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minivanmegafun posted:My tiny yard (around 625 sq ft) drains for poo poo, the ground is almost always moist. What should I start with? Core aerator? Does it have anywhere to drain to? If you're in a local depression the best thing you can do is dig a trench and run a drainage pipe out to a lower elevation.
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Apr 26, 2017 01:41
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Does it have anywhere to drain to? If you're in a local depression the best thing you can do is dig a trench and run a drainage pipe out to a lower elevation. I actually do have a couple of outdoor drains into the sewer that are inexplicably in my garden, so that's probably where it should go. Hooray for having a century old home that's grandfathered into dumping storm water into the sanitary sewer, I guess. The challenge is how to get the water in the yard over there.
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Apr 26, 2017 01:46
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Some combination of pumps and gutters and drainage pipes and french drains and so forth. Get a shovel and start digging channels out and arrange things so you can hopefully just one sump pump in one spot where it won't be like pumping right under your bedroom at night, and the water will then all flow downhill via your elaborate miniature aquaduct system into the right hole. e. You might also be able to do with just a "drywell" which is basically a big hole in the ground that you dump your water into. This may or may not be an option depending on what your water table is doing and what the layers of soil are like. http://www.easydigging.com/Drainage/drywell_soakaway.html
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Apr 26, 2017 02:30
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Is your house draining properly? Does the water just have nowhere to go but to your yard? E: late to the posting party.
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Apr 26, 2017 02:55
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House drains into the sewer. House gutters also drain right into the sewer. Nothing from the house itself makes its way into the yard, at least it shouldn't be. For the curious, in old Chicago homes this is more or less by design. There's a little thing in my back yard called a catch basin that holds a bunch of scum until each rainstorm, which then the water from the storm flushes the scum out into the municipal sewer. At least that's my understanding of it.
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Apr 26, 2017 03:07
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wooger posted:That would work - already have a top-down version in the bedroom, but cellular blinds seem crazy expensive here (I'm in the UK). Like £800 -£1000 for all the windows in the bay. I found really cheap top down blinds on Amazon and overstock
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Apr 26, 2017 03:09
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metztli posted:What can anyone tell me about cleaning out a whirlpool/jacuzzi type tub that hasn't been used at all for 2-3 years? Anything in particular to recommend for cleaning out whatever Stygian goo is stuck in the jets? Napalm, especially if the tub's been wet all that time. In all seriousness, I remember a friend of mine got one of these installed, and the installer said that regular enzymatic dish soap would do a pretty thorough de-gunking if the tub went ignored. Fill it up, add soap, and let it run. Follow up with a wash of the regular jetted tub cleaner and probably another one with Oxyclean to get rid of any lingering biology, and you should be good. ( Google says there are "biofilm removers" you should also use, which at first glance look like they'll do the same job as the Oxyclean, maybe-better-maybe-not. )
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Apr 26, 2017 08:16
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metztli posted:What can anyone tell me about cleaning out a whirlpool/jacuzzi type tub that hasn't been used at all for 2-3 years? Anything in particular to recommend for cleaning out whatever Stygian goo is stuck in the jets? After attempting and failing the first time to properly clean out my houses's jacuzzi tub when we moved in, I'll tell you NOT to use: bleach. Or at the very least not as much as we used, because holy gently caress bleach foams up a LOT more than you might think. Like...an absolute poo poo ton. I had no idea it did that. I wish I had a picture of what the bathroom looked like after putting some bleach in the tub and leaving the jets running for a few minutes, but the foam was halfway to the ceiling, and crept out over the tub and totally covered the toilet next to it and was encroaching on the sink.
