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Zanthia posted:This is a joke, right? There is no way someone could be talked into paying $9k for a small section of flat rocks.
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Jun 19, 2016 21:25
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fairfield county CT This is where rich NY City jerks move too. Things be pricey. Those stones look flat and nicely spaced. Good stuff.
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Jun 19, 2016 21:42
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SiGmA_X posted:That's what I thought when I read it too. That's crazy expensive. Elephanthead posted:fairfield county CT Yes and yes, also I'm really happy with the quality but now I need to landscape it correctly.
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Jun 19, 2016 22:41
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I dunno if I should do an A/T , if this is the right place or should I post somewhere else, but anyways... Six months post home purchase and the on-demand tankless electric water heater is not so on-demand anymore. Was supremely difficult to find a plumber that dealt in this kind of work. He finds the heater and has a list of issues. One the heater is in the attic, which is problematic in Maryland since it gets cold enough for pipes to bust. Second, the heater is totally inaccessible. It's basically mounted the other side of a air duct and on the other side of a vertical piece of plywood that is facing towards the down sloping roof. (A second plumber could literally not fit in the space to access it.) The house has been remodeled and the plumber speculates that the previous owner (who is a home contractor and likely did the work himself if he did not hire a contractor) installed the tankless heater when the ceiling was not in place and put the ceiling up after the fact, basically sealing in the heater into an inaccessible area. Third third thing was the plumber said this looked like an electrical issue and not a plumbing issue since its generating hot water (at times). The lights also are flickering when the tankless is engaged so the circuitry is probably wrong. The plumber said at a minimum they would have to cut a hole in the ceiling of the bathroom to do any work and that really the tankless needs to be relocated to ensure its serviceability, otherwise I'd be remodeling my bathroom anytime it fucks up and needs work. He's talking moving it into my bedroom and constructing a closet over it. None of that remodel work would be warrantied and just sounds lovely as I like my house how it is. He said the home inspector should have caught this so perhaps take it up with them, or find the contractor that did the work and take it up with them. The inspection report basically as a clause saying they are not responsible if they don't find something so I dunno if that's an option. I'm not sure what accountability I could assign to the previous home owner/contractor, even if he did the work. The plumber said this work would have required a permit and there's no way this would meet code. Not sure how to leverage that and if I try that at a minimum I'll be stuck myself having to bring the plumbing up to code. So, basically I don't know what my options are here and how to proceed. I've reached out to the realtor I bought the house from but she's not responding. I was going to call the water company and check for a permit, but if there isn't one I not sure what I should be prepared for next. Suggestions welcomed.
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Jun 19, 2016 23:47
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Put some molding around the hole and stick a ceiling tile in it? Or crack open the hot water on one of the faucets and wait for the house to burn down.
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Jun 20, 2016 00:05
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Rip Testes posted:So, basically I don't know what my options are here and how to proceed. I've reached out to the realtor I bought the house from but she's not responding. I was going to call the water company and check for a permit, but if there isn't one I not sure what I should be prepared for next. Suggestions welcomed. Is that the only water heater in the house, or is it an extra one for the master bedroom? If it's an extra water heater for the bedroom I would just get rid of it. If it's the only one for the house, I would be looking at simpler options to install a typical tank water heater in a less stupid location, like the basement or garage. Does it look like there was an old water heater installed somewhere else at some point? You might see some unused pipe stubs, or a heat vent with nothing attached to it. You might be able to just un-retrofit whatever the previous owner did and get a standard setup back without spending too much.
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Jun 20, 2016 00:57
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Yeah, you're pretty much dicked on the water heater. Only person who's going to shoulder any financial responsibility in this matter is you. Plan A would be just installing a maintenance hatch over the tankless heater rather than sealing it back up, which kind of seems like the optimal solution. Plan B would be to install a cheap typical tanked water heater in a better location. Water heaters have a finite lifespan and if you're already up to the wazoo just trying to access what could potentially be a faulty unit, maybe just pick up a cheap reliable tank unit? Just my two cents... Speaking of costly stuff, anybody built either a deck or privacy fence lately? I'm looking at doing both, with a basic 12x20 elevated deck and a few sections of privacy fencing, and was curious to see what it's cost other people to get some starting point in planning everything. I'll probably be DIYing both, and I was thinking it would be a good idea to get vinyl fencing and artificial decking for durability.
