Grind Texas Blog
How to Remove Tree Roots Above Ground (Without Killing Your Tree)
Surface roots are the stump problem's sneaky cousin: ridges of hardwood snaking across the lawn, eating mower blades, catching ankles, heaving up flowerbed borders. Before you take a saw to them, there's one question that decides everything: is the tree they belong to alive?
If the tree is alive: put the saw down
Big surface roots on a living tree are usually structural — they anchor the tree and feed it. Cutting roots close to the trunk of a live tree can destabilize it (think storm-fall risk) or send it into decline. The rule arborists use: avoid cutting roots thicker than a couple of inches within a radius of roughly five times the trunk's diameter. If a living tree's roots are wrecking your lawn, the honest answers are mulching over them, raising the bed, or talking to a certified arborist — not grinding. We turn down this work on healthy trees, and you should turn down anyone who doesn't.
If the tree is gone: they're fair game
Roots left behind by a removed or dead tree are just lumber in the ground — and they don't rot fast. Like their parent stumps, dense DFW hardwood roots can sit for the better part of a decade, and the resprouting species will happily push shoots straight from the roots the whole time.
The DIY route
For one modest root: sever it at both ends with a reciprocating saw or axe, then lever it out with a mattock — expect soil-dulled blades and a trench to refill. For roots like the Irving pair in the photo, running the full length of a yard, hand removal becomes a weekend of trenching. A rented grinder can do it, with the usual caveats — here's the honest rent-vs-hire math.
How root grinding works
The same machine that grinds stumps chases roots: we follow each run, grinding it below grade in passes, and the trench backfills with the chips as we go. On that Irving job we ground the stump and chased both roots end to end in a single visit — before and after photos here. The yard went from two hardwood speed bumps to level, seed-ready ground in an afternoon.
Got roots surfacing in your yard? Text a photo — include the tree situation (alive, dead, or long gone) — to (940) 293-2715 and we'll give you a straight answer and a free quote, or tell you honestly if it's an arborist conversation instead.