We just bought a little place at the lake and it has several trees right up close to the cabin, and one right against it. Several are maple and several are what we were told were locust. If we cut these down how do we get rid of the stumps. We can't afford to have a stump grinder come in. Is there a chemical or something we can put on them to keep them from having suckers grow up from the stump and roots? Also, we are noticing TONS of ants... big and small, red and black... help!! I don't know if you need to know, but we live in the state of Washington

Drill a number of holes, the bigger the better and the more the better in the stumps and pour in copper sulfate, available at hardware stores. Home Depot and probably Lowe's also sell something called stump rot. Same thing.
This kills roots and decay begins.