in the same spot you have to go deeper and remove some of the chips, because a bed of decomposing chips consumes the nitrogen the new planting needs.

Step four: surface roots. The large roots running toward the house or the sidewalk are ground too, over the agreed length. On an old maple or a willow that is often the longest part of the job, and it is the item most often left out of a quote given over the phone.

Step five: backfill and finish. The chips can stay to fill the hole, bearing in mind that they will settle 100 to 200 mm over a season and topsoil will be needed. Otherwise they are hauled away and the hole is filled with screened soil. Say which you want at the quote, because removing the chips is billable.

How long it takes. A small stump is 30 to 60 minutes. A medium stump is one to two hours. A large maple or willow stump with surface roots is half a day. Access decides everything: a self-propelled grinder fits through a 900 mm opening, and a large wheeled machine needs far more.

What it costs in 2026. An indicative range of $100 to $1,030 per stump in Quebec. What decides where you fall in it: the stump diameter, the depth requested, the length of root to grind, yard access, whether there is stone or concrete in the ground, and whether the chips are hauled away. Grinding on the same day as the removal costs considerably less, because the equipment only travels once.

What is particular to Gatineau. The soil and the calendar. Many lots in the Gatineau sector and in Hull have stony ground or fill containing concrete and brick, and a grinder tooth that strikes a stone is damaged, which is why some contractors add a contingency for unknown ground. The calendar matters too: the ground is frozen from late November to early April, and a stump in frozen soil grinds badly or not at all. Finally, if the stump belonged to an ash killed by the borer, the roots are often already partly decayed, which makes grinding faster but the hole deeper than expected.

Who does this work. Stump removal is explicitly covered by the arboriculture qualification certificate. Since 8 June 2026 Quebec's occupational health and safety regulation has required that certificate in the appropriate class, or a valid apprenticeship record, for anyone performing arboriculture work (APSAM, report au 8 juin 2026 (RSST art. 312.103)), and the list of covered work includes stump removal (Québec, certificat en arboriculture (ARBO)). For work done only from the ground there is a separate certificate, ARBO-S (certificat ARBO-S, travaux au sol). The CNESST also requires workers to wear the personal protective equipment appropriate to the task and to know the risks involved in arboriculture work (CNESST, arboriculture et élagage).

What to ask before you hire. How deep will you go, in millimetres. Are surface roots included, and over what length. Do the chips stay or get hauled away, and is that in the price. Do you have the underground services located. What is the minimum access width you need. Who holds the arboriculture qualification certificate. And if I want to replant in the same spot, what else has to be done.