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Etrips posted:Are there any good landscaping resources? Thinking of tearing up a major portion of our land (6-8acres) since there is a lot of unevenness to the point where we can't even use our ZTM. We think this was originally a cow pasture that tried to convert to a horse pasture but never really finished. 6-8acre is a little beyond landscaping! Seems like you would need to till it to break up all the top soil and then roll it (or maybe drag a chain curtain?) To level it. You could also make yourself a leveling trailer, but I am guessing that would involve some welding of angle / tube steel since the PVC approach isn't going to last over that area. Alternatively, if it's just ruts then fill them in with coarse sand.
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Jun 13, 2018 15:42
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You should be able to borrow a tractor and disc harrow and go to town. Maybe have to plow it up first. Personally, I would bulldoze it perfectly level or smooth if you can borrow a big one.
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Jun 13, 2018 18:28
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Elephanthead posted:You should be able to borrow a tractor and disc harrow and go to town. Maybe have to plow it up first. Personally, I would bulldoze it perfectly level or smooth if you can borrow a big one. Already have a tractor on the way within the next couple of weeks. Buuut need to take care of some land clearing first since we're going to end up with a fairly large burn pile. Hubis posted:Alternatively, if it's just ruts then fill them in with coarse sand. The field is also filled with immature unwanted saplings, so I think going through and clearing most of everything and leveling it and reseeding is the way we are going to want to go. Still looking into it and what our options are. Etrips fucked around with this message at 20:02 on Jun 13, 2018 |
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Jun 13, 2018 20:00
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Finally made an appointment with the local code enforcement guy to come out and take a look at what all I want to do on the exterior so I make sure I don't run afoul of the man  Right now I've got a retaining wall torn halfway out since it was crumbling and I wanted to widen the driveway up to the house so I can get a concrete driveway poured. Currently it's a hundred year old alley vacated by the city, so it's got this lovely river gravel that just tends to accumulate soil and weeds, and it's not really maintainable or all that useful. I'm also looking to tear out a chain link fence and install a privacy fence in its place, and possible build a tool storage shed in the backyard alongside my detached garage. The driveway is my biggest concern, because when the alley was vacated by the city, it was split between my house and the one next door. However, because I have a detached garage behind the house, I have an easement on the alleyway, so I'm not sure what all I'll be able to do. I think the plan at this point is to rent a skid steer and finish demoing and digging out the retaining wall and prep the driveway for a crushed limestone base, and use it to help lift out the old fence posts. I'm still far enough out from everything that I think I've got a general grasp on what all needs to happen, but I'm sure I'll have a ton of questions once I get started on stuff. Anyone here ever do anything along these lines? If so, would you have any general advice? I'm particularly curious about get getting the concrete driveway poured, like if would be better for me to prep for it with digging and a gravel base, or whether it would be better (or not that much more costly) to just find someone to do it all. Thanks in advance!
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Jun 13, 2018 23:17
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OSU_Matthew posted:I'm particularly curious about get getting the concrete driveway poured, like if would be better for me to prep for it with digging and a gravel base, or whether it would be better (or not that much more costly) to just find someone to do it all. Do you have any experience operating a skid steer for digging/leveling and have or can get access to a transit? If not, hire it out. If you dig too deep you are either going to run out of stone or need to compact soil again, which is not gonna happen effectively with a skid steer alone (you can kinda do it if you have enough weight in the bucket). If you don't dig level things will go poorly, etc.
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Jun 14, 2018 10:10
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Etrips posted:Are there any good landscaping resources? Thinking of tearing up a major portion of our land (6-8acres) since there is a lot of unevenness to the point where we can't even use our ZTM. We think this was originally a cow pasture that tried to convert to a horse pasture but never really finished. Are you seriously thinking about mowing 6-8 acres with a zero turn on a regular basis? That's insane. What you're talking about is more in the realm of agriculture or earthmoving (if you really want it super flat). What's your long term plan with this field, and what region are you in? If I were you I'd shoot for a nice wildflower meadow that you chop down once a year. You'd get an amazing amount of birds and other wildlife in there. I was just speaking with a landowner who I convinced to turn about two acres from lawn into meadow. Their neighbor hated it at first, until all the fireflies came back in the summer time and put on a lightshow every night.
