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We have a backyard that is on a hill, and also there's some sand and rocks in it. We have a frontyard that's flat and maybe like 40 feet by 20 or so, and another strip of 20 foot by 10 maybe. When the local kid who mows does our frontyard he has a mower and a weedwhacker. I bought a string trimmer (do people say that IRL, or weed whacker?) for the back yard because I wouldn't feel safe mowing it (like, the mower blade will hit all kinds of rocks and poo poo) and I've never used one before. Any tips? I got the wirecutter recommended one, the Ego ST1511T. I assume I should wear the strongest shoes I have, wear long pants and thick socks, always try to work outwards from the house so that rocks don't hit windows? We're on a budget so I don't want to buy an expensive mower either, or a mower at all if I can help it. Maybe it makes sense to do the front yard with the string trimmer too?
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Jun 3, 2022 16:53
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| # ? May 8, 2024 09:57 |
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redreader posted:We have a backyard that is on a hill, and also there's some sand and rocks in it. We have a frontyard that's flat and maybe like 40 feet by 20 or so, and another strip of 20 foot by 10 maybe. When the local kid who mows does our frontyard he has a mower and a weedwhacker. Not sure I have tips on how to use a string trimmer (is what I call them), but make sure you are also wearing eye protection. They will throw things directly at your face at times if you hit something not-grass.
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Jun 3, 2022 16:58
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I was walking in the yard barefoot about age 6, my mom was out using the weed whacker, I asked her a question and she turned around with it still on, zapped my feet I was pretty traumatized by the event but it didn't do a lot of damage to the top of my feet, just some light scratches like my cat thought I was a scratching post The first couple times you use it, you'll probably knock a bunch of already marginal rock loose and throw sticks everywhere. Jeans + eye protection recommended. After a month or two you will probably have destroyed everything that can be destroyed with a plastic whip and it'll throw substantially less crap around Re: mower if you have a small lawn I recommend the earthwise 1715-16ew reel mower. I've been using it and been very very happy with it. No motor to maintain or batteries to charge
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Jun 3, 2022 17:08
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A reel mower is a terrible idea for a rocky yard. OP post a pic of the yard, if it's that small you could always embrace the rocks and xeriscape it so you don't need to mow.
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Jun 3, 2022 17:16
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NomNomNom posted:A reel mower is a terrible idea for a rocky yard. The front yard is immaculate and not rocky because HOA and I'm sure a reel mower would work fine. The backyard is pretty lol and I'm not posting a picture of it right now! haven't done anything to it since I moved in, in October (denver, so, snow etc) edit: FINE I'll post some content later redreader fucked around with this message at 17:22 on Jun 3, 2022 |
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Jun 3, 2022 17:19
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A mower in general is a terrible idea for a rocky yard? Get a pair of pygmy goats if you have a rocky hillside unusable for a mower, I guess
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Jun 3, 2022 17:35
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Hadlock posted:Get a pair of pygmy goats if you have a rocky hillside unusable for a mower, I guess I would love to see the HOA response to goats in most areas. 
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Jun 3, 2022 17:40
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I hate home ownership. Spent a fun morning figure out why water came in yesterday and now have a bunch of answers (and a bunch of poo poo to hire out). 1. One gutter and downspout was clogged so it forced all the water into the downspout right over the window that leaked, causing a huge water overflow. That’s now all cleaned out. 2. When the PO had the new roof put on (a year ago) they didn’t make the downspout holes as wide as the downspouts (1 inch vs 3 inches) so now I need to hire someone to cut the TPO back and seal it around a wider opening. Also need to get a ridge added so if there is too much water for the downspout to handle it gets channeled away from a window. 3. The brick needs to be repointed around the window. We knew this needed to be done but this will push up the timeline. It was a combination of a freakishly heavy storm with super strong winds, a clogged gutter, a too small downspout, and already weak brickwork. The water overflowed over the window area, got picked up by the 40mph winds and thrown against the failing mortar. It probably came through in just one or two small spots, but there was enough water that that meant a lot infiltrated. Fun!
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Jun 3, 2022 18:45
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Hang in there Upgrade, hopefully you can hammer out the major issues and move on to more "fun" projects soon.
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Jun 3, 2022 19:19
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Oh hey, speaking of water and houses. The drain line from my water softener blew out. That was fun, some iron water and a lot of salt water in that corner of the basement. Total losses were a keyboard and monitor for the plex machine, both of which valiantly sacrificed themselves for the router and pc. Vacuumed the water, and pulled the carpet and pad back. At one point I had the dehumidifier, four fans, and a heater going. Pretty sure I got it all dried out without any smells. Now I just need to stretch the carpet back into place.  The fix:  It was dried thin wall vinyl tube that cracked and blew off with pressure. I used some thick wall silicone tubing from my brewing supplies, and two nice hose clamps. The real kicker is this exact thing happened to my parents 10 years ago, and I had to clean it up there too since they were on vacation! Anyway, check your water softeners, filters, etc for cheap tubing that dries out and is under pressure.