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Apr 26, 2017 15:51
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How much bleach did you dump in there? The right dose to sanitize a 500 gallon hot tub would be like less than 30 ounces. If I had to clean a disgusting 3 year old hot tub I would probably fill it up with clean water and some specialized cleaner or Cascade dishwasher powder, run it for at least a few hours, drain all the water, and then refill with clean water and follow the process here using bleach and a chlorine test kit: https://www.troublefreepool.com/content/125-slam-shock-level-and-maintain-shockingl Alternatively, hot tubs are a huge pain in the rear end and you should just get rid of it. Edit: and replace the filter between the two refills. Droo fucked around with this message at 16:22 on Apr 26, 2017 |
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Apr 26, 2017 16:12
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Does anyone know if there's a way to get your Nextdoor.com neighborhood absorbed into a larger neighborhood? The idiot who created ours only encompassed about 20 houses (only 8 households have ever signed up), but we are literally surrounded by another neighborhood that encompasses the entire area between the 4 major cross streets. I tried the "adjust your neighborhood boundary" tool but it only lets you absorb houses not yet in a neighborhood, and mine is completely surrounded by red unselectable areas. I sent an email to the "contact us" at Nextdoor months ago but didn't get a response. edit: I wonder if I can delete my neighborhood and somehow contact the neighborhood lead of the surrounding one to add our houses to theirs. Damn Bananas fucked around with this message at 17:15 on Apr 26, 2017 |
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Apr 26, 2017 17:12
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In my experience, nextdoor has only been good for neighbors tattle tailing on people who park illegally, someone pointing out a person in a hoodie walking down the street, or someone complaining about stray cats. I simply watch for the entertainment and occasionally egg on people that are being ridiculous. In short, I get very little actual value out of the app and suggest you not lose much sleep from your neighborhood boundary being messed up
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Apr 26, 2017 17:41
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Are electric propelled mowers any good? I need a mower and I'd prefer to not deal with gas but my yard has a steep incline.
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Apr 27, 2017 03:31
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RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:Are electric propelled mowers any good? I need a mower and I'd prefer to not deal with gas but my yard has a steep incline. Yeah, they're great. Thread was talking about them a few pages ago. I have the corded kind and it practically requires no maintenance at all, and the cord is not an issue unless your lawn is insane. I love not having to mess with gas or oil or batteries E: I misunderstood and thought you meant electric mowers in general. I have no experience with the propelled kind QuarkJets fucked around with this message at 05:09 on Apr 27, 2017 |
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Apr 27, 2017 04:39
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RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:Are electric propelled mowers any good? I need a mower and I'd prefer to not deal with gas but my yard has a steep incline. It sounds like you're concerned about the self-propelled portion helping you up the hill. I'd be concerned about that as well, but I have no experience. They do appear to weigh a bit less though, so that's helpful.
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Apr 27, 2017 04:57
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BeastOfExmoor posted:It sounds like you're concerned about the self-propelled portion helping you up the hill. I'd be concerned about that as well, but I have no experience. They do appear to weigh a bit less though, so that's helpful. Yeah, exactly. I'm looking at one of those Ego deals.
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Apr 27, 2017 12:34
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RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:Yeah, exactly. I'm looking at one of those Ego deals. I have an Ego mower that is not self propelled and its really good. It is well designed and powerful, it runs solidly for over an hour on a single 5 amp hour battery. I also have the backpack leaf blower. My blower manages to consume power at about 3x the rate of the mower. Based off that, I would say the mower should easily have the extra power available to have a useful self propel system. As a note, I have the rapid charger and two of the 5 amp hour batteries and with that I can use any of my ego tools almost indefinitely. The blower at really high speeds discharges faster than than I can charge, but not a ton. I can get about 80%+ charged before I drain the second battery assuming I have the blower maxed out continuously. In practice, I have never once had to wait to for a battery to charge.
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Apr 27, 2017 13:55
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When I bought my Ego, I wondered if I should pony up for the self-propelled version (which also would have entailed a lot more searching around the city for one), and ultimately picked the non-self-propelled one. I have been nothing but happy with it, though my yard also doesn't have much in the way of hills anymore. I've never had issues with an Ego battery running out on me.
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Apr 27, 2017 14:16
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Droo posted:How much bleach did you dump in there? The right dose to sanitize a 500 gallon hot tub would be like less than 30 ounces. Not a clue,. but obviously too much. My GF poured it in. I watched her, but we weren't measuring or anything. It didn't seem like, that much. If I had to guess at the time, Id say a cup or less..I did the math for what the ratio would be going by your 30 ounces for 500 gallons, and a cup would be maybe twice as much as we should have used. Moot point anyway, no matter what we do (we've tried some other products) the jets/vents/inlets will not get clean. Not even just the interior, but the vents/jets have little gaps between them and the tub wall, and so much loving mildew builds up in there. I use the 'massage' setting on the shower head and blast it out of there every few days. It's pretty nasty...I should take a video of it. Obviously a bad install job by the former owner like literally everyone else in my bathroom...maybe there should be caulk between them? I would think a jacuzzi tub comes "ready to go", as far as in actual interior of the tub portion goes, but maybe not?