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Jun 14, 2018 13:29
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Hubis posted:6-8acre is a little beyond landscaping! Seems like you would need to till it to break up all the top soil and then roll it (or maybe drag a chain curtain?) To level it. You could also make yourself a leveling trailer, but I am guessing that would involve some welding of angle / tube steel since the PVC approach isn't going to last over that area. And here I am bitching about my small 9k sqft lawn. I can barely find time to landscape what I want to do with all the other projects to do. Oh, and those drat moles. I couldn't imagine trying to deal with acreage. Get me some of that flat grassy farmland if there is any, and a nice riding lawn mower. Speaking of farm fields, I hear you can get really good deals on grass seed by getting the seed farmers use for pasture if you are looking to get a ton of grass growing after uh, tearing apart your 6-8 acres.
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Jun 14, 2018 14:19
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GarethOmni posted:And here I am bitching about my small 9k sqft lawn. I can barely find time to landscape what I want to do with all the other projects to do. Oh, and those drat moles. Because the edge of my yard is now woods and prairie rather than landscaped edges/fences plus I use a riding mower, it takes me about the same time to cut and weed whacker my 1.25 acre yard as it did to cut my previous 1/4 acre. I can't imagine having 6-8 acres of grass though. Turn it into some sort of natural landscape or an orchard or something. What is the point of that much grass?
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Jun 14, 2018 14:40
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Maybe he wants to hold football or soccer tournaments in his backyard. If I did my math right, that's enough for at least 4 football fields.
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Jun 14, 2018 15:05
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Bird in a Blender posted:Maybe he wants to hold football or soccer tournaments in his backyard. If I did my math right, that's enough for at least 4 football fields. And if he does this is out of what I would consider ZTR range.....if you want the grass to look decent you'll be at 2.5 acres/hr. I'd be looking at something more like a 22+ HP tractor with a PTO mount swing deck finishing mower.
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Jun 14, 2018 15:12
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LogisticEarth posted:Are you seriously thinking about mowing 6-8 acres with a zero turn on a regular basis? That's insane. Well the ZTM was originally for the short-term plan until we were able to source a tractor suitable for our needs for a good price. Even had the land bush hogged twice to try and get the saplings and overgrowth to a manageable level for the time being. However, the landscape is just too uneven and we end up tearing up the land and blades. The long-term plan for the land is for a horse pasture(s) for the wifey. We already have fireflies come out at night! Could have sworn I took a video, but I will have to take one tonight. Living and growing up in the city it sure is a serene and calming experience. Motronic posted:And if he does this is out of what I would consider ZTR range.....if you want the grass to look decent you'll be at 2.5 acres/hr. I'd be looking at something more like a 22+ HP tractor with a PTO mount swing deck finishing mower. Will still use the ZTM for the front yard area/driveway/drainfield.
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Jun 14, 2018 17:11
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Oh you’re horse people.
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Jun 14, 2018 17:28
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Motronic posted:Do you have any experience operating a skid steer for digging/leveling and have or can get access to a transit? If not, hire it out. I've got experience operating a variety of farm equipment growing up, so looking at the operations videos I'm assuming it shouldn't be too dissimilar. Plus I figured I could tie a chain to the bucket and use it to help rip out the old fence posts since it was a huge pain in the butt to dig out several of them by hand (even with the assistance of a truck winch). Plus I still need to demo some of the retaining wall blocks at ground level, so it's not just a straight install for the driveway (I would assume). The area is small enough I was just planning on either picking up a hand tamper or renting a powered one to compact the soil and gravel.
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Jun 14, 2018 17:40
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HEY NONG MAN posted:Oh, your wife is horse people. 
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Jun 14, 2018 18:06
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Etrips posted:Well the ZTM was originally for the short-term plan until we were able to source a tractor suitable for our needs for a good price. Even had the land bush hogged twice to try and get the saplings and overgrowth to a manageable level for the time being. However, the landscape is just too uneven and we end up tearing up the land and blades. Oh yeah you're the horse guy. If you want to establish pasture, then first off, you want to take some time and identify what weeds you have growing in there, and a plan to knock them out in the process of renovating the pasture. This will probably involve tillage and/or a bunch of herbicide, the former of which would help your rut problem. You may also want to look into soil compaction issues, if it was a heavily used by the previous owners. Because you're shooting for pasture, I would contact your local ag extension or conservation district and see what they would recommend, not a landscaper. If you go tearing up and regrading acres of land with a bulldozer you could also run into permitting issues with erosion and sedimentation regs. Agricultural operations generally have a much looser leash.