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Jun 20, 2016 02:59
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Droo posted:Is that the only water heater in the house, or is it an extra one for the master bedroom? It's actually a dual system. Standard gas water heater in the basement controlling the lower bathroom and kitchen, the tankless controls the master and guest bath. The master bath and bedroom sit above the garage, maybe there's a way to reroute that thing there. OSU_Matthew posted:Yeah, you're pretty much dicked on the water heater. Only person who's going to shoulder any financial responsibility in this matter is you. Yeah, I figured I'm like screwed on the repairs and to just accept and get on with it. Definitely considered Plan A.
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Jun 20, 2016 04:17
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I fixed a screen door today that has been coming off the track and just needed the bottom wheels adjusted, small victory but darn if it doesn't feel good to fix things myself 
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Jun 20, 2016 05:33
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Rip Testes posted:It's actually a dual system. Standard gas water heater in the basement controlling the lower bathroom and kitchen, the tankless controls the master and guest bath. The master bath and bedroom sit above the garage, maybe there's a way to reroute that thing there. They make access panels that don't look like complete poo poo too.
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Jun 20, 2016 06:21
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OSU_Matthew posted:Speaking of costly stuff, anybody built either a deck or privacy fence lately? I'm looking at doing both, with a basic 12x20 elevated deck and a few sections of privacy fencing, and was curious to see what it's cost other people to get some starting point in planning everything. I'll probably be DIYing both, and I was thinking it would be a good idea to get vinyl fencing and artificial decking for durability. I'm working with one of my friends to see about modifying my existing deck and putting a roof over it. I did put up a 4ft privacy fence last year, because the HOA won't let it go higher. I have a weird shaped, quarter acre lot and ended up paying around 3700 bucks for the 4ft fence with two 5 ft gates. If I had done shadowbox style, it would've cost me another 600 or so.
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Jun 20, 2016 14:48
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No Butt Stuff posted:I'm working with one of my friends to see about modifying my existing deck and putting a roof over it. Thanks! I'm just looking to do a few small impactful sections where I've already dug out and ripped out the previous chain link fence, about 86 feet worth. I saw this vinyl fence at Lowes for ~7$ a linear foot, but then the posts and hardware drive it up to ~12$ a linear foot. This is assuming I'm doing all the work... Does that sound about right for a budget vinyl privacy fence?
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Jun 20, 2016 16:15
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Hard to say. I'd be careful doing your own fence, because if your lot isn't perfectly flat, it can look like absolute dogshit if you don't plan it out and execute pretty well.
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Jun 20, 2016 16:58
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No Butt Stuff posted:Hard to say. I'd be careful doing your own fence, because if your lot isn't perfectly flat, it can look like absolute dogshit if you don't plan it out and execute pretty well.
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Jun 20, 2016 19:38
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That's fair. It was outside my comfort zone.
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Jun 20, 2016 19:40
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It was 112 at my house yesterday and my dumb rear end had to rent a sod cutter and tear up a chunk of my lawn for a new planter because I forgot the concrete contractor was coming by this week to lay a mow curb and he charges extra to rip up the grass. On the plus side I've rented tools from home depot so much now that I'm on their premier club and only have to pay $1 deposit. 
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Jun 21, 2016 01:21
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I have a pretty steep front yard: I am tired of using a push mower and am looking into getting a second hand riding mower. Given that the entire lot is a hill, are there any things I need to consider when buying a riding mower? Minimum cut width, maximum cut width, minimum engine size? I have seen a few Cub Cadet LT 1045's come up on Craigslist that are in my price range - would something like that be adequate?
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Jun 21, 2016 15:02
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I'm going to be an rear end in a top hat and piggyback here even though I've already asked in another thread. Any good sites/recommendations for lawn tractors? I have a hilly 3 acre lawn and the beater 1991 Simplicity I've been using finally died. I'm currently looking between a Husquavara GT52XLS and John Deere x380 (or possibly x580). If money were no object, I'd go John Deere. However, since money is an object, I'm leaning toward the Husquavara which is about 1/3 less than the JD x380 and over half of an x580. In regards to Cub Cadet, according to Consumer Reports, the current models are not very reliable: quote:John Deere is more reliable than the majority of other lawn tractor brands, whereas Cub Cadet tractors are more failure-prone and cannot be recommended by Consumer Reports at this time. Is the picture the extend of your lawn? About how many acres total?
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Jun 21, 2016 17:44
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Cheesus posted:In regards to Cub Cadet, according to Consumer Reports, the current models are not very reliable: The models I am looking at are all from the 2005 - 2009-ish era, and seem to have pretty good reviews online. The picture is the extent of the lawn - there is some back yard but because of the number of trees and shade it does not require mowing. The total acreage requiring mowing is less than 0.2 acres, which is small, but because of the hill it takes me about 40 minutes and quite a lot of effort to mow with a push mower.