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Apr 27, 2017 14:17
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The tub should install like a regular tub except for wiring it. (You should also include a maintenance panel to the mechanicals but that is irrelevant to gunk)
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Apr 27, 2017 14:35
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Elephanthead posted:The tub should install like a regular tub except for wiring it. (You should also include a maintenance panel to the mechanicals but that is irrelevant to gunk) Fun fact: The previous homeowner decided to put some cheap-rear end wainscoting and trim board over the entire outside of the tub so I can't actually access the internals (at least not without taking it all off...which I really should do.) I posted an album a couple pages back of my poo poo bathroom, but can't recall if there's a picture of the tub in there or not. (fake edit: Yup  )I guess there's no answer for why gunk builds up, then, other then he probably just cheaped out and got some low-level contractor grade tub or something. A couple of the larger vent covers also never stay in place. I put them on, turn then a quarter-turn to, in theory, lock them in place, but they fall right back out.
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Apr 27, 2017 16:16
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The mildew is showing up because water is hanging around for a while. You could try running the bathroom vent for a while after using the tub, or put in a dehumidifier or something.
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Apr 27, 2017 16:22
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DrBouvenstein posted:the vents/jets have little gaps between them and the tub wall, I'm going to give you a hint as to why there is mildew everywhere. You need to gain access to the interior of that tub if you ever hope to have it clean. I bet there are little puddles of murky water hanging out under your tub.
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Apr 27, 2017 17:38
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H110Hawk posted:I'm going to give you a hint as to why there is mildew everywhere. You need to gain access to the interior of that tub if you ever hope to have it clean. I bet there are little puddles of murky water hanging out under your tub. I guess what I wrote wasn't clear. I know that the little gaps are trapping moisture and making mildew, what I'm unclear on is why those gaps exist in the first place. At first I thought that it was installed wrong and the vent/jet covers were put on wrong, or not caulked when they should have been...but in theory, if the tub install is just "drop in place, hook up plumbing and electrical" then there's no reason for these vent covers to be loose and coming off of the tub wall, other than it's just a cheap-rear end tub.
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Apr 27, 2017 21:21
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Your bathroom is legit making me feel sorry for you.
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Apr 28, 2017 06:08
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I am pretty sure the tub vents are removable and they are not meant to keep the water in the tub. The tub and the jet piping are sealed together. The vent just pops in there to let you aim the current. Now the jet piping on some tubs is always full of water so you want to clean it out by using it and filling it with new dirty water. The fancy ones are designed so they drain back out the water inlet and have pipes filled with silver or something else that makes microbes die. Whatever the cause mildew is only stopped by depriving it of water.
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Apr 28, 2017 18:41
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RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:Yeah, exactly. I'm looking at one of those Ego deals. I wouldn't expect much out of self-propelled on hills. I have a gas self-propelled and it is useless going up hills. I'm kind of curious to try a higher end gas model to see if that helps though. Looks like Home Depot carries that Ego mower in stores though, so I don't see the harm in buying it to try and return if it sucks.
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Apr 28, 2017 21:37
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BeastOfExmoor posted:I wouldn't expect much out of self-propelled on hills. I have a gas self-propelled and it is useless going up hills. I'm kind of curious to try a higher end gas model to see if that helps though. Looks like Home Depot carries that Ego mower in stores though, so I don't see the harm in buying it to try and return if it sucks. Is yours rear wheel drive? Front wheel drive is useless on hills, and most marketing material recommends rear wheel drive for hilly terrain. My rear wheel drive Toro works fine on hills.
