Excavation Question

CV355

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New garage isn't in the cards for this year unless the GT500 sells, but my wife and I are still planning on doing prep work. This includes extending our driveway and removing ~30 trees. I read that cutting down trees before excavation can actually make the excavation harder and more expensive because it's easier to knock a tree down than pull up stumps. If I leave the stumps high (3' or so), is that enough to make the excavation team happy, but still clear the area in advance?

Trying to do as much prepwork as possible and not create a mess down the road. I prefer to work outside in the cold, so as soon as April rolls around I'm just about useless in SC.
 

HillbillyHotRod

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When we built our shop there were about 20 trees on the site. The landscaper that we hired came in with a back hoe and just pushed them over. He raised the bucket about half way up the tree and over they went. That being said it you only have a 3 foot stump I would think it would be quite hard to get it out due to lack of leverage. He then filled in with clay fill and leveled the pad site.
 

lilcoop03

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Yeah I would wait and let them push them over with the backhoe to avoid having to have stumps ground, etc.
 

7998

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I drop them first because it's easier to process the tree, and then rip the stumps out and bury them or get a stump dumpster.
 

598

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I'm thinking that size of the tree and soil type matter as well. I have an attachment for my skid steer that grabs the tree and pulls it out whole, up to about 10 inches diameter. I have sandy soil, so this is much better than cut and dig on all the smaller stuff. You are going to need some estimates anyway, so why not ask the excavator what he prefers, assuming you hire someone who identifies as a man, that is.
 

lOOKnGO

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It's all about the size of the tree, the type of tree, the type of soil, the surroundings. The best is to leave the tree whole and under dig around the opposite direction of planned fall line. Stump is removed much easier, and faster.
 

CV355

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All good feedback! Most of the trees are less than 10” in diameter. Mostly ugly little oaks and sweetgums in the 6”-8” range.
 

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DAVESVT2000

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Drop them first, cut them up for small kindling or firewood.
stumps that small will be easy to pop out with a backhoe or small dozer if the operator knows what he’s doing.
 

B0B

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I just cleared over an acre of densely wooded area personally with my excavator. I have a cat 304. Trees are 10-18” diameter at the base, about 30 year old Douglas fir. My machine pushes them over with ease. Removing the stumps after cutting the trees is much harder on the machine, makes a bigger mess, and takes much longer than pushing them over. I have a side business doing work with my excavator and I would charge you more if you cut those down first. Don’t do it.
 

Blackness03

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I just cleared a wooded lot for a house. Don't cut the tree down. Push them over. It's a lot easier to get the stump out when you have a tree to push on. I cut a few small trees down before hand and one of those stumps took just as long to get up as pushing over 4 trees
 

nickf2005

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Two edged sword you have. Knowing you have some time between now and excavating, it would be nice to get the bulk of the tree cut and processed while you have the time. On the other hand, if the correct size of equipment is used, it is much easier to push the whole tree over, cut off the stump, and then process the tree. We cleared an acre for house building and my contractor pushed the whole tree down. He had a big excavator though.
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CV355

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Based on everyone's feedback, I'm only going to cut down the really small, scraggly BS. I'll leave everything larger than 6" for the excavators. Excavation may not even happen this year. Totally depends on what life throws at us (or hopefully doesnt throw at us).
 

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