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Jun 21, 2016 19:35
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Have you considered a self-propelled push mower? Your lawn is sloped but it really isn't all that huge. If your "push" mower had driven wheels, so you're not having to shove it uphill, would that be good enough? You can get a decent one for $400-$600ish, depending on features and it'll be a lot easier to store. Example: a $600 Honda with free shipping from Home Depot: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Honda-21-in-Variable-Speed-Self-Propelled-4-in-1-Lawn-Mower-with-Select-Drive-Control-HRX217K5VKA/205494644 I only mention it because a riding mower is totally overkill for .2 acres of lawn. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 19:50 on Jun 21, 2016 |
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Jun 21, 2016 19:45
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Leperflesh posted:I only mention it because a riding mower is totally overkill for .2 acres of lawn. Yes. It's a lawn mower guys, you're not buying a Ferrari.
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Jun 21, 2016 20:01
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VendaGoat posted:Yes. I dunno, you could always start getting into lawn mower drag racing. Would keep you from having to buy a second mower.
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Jun 21, 2016 20:04
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I have a Toro smart-stow mower that was like 300 bucks for my .28 acre lawn. It's self-propelled. I *could* do a riding mower, but I can mow the whole lawn in like 45 minutes with this thing so why bother.
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Jun 21, 2016 20:48
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Lawnmower robot! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f-4J98EWrI
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Jun 22, 2016 04:33
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if you have too much lawn to cover with a 20" reel lower you have too much lawn, plant wildflowers.
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Jun 22, 2016 04:37
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Or if you're in California, you should plant more seasonal crops, like rocks
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Jun 22, 2016 04:54
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minivanmegafun posted:if you have too much lawn to cover with a 20" reel lower you have too much lawn, plant wildflowers. I'm all for meadow propagation but you do need to maintain them with the occasional mow, usually 1-2 times per season. Otherwise, depending on where you live, you'll eventually get forest succession. Also, getting a successful meadow going does take a fair amount of time and know how. It's not quite as simple as "plant wildflowers". If you have acres and acres of lawn, yes, get rid of it. But that's not practical for everyone or every property. For example, the guy asking about the Cub Cadet has a fairly small yard with neighbors who will likely not be on board with a non-traditional lawn. This means you'll end up with a lot of "edge" and not a lot of solid wildflower/meadow. That means more weeds, more invasives, and less effective habitat. A small, maintained pollinator garden might be a better idea than trying to turn the whole yard into wildflowers.
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Jun 22, 2016 13:01
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I have a fat neighbor who has a small lawn and a riding lawnmower and I have a hard time not chuckling to myself when I see him on it. If you are healthy and your lawn only takes 40 minutes, save your money and get the exercise.
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Jun 23, 2016 15:18
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No Butt Stuff posted:I have a Toro smart-stow mower that was like 300 bucks for my .28 acre lawn. It's self-propelled. I *could* do a riding mower, but I can mow the whole lawn in like 45 minutes with this thing so why bother. I have a lawn about the size of yours, and I just bought a 40-volt battery-powered mower from Ryobi and it works awesome. I had to get one of the "high capacity" batteries (5 amp vs. the 1.8 amp my blower/trimmer came with) but after finishing the yard it still has about 20% battery life left and I drain the rest with my trimmer. No gas to buy/store, no oil to change, and it's light and makes so little noise some of my neighbors stop and ask me what it is all the time.
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Jun 23, 2016 17:44
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When this mower dies in another couple years, I will probably be making the switch. I'm always nervous about the battery life, but I figure it's gotten to the point now that it's gonna work out alright.
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Jun 23, 2016 17:49
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Celador posted:I have a lawn about the size of yours, and I just bought a 40-volt battery-powered mower from Ryobi and it works awesome. I had to get one of the "high capacity" batteries (5 amp vs. the 1.8 amp my blower/trimmer came with) but after finishing the yard it still has about 20% battery life left and I drain the rest with my trimmer. No gas to buy/store, no oil to change, and it's light and makes so little noise some of my neighbors stop and ask me what it is all the time. I got one that actually plugs in to mow my tiny yard with. I probably look ridiculous dragging an extension cord behind me back and forth across the lawn but nice to not even have to worry about charging it or (someday) replacing the battery after it can't hold enough charge.