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Jun 3, 2022 19:21
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Is repointing brick DIY-able? I watched some videos on YouTube and it seems reasonable to do, but videos hardly tell the whole story. I do fortunately have a planter retaining wall I could practice on for a low-stakes attempt to see if I can do it
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Jun 3, 2022 19:33
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Korwen posted:Is repointing brick DIY-able? I watched some videos on YouTube and it seems reasonable to do, but videos hardly tell the whole story. It’s 1910s brick 25 ft off the ground so it requires scaffolding (2 foot speciality scaffolding to fit in the narrow spaces between homes) and specialized lime mortar that won’t crack the brick. Fortunately we have no shortage of companies that do this type of work here. To my understanding you need to be careful with older, hand cast brick because modern mortar will dry harder than the brick and crack the bricks themselves.
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Jun 3, 2022 20:03
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Life is art
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Jun 3, 2022 20:03
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Epitope posted:Life is art what exactly am I looking at here?
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Jun 3, 2022 20:09
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Looks like Adam West's wood pile
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Jun 3, 2022 20:10
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underside of the old EPDM flat roof membrane, with fungus patterns
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Jun 3, 2022 20:13
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Upgrade posted:I hate home ownership. The upside is you cleaned the gutter, identified the problem, and since it was a combination of factors it's unlikely that it'll strike again soon. You could do the right thing here and just ignore it.
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Jun 3, 2022 22:10
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Upgrade posted:I hate home ownership. I've had intermittent rain ingress in my house and have out like 2 tubes of roofing stuff trying to fix what I thought was the problem up higher on where an addition and main house met. and would wait and wait and it would rain and it would be fine and then nope it would rain just right then I would find some water in the basement again. Turnerd out that there was aittle bit of siding flashing that was bent and when the wind blew just right water was coming into it. I fashioned up a patch for the flashing and I think it's good. Knock on wood. If it's not I give up.. I'll have to um.. sweat some pipe in the basement next to some oil rags.
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Jun 3, 2022 23:50
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StormDrain posted:The upside is you cleaned the gutter, identified the problem, and since it was a combination of factors it's unlikely that it'll strike again soon. Hah, I wish I could ignore it, but I've lived in a rental with leak issues and the anxiety every time it rained was a PTSD-inducing nightmare and I never want to go back to that! There was water damage at the spots that the water came through this time so this isn't a "new" problem, but its rare enough that there was no evidence of moisture anywhere in the plaster that had signs of water damage prior to this. Repointing, having the window resealed and painted, and having some gutter work done should fix this -- so even if there's another freakish storm we don't have to worry about it. The "joys" of home ownership 
Upgrade fucked around with this message at 00:07 on Jun 4, 2022 |
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Jun 4, 2022 00:04
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Speaking of rain instrusion, same thing happened in our rental but it was due to the gutters being full of leaves. The landlord corrected it with some gutter guards but it rained the other day and it looks like enough very small seeds have managed to clog up the gutters by getting through the gutter guards. New house we’re buying doesn’t have gutter guards. Are they worth it?
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Jun 4, 2022 00:29
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A lot of gutters clog because they're pitched too shallow, so all the little bits settle out when it's only raining lightly and then all try to flush at once when it finally rains heavily. Gutter guards won't really fix that if it's tiny bits of stuff, grains of roof asphalt, etc. But if you have properly pitched gutters and your problem is leaves, yeah they help. You still should clean out your gutters at least annually but it helps.
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Jun 4, 2022 00:33
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You still need to periodically check and/or clean your gutters, even if they have gutter guards. I've done 2.5 years worth of gutter cleaning on my place and am going to install gutter guards this year because it's a hassle and getting up on the ladder is never something I look forward to. Worth it if it means I can go from 2x a year cleaning to quick inspection every couple years imho.
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Jun 4, 2022 02:45
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Gutter guards turn gutter cleaning into a yearly chore for me instead of monthly. I have one confluence of roof pitches that if I don't clean regularly will still clog 
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Jun 4, 2022 15:14
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A "good way" to get business: Tell me that the real problem is another part of the wall, its going to cost $15,000 to repoint, that if I don't do it right away a brick is going to fall and kill me and my house will collapse, and I have to agree today because your crew is ready to go Monday and prices will be higher any other time of the year, and then driving off in an $85,000 pickup.