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Apr 28, 2017 23:27
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BeastOfExmoor posted:I wouldn't expect much out of self-propelled on hills. I have a gas self-propelled and it is useless going up hills. I'm kind of curious to try a higher end gas model to see if that helps though. Looks like Home Depot carries that Ego mower in stores though, so I don't see the harm in buying it to try and return if it sucks. Yeah the manual is full of dire warnings that I'm gonna cut my foot off if I try it on steep inclines. I'm probably just going to pick up a string trimmer for the hills I guess. I probably need one anyway.
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Apr 29, 2017 04:41
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RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:Yeah the manual is full of dire warnings that I'm gonna cut my foot off if I try it on steep inclines. I'm probably just going to pick up a string trimmer for the hills I guess. I probably need one anyway. You can also rent goats. I thought you were supposed to mow across inclines so that when the mower goes toppling down it doesn't mow you as well?
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Apr 29, 2017 15:28
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H110Hawk posted:You can also rent goats. I thought you were supposed to mow across inclines so that when the mower goes toppling down it doesn't mow you as well? They say don't try it if the grade is steeper than 15 degrees and it's more like 45 degrees.
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Apr 29, 2017 16:27
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couldcareless posted:In my experience, nextdoor has only been good for neighbors tattle tailing on people who park illegally, someone pointing out a person in a hoodie walking down the street, or someone complaining about stray cats. I simply watch for the entertainment and occasionally egg on people that are being ridiculous.
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Apr 29, 2017 17:01
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RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:They say don't try it if the grade is steeper than 15 degrees and it's more like 45 degrees. If it's actually a 45 degree grade it's sketchy even with a commercial mower. A string trimmer and some practice is definitely going to be a better plan unless we're talking about a slope measured in acres.
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Apr 30, 2017 14:21
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I use my 21 in push mower to mow the 45 degree area of my yard. I had a self-propelled as a teenager when the yard was flat. I don't think a self-propelled would make it without grinding ruts, and I don't want the extra weight of the drive system. My manual also says not to attempt anything over 15 degrees. gently caress 'em.
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Apr 30, 2017 17:32
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My driveway has a switchback, so I'm rather familiar with hill mowing. I've had great luck with the Toro AWD mower getting excellent traction, plus its motor doesn't need the oil changed which is nice.
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Apr 30, 2017 18:25
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I used to mow a ditch with about a 45 degree angle on my riding mower and usually only had to hop off and keep it righted once or twice per pass lol
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Apr 30, 2017 19:25
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If you guys haven't actually measured the angle of your slope, how do you know it's 45 degrees? Because that's very, very steep. Steep enough that your knees tend to buckle trying to walk down it. Just as an example, Lombard street in San Francisco has switchbacks because otherwise it'd be 27% grade which is too steep for vehicles. A 27% grade is a 15 degree slope. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 20:01 on Apr 30, 2017 |
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Apr 30, 2017 19:59
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Leperflesh posted:If you guys haven't actually measured the angle of your slope, how do you know it's 45 degrees? Because that's very, very steep. Steep enough that your knees tend to buckle trying to walk down it. I don't. I just eyeballed it. Anyway, I found it's not uniform and there is part I can do with the propelled mower and part I really just need to use a string trimmer on. There's an even steeper (but mercifully smaller) hill elsewhere and the earth slid under my foot and I fell down while I was trimming it with the string trimmer, providing a vivid illustration of why the mower instruction manual says not to operate the mower on such a steep hill. lol
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Apr 30, 2017 22:59
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Leperflesh posted:If you guys haven't actually measured the angle of your slope, how do you know it's 45 degrees? Because that's very, very steep. Steep enough that your knees tend to buckle trying to walk down it. Yeah, I'm pretty sure none of these folks are mowing a 45 degree slope and are just badly eyeballing it. Trying to move any kind of equipment on a 20-30% slope is tricky. A 45 degree slope is 100% grade, which would be nigh impossible. Maybe if it's only one mower deck width or something.
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May 1, 2017 02:25
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Stand at top of grade, tie rope to mower handle, lower and pull back up. Repeat as necessary. This is a mowing tip provided by stumpy the one handed mower expert.
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May 2, 2017 15:02
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Speaking of Mowers, I just discovered that plug in electric mowers are a thing. My yard is pretty small and I have a plenty long heavy duty extension cord. How do they compare to gas?
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May 2, 2017 17:00
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