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Jun 23, 2016 18:18
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My lawn mower is a plugin, and my trimmer is a Ryobi hybrid - I can run it off a battery pack or plug it in. I got an extra large battery for it anyway because the small one it came with isn't enough to do my front + back. Also my "lawn" is now about 80% weeds, but I just mow it down anyway and let it die all summer because I'm in California. Sooner or later I'm going to take advantage of the incentives offered by the local water district + the state to replace the "lawn" with native plants anyway. I just have other more urgent home improvement projects to get to first.
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Jun 23, 2016 18:23
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I repurposed a personal helicopter into a lawn mower. Five minutes and I'm done with 2 acres.
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Jun 23, 2016 18:40
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Jose Cuervo posted:I have a pretty steep front yard: Your time savings with a riding mower on a yard that size will be very minimal, if you save any time at all without taking longer. Most cheap riding mowers (meaning not pro stuff) have pretty lovely swath widths of like 42", plus a large turning radius. When you factor in the fact that you're only cutting 2x as much per run, then the time going over areas you've already mowed in order to turn around, doubling back, going in-out-in on smaller/narrow areas, you may full well take longer. My lawn is ~.21 acres according to google earth and ~50 minutes to mow (with a gas push mower) is my norm. If you want to get done faster, why not try walking faster? Unless you've got some kind of health problem, you're doing it probably the fastest and best it could really be done anyways. Have you sharpened your mower blades or gotten new ones? Good blades can help your mower work less hard, meaning you can go faster. So math-wise it takes you 40 minutes at present with a presumably 21" wide mower. So you figure ok my riding mower mows 2x as much at a time, so you think it'll only take 20 minutes. Well you have to spend a lot more time turning and driving it into corners and stuff, so add like 5 minutes? So congrats: you spend how many hundreds of dollars to save probably less than 15 minutes a week. Also your new mower will break all the time, blades cost more, you'll have to buy new tires periodically since they're not solid plastic+rubber, and every time anything breaks (which stuff absolutely will, since consumer riding mowers are cheap garbage) it'll run you like $100 to fix. And 15 minutes of time savings is with a large, open yard like you showed. If you need to skirt flowerbeds or trees you'll probably mow slower. If you're mowing less than like a solid acre+, just use a push or maybe self-propelled mower. If you just don't like mowing the lawn, I suggest drinking beer before/during/after mowing. Uncle Enzo fucked around with this message at 19:30 on Jun 23, 2016 |
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Jun 23, 2016 19:23
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novamute posted:I got one that actually plugs in to mow my tiny yard with. I probably look ridiculous dragging an extension cord behind me back and forth across the lawn but nice to not even have to worry about charging it or (someday) replacing the battery after it can't hold enough charge. I was so happy that my corded mower took a poo poo earlier this year so I could replace it with a gas mower.
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Jun 23, 2016 21:11
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I'm on a crusade to rid myself of all combustion engine lawn tools. Battery and plug in for life.
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Jun 23, 2016 22:43
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VendaGoat posted:I repurposed a personal helicopter into a lawn mower. Five minutes and I'm done with 2 acres. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3D4FN5cdZk Re: lawnmower chat, I knew a guy who used to run a landscaping crew who suggested that the best buy for homeowner lawn mowers is a used commercial unit. The commercial outfits replace their stuff pretty regularly, mowers designed to run 8 hours a day 6 days a week usually have parts and service available for a much longer service life than a $300 Craftsman mower that gets discontinued/refreshed every 18 months. I don't have a lawn right now so I have no idea if he is full of crap.
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Jun 23, 2016 23:49
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canyoneer posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3D4FN5cdZk The few landscappers I've known ran their stuff until it can't be fixed. Maintenance is suspect as well. They were small outfits. Crew of 4-5 guys. Maybe the large ones who specialize on commercial properties are a bit different.
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Jun 24, 2016 00:42
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Andy Dufresne posted:I was so happy that my corded mower took a poo poo earlier this year so I could replace it with a gas mower. Why would you ever want to switch to a gas mower? They're messier, heavier, and stinkier. And when you're done mowing BAM, get out the electric weed whacker and put it on the same cord Corded mower 4 life
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Jun 24, 2016 05:21
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QuarkJets posted:Why would you ever want to switch to a gas mower? They're messier, heavier, and stinkier. And when you're done mowing BAM, get out the electric weed whacker and put it on the same cord They're simpler, lighter, and those hydrocarbons smell so good. Also I don't have to drag a drat cord around. Who wants to drag around a cord? My yard is a bit smaller but the $100 home depot special works just fine. As long as you sharpen the blades and change the oil once in a while it last forever. If you really feel the need to get a ride on mower for that barely slanted suburban yard, just get a lawn service. It'll be cheaper and easier.
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Jun 24, 2016 13:27
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