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Jun 14, 2018 18:08
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Rent a herd of goats and that 6 acres will be dirt in a month and you will have a bunch of tasty fat goats.
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Jun 16, 2018 15:52
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Elephanthead posted:Rent a herd of goats and that 6 acres will be dirt in a month and you will have a bunch of tasty fat goats. gently caress yeah this poster is smart, definitely do this In case you were wondering, don't eat the goats, they are now your family. Goats rule
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Jun 17, 2018 00:28
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QuarkJets posted:gently caress yeah this poster is smart, definitely do this Tell your wife they are horses, problem solved
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Jun 17, 2018 01:56
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Elephanthead posted:Rent a herd of goats and that 6 acres will be dirt in a month and you will have a bunch of tasty fat goats. She was actually entertaining the idea of renting goats as a more natural way to get rid of the underbrush that were looking to clear out. Buuuut, tractor sounds tons more fun.
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Jun 17, 2018 01:58
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Why would you rent goats when you can own goats? Renting goats seems about as bad of an idea as renting a water heater or renting your roof
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Jun 17, 2018 02:30
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QuarkJets posted:Why would you rent goats when you can own goats? Renting goats seems about as bad of an idea as renting a water heater or renting your roof 
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Jun 17, 2018 03:12
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Just lol if u guys own your rooves
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Jun 17, 2018 05:35
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QuarkJets posted:Why would you rent goats when you can own goats? Renting goats seems about as bad of an idea as renting a water heater or renting your roof Hence why were clearing the land through machinery.
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Jun 17, 2018 12:46
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I think the theory is you get more goats then the acerage can sustain so they eat the roots. You can take the extras to auction but I don't think the profit is worth it when you can just pay some guy with a goat trailer $100 to bring his goats over. I mean I guess if you are horse people you have that stuff anyway and just start buying all of them up at the sale barn until the ground is clear then start selling them off.
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Jun 17, 2018 13:40
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Etrips posted:Hence why were clearing the land through machinery. But the goats will do that for you!
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Jun 17, 2018 19:32
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QuarkJets posted:But the goats will do that for you! The only problem with that idea is we need to clear the land in order to put up the fencing we want. And putting up temporary fencing is pretty  Though further down the line I think it would be cool to have a couple of pygmy goats 
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Jun 17, 2018 20:20
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QuarkJets posted:But the goats will do that for you! Plus you now have something to grill! Win^2
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Jun 17, 2018 21:41
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Potrzebie posted:Plus you now have something to grill! Win^2 Uh okay I guess you could grill the various birds that follow the goats around, but I don't know if that's the best idea they're probably not going to taste good
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Jun 17, 2018 23:38
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So who do I call if I need a new dryer vent/dryer vent rerouted? HVAC folks? Or? My new dryer is super complainy and the existing vent is completely clean(it just bends a lot of times and goes all the way up to the roof in a 2 story)
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Jun 18, 2018 05:45
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King Burgundy posted:So who do I call if I need a new dryer vent/dryer vent rerouted? HVAC folks? Or? General contractor that does kitchen/bathroom renos and such should do it. HVAC specialist is probably overkill. Do dryers typically vent out the roof? I don't know I've ever seen that before.
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Jun 18, 2018 12:29
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LogisticEarth posted:Do dryers typically vent out the roof? I don't know I've ever seen that before. They can, and almost always do in commercial. You'll sometimes see it in homes with an upstairs laundry if it's not on an outside wall. In that case it's probably a better plan than a 90 + long horizontal run in regards to both cleaning and staying clean.
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Jun 18, 2018 13:07
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I had good luck with a dryer vent cleaning guy that also installed vents. It doesn't sound like you have access to your vent though you might consider sending a camera through it. If your dryer is complaining your vent is not flowing even close to what it should be.
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Jun 18, 2018 14:43
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Has anyone ever called in a general contractor and just gone around asking how much various things might cost? There are so many things I want to do but have no idea about the logistics behind them and feel like just having someone tell me "This would be around $too-many; that would require x, y, and z" would be helpful just to get a baseline understanding of what to expect.
