What do you do when you have a lot of land covered in trees, but you need a lot of land without trees? Well, you hire a land clearing company, of course. If you hire a professional company, they'll come do all of the work for you, and after a few days, you'll be left with the clear lot you desire. However, it can be helpful to have a better understanding of how, exactly, your land clearing company intends to clear the land. There are three common techniques used.
Cut-and-Grind
This is the simplest land clearing method that requires the least equipment. It's generally only used when clearing a small lot because it takes some time and requires more physical labor. If you have a large lot with only a few trees scattered about here and there, land clearing companies may also use the cut-and-grind method. Basically, each tree is addressed individually. It will be felled, often with basic chainsaws, and then fed into a grinder and turned into mulch. If you've asked to have stumps removed, too, they'll be ground down into the mulch. Often, the mulch will be scattered over the land to enrich the soil or left in a pile for you to use as desired. If you let the land clearing company keep it, they may give you a discount as they can sell the mulch or use it on other projects.
Bulldozing
For larger lots, the land clearing company may use a bulldozer to push over trees. This is much faster than the cut-and-grind method, but it has the downside of leaving big craters in the soil as the trees are generally uprooted. There's no separate stump removal to worry about, but you will need to have someone come back through and fill those holes. The land clearing company will generally haul the trees away as logs since there are so many of them. If there are specific trees you want left behind for use as firewood or for other purposes, make sure to designate them beforehand.
Pile-and-Burn
Pile-and-burn is an option if the land clearing company does not have enough equipment to haul off all of the trees. Generally, they will take down the trees using a bulldozer, and sometimes a tractor. The trees will then be placed in piles, and the piles will be lit on fire. This needs to be done by professionals in a very controlled way to prevent the fire from spreading. However, it is an efficient way to clear a lot of land.
Talk to your local land clearing company to get a better idea of what strategies they prefer to use. They may want to see your lot in person before they make a recommendation.
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