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Jun 4, 2022 21:44
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Upgrade posted:A "good way" to get business: Lol we're also at end of spring / start of summer time which is probably the single highest point for prices in the year for big jobs.
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Jun 4, 2022 21:57
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Well, I am sure we're going to have get substantial portions of the wall repointed, but there's a difference between 'actively letting water ingress into the house' and 'needs to be done within the next year.' The guy we've used for smaller jobs in the past is going to do the work around our window ASAP (scaffolding is up, he starts tomorrow), and while he's up there he'll take some videos of other areas, makes suggestions, and we'll figure out what we'll have him do vs. hire another company. But considering I've gotten estimates for the more substantial work ranging from $4,000 to $15,000, I think there's a bit of wiggle room here.
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Jun 4, 2022 22:18
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This is my fuckin house now
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Jun 5, 2022 06:44
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Inner Light posted:Lol we're also at end of spring / start of summer time which is probably the single highest point for prices in the year for big jobs. As a new homeowner, why is this? Because that’s when everyone wants work done?
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Jun 5, 2022 08:04
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Epitope posted:This is my fuckin house now  
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Jun 5, 2022 14:06
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Took possession of our new home on Saturday and doing a final review of scope with our contractor before getting them started. One item that showed up on our inspection report was high water pressure, about 90 psi. The PO has been running at this level for ... nearly 20 years. I know that the max recommended is 80 psi, but how high should I prioritize adding a pressure regulator? Quote from the GC for the regulator is $400 I also have a buddy that does plumbing but don't have a quote from him
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Jun 5, 2022 18:05
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$400 is a fine price for that considering what it is. The pressure reducing valve is about $100 or less itself, plus just the cost to get someone to your house. Have the valves replaced while they're at it so you can be certain you have a good quality shutoff. Edit, and also congratulations. And I didn't answer the part about how high should you prioritize it. High pressure will cause your valves and fixtures to wear out sooner or blow out, its hard on the seals and gaksets. If you're going to do plumbing work soon, then do it now, then you will have the good shutoff to use and won't be installing fixtures on the high pressure. StormDrain fucked around with this message at 19:38 on Jun 5, 2022 |
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Jun 5, 2022 19:34
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Your pipes are 20 years old, running 12% over their rated pressure, what could go wrong? Water hammer (that noise you hear when you shut off your facet really fast) creates impressive pressure spikes throughout the whole system, having overpressure only increases those spikes, this is an interesting video if you're not fully convinced of the value of replacing your shut off valve now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoLmVFAFjn4 All the faucets in our house have a really.... short throw? And the whole house rattles after washing my hands. One of these days I'm gonna wake up to a massive wet spot on the bathroom wall
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Jun 5, 2022 21:43
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I'm in the middle of a bathroom renovation and our plumber suggested a reducer after learning the psi is between 90-100 psi. He's going to set it at 65psi initially, and lower or raise as necessary. I'm really hoping it solves the majority of water hammer throughout the house.
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Jun 5, 2022 22:10
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Haven’t experienced any hammering (yet) but thanks for the input. Will install the regulator.
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Jun 6, 2022 04:16
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I got a new pressure regulator less than a year ago when my main water line blew, it was over pressure, but the damage was before my regulator. While they were at it they made the shutoff easier to get at. My water still hammers, if you were to put 1-3 water hammer arrestors in, where would you put them? By my dishwasher, washing machine and bathrooms presumably, maybe one on the 2nd floor?
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Jun 6, 2022 15:57
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Near and valve that operates immediately. Washing machine, ice maker, dishwasher. It's the sudden shutoff that does it. Also you should have an expansion tank by the water heater to level out the pressure when it heats water.
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Jun 6, 2022 17:49
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Further clarification is that I mean any electrically operated valve because they close instantly. Sinks and such close more gradually, even toilets are slower as the float closes it. I have a bad hammer from my outdoor hydrant that has a timer on it. The timer shuts it off hard and it shakes under my living room. The ice machine and dishwasher used to do it as well but I added support clamps to it so it's quiet now. Still hammers though.
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Jun 6, 2022 17:54
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Repair bill is going to be roughly 15k, fun
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Jun 6, 2022 20:17
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Only at the top of the range, not above it. Yay?
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Jun 6, 2022 20:39
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Epitope posted:Only at the top of the range, not above it. Yay? Well this includes some other roof work on the gutters, some window sealing, and probably another project for our garage roof. Not going with the most expensive contractor. Basically, our plan is to have our good and cheap (but slow because he's one guy) mason do everything around the window area that is actively leaking. He doesn't feel comfortable repointing the 2 foot span that runs the entire house and is at various points 50 feet up, so we'll hire that out. And getting bids for widening the downspout entry from the roof and building up the gutter edge.
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Jun 6, 2022 21:53
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