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Jun 18, 2018 15:35
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z0331 posted:Has anyone ever called in a general contractor and just gone around asking how much various things might cost? There are so many things I want to do but have no idea about the logistics behind them and feel like just having someone tell me "This would be around $too-many; that would require x, y, and z" would be helpful just to get a baseline understanding of what to expect. More or less; we actually did this when we were doing the inspection on our house, we did the normal inspection and then had a contractor come out and price a bunch of different things we figured we would want to take care of so we could work out what was reasonable immediately and what would be on the five or ten year lists. We walked around and talked about different things and potential options (ie, 'replace this furnace' and 'replace the furnace, but also change the installation location') Then he sent us a long set of quotes for different things that we discussed.
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Jun 18, 2018 15:48
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I feel like I'm speedrunning homeownership. I closed on June 4th, have had a bunch of contractors in, had an electrician burst a water piper in the attic above a closet which now needs to be cut out, have new insulation put in, and new drywall put in along with potential mold stuff, and then got a special assessment from the HoA. I'm not even moved in yet.
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Jun 18, 2018 15:56
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That's the best time to get the invasive changes made. Before moving in, we ripped out a lot of decrepit carpet, tore out a lovely fake brick facade in the kitchen, and repainted 75% of the house. Once you're actually in the house it gets a lot harder/slower to make changes because you have to work around the bits you're trying to live in.
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Jun 18, 2018 16:00
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I really want to finish my basement (in a very basic, functional way). I wasn't planning to do it--at least not for a while--but I recently realized that exposed insulation is not good for living spaces. I currently crate my dogs down there at night, and they travel through the basement to get to the doggy door to the yard. Also, the insulation is going to mess up my plans to set up a workout space too. I'd settle for just covering up the insulation so it's safe to move around down there. I googled a lot and it seems like I would need to use Tyvek to cover it. A lot of the resources I found, however, recommended just doing it the right way and putting drywall. My dad seems to think it is not a good idea to finish the ceiling with drywall but not the walls, because he said it would complicate doing the walls later. If I did finish the walls, I'd want to get certain things done in the process like adding insulation (to the walls--only the ceiling has insulation), putting in a few outlets, etc. So one thing leads to another and it becomes this big project. The basement is fairly small, about 800 sq ft, and if necessary I could just do half of that. I'm really only interested in the functional stuff, so designing a nice living space and adding paint, fixtures and nice flooring doesn't matter that much to me at this point. If you can't tell, I have little experience with this level of work, but I do intend to learn it at some point. It seems like a great learning experience, but would it be wise to pursue taking this on as a DIY project? But I guess more importantly, does anyone have any experience with this exposed insulation issue and economical ways to make it safe for living (rather than storing stuff)? My preferred solution to this would be to come up with a safe temporary solution and just punt on the full basement finishing.
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Jun 18, 2018 17:06
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Hanging drywall isn't too hard, though you should use a drywall lift if you're doing it to the ceiling. Recommend getting a drywall screw setter, which is a special screwdriver bit that automatically stops at the right depth to avoid punching all the way through the drywall. Mudding/taping/finishing work with drywall sucks -- either hire it out or don't do it; since you don't care about appearances the latter is a perfectly viable option. Electrical work is absolutely doable as well. I recommend you get the Black & Decker Complete Wiring book; it should have everything you need to know. I've never done insulation, but so far as I'm aware it's not a big deal either. Just wear gloves and long sleeves if you're working with fiberglass.
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Jun 18, 2018 17:15
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Ashcans posted:More or less; we actually did this when we were doing the inspection on our house, we did the normal inspection and then had a contractor come out and price a bunch of different things we figured we would want to take care of so we could work out what was reasonable immediately and what would be on the five or ten year lists. We walked around and talked about different things and potential options (ie, 'replace this furnace' and 'replace the furnace, but also change the installation location') Then he sent us a long set of quotes for different things that we discussed. Good to know it's not an unheard of thing. I'm still pretty clueless when it comes to contractors, but it seems like this would be a case of costing a hundred bucks or whatever for the consultation since it's not really a free estimate for work I'm definitely looking to do.
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Jun 18, 2018 17:46
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My patio light doesn't work and I confirmed it's not the lightbulb. Do I call an electrician?
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Jun 18, 2018 18:45
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