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I was at a class on conservation at the zoo with my kids and they taught us about invasive buckthorn and how you can identify it by scratching the bark and looking for bright orange color underneath. Of course we went home and tested it out and found a few smaller buckthorn that I can dig or pull up, but there are a couple large bush/tree ones that will require my chainsaw. My plan is to cut them down and then paint the super roundup concentrate on the exposed stump. Will that work? Or would it be better to wait until they get their green leaves back and then spray them then? I'm in Wisconsin, so it may be another month or so before they turn green again.
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Apr 7, 2023 02:13
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idk but I'm a fan of the tried and true method of waiting a few years and then chopping up and digging out the stump
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Apr 7, 2023 06:00
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If you chop it off and paint the stump right now you'll need way less horribly toxic herbicide vs spraying it on its leaves. I've done the same with some super concentrated death and it seems to work pretty well.
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Apr 7, 2023 12:27
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I thought roundup was only effective if it was absorbed in to leaves/greenery? Because if I can slather it directly on a stump and kill it, I got a couple stubborn ones that are about to get a new paint job... loving deck builder was supposed to remove all the stumps, but they left 2 of them under my new deck and they keep coming back. Been using Ortho Ground Clear (IIRC? maybe something else) to try to keep it under control but 2 years and they're not fully dead. DaveSauce fucked around with this message at 12:44 on Apr 7, 2023 |
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Apr 7, 2023 12:42
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Thanks all for confirming I wasn't thinking about it wrong. DaveSauce posted:I thought roundup was only effective if it was absorbed in to leaves/greenery? Yeah, that is my understanding of how it works best too. I'm not a plant expert, but my thinking was that if I apply the roundup right when it is cut, then the fresh, "wet" stump would still absorb it and transport things effectively enough to kill it. Sounds like I may not even need the super concentrate for that. For a uh, "dry" stump it might require the super concentrate? That sounds super frustrating to deal with.
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Apr 7, 2023 15:17
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DaveSauce posted:I thought roundup was only effective if it was absorbed in to leaves/greenery? Roundup is systemic. It doesn't matter how it enters the plant. Painting it on a fresh stump is effective. Painting it on old stumps isn't. Look into "basal bark treatment". You'll want something more like triclopyr because you're going to want to mix with oil. There are new oils available for this but everyone just uses diesel.
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Apr 7, 2023 15:20
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DaveSauce posted:I thought roundup was only effective if it was absorbed in to leaves/greenery? I got this stuff to kill a tenacious vine that is taking over my yard and it will kill everything dead and keep it that way for months. It is toxic to basically everything and everyone so I use it in a sprayer in a fence row full of vine and then will use a little syringe to dab a drop of it on a cut stalk in spots where I only want to kill the vine and nothing else. I feel kinda bad using this poo poo but it turned out to be more ecologically friendly than my other plan, which was to literally salt the earth: https://www.domyown.com/eraser-max-super-concentrate-herbicide-p-17313.html
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Apr 7, 2023 15:29
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Yeah roundup is very toxic, but if you use it very precisely and safely it is not going to cause problems to you or the environment - just the stuff you directly apply it to. Read the instructions carefully and take appropriate safety precautions and it will be fine. In my case I am specifically using it to effectively remove an invasive species that is bad for native plants and wildlife, so it is actually the best ecological choice as well.
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Apr 7, 2023 16:11
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I want to install energy efficient and renewable systems such as a heat pump and solar panels, but light research into tax and discount incentives has my head spinning. I read the Inflaction Reduction Act increased some tax credits, but I think there were some upfront discount if you meet certain qualifications? Can anybody lay everything out simply? It seems some programs end or are reduced after 2023, and it seems some START after 2023.
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Apr 7, 2023 17:04
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This stuff came recommended by a local arborist for killing stumps / brush ends / etc. I have used it about 3-4 times and it has worked great: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/tordon-rtu-1-qt
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Apr 7, 2023 19:51
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skybolt_1 posted:This stuff came recommended by a local arborist for killing stumps / brush ends / etc. I have used it about 3-4 times and it has worked great: Yeah, that's the stuff. My dad lives on a hobby farm/hobby forest, and for the past 20 years he's done plenty of stuff with chemicals, and Tordon is what we used to kill trees. Cut them down with the chainsaw, spray tordon on the fresh stump.
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Apr 7, 2023 20:01
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Any thoughts on the best way to deal with pooling water? We had a ton of rain last week and our backyard looked like this. It's dry now but clearly this is an issue. The grass in the backyard is ehh and there are several dead spots, but I'd like to deal with the pooling first before I deal with reseeding or resoding.
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Apr 10, 2023 02:28
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I'm not an expert but typically what I've seen is a French Drain of some sort, with a pipe that drains out front to the street. The back of our house has a gravel French Drain around the back of the house in place of a gutter that drains into the sewer by design and keeps water from pooling back there Looks like your house backs up to some kind of city green space/utility right of way. If your back yard is lower than that area, you'll probably always experience drainage into your yard, you might be able to split the cost of a proper drainage system with the city since they're responsible for managing the drainage of that green space I don't know what it would cost to tie a French Drain into your sewer line but it's probably not cheap since I'm guessing your foundation is slab on grade and the low spot is quite a distance from the house. You might try talking to your neighbors and see if they have a similar problem, you could all tie in to a single french drain that empties out at a common low point or something Alternatively you could fill the low spot with sand until the low spot goes away. Grass has no issue growing through sand
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Apr 10, 2023 02:39
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A french drain is the right answer imo. Don't use yard drains, as they let dirt into the system and eventually it clogs; a properly implemented french drain only lets water in. Figure out where the water needs to go and then run the drain all the way to that point. This is a big pain but can be a DIY project if you're willing to do a lot of digging and hauling around rocks
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Apr 10, 2023 04:03
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Would it need to be a french drain with a buried pipe or would a dry creek bed type thing work?
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Apr 10, 2023 04:08
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You mean like a ditch? Lined with concrete? Yeah that could work. It will clog with leaves and dirt and crud. It's now a maintenance item. Without a concrete liner it's just going to fill with grass in a season or two. What's the elevation drop between the lowest point in the back yard and the street level out front? Hard to tell but looks like you live somewhere flat like Texas might only be 12 inches. Less than 3' elevation drop and you probably won't have enough slope to drain it properly, which is why you'd need to drain it to the sewer, which is a couple feet below street level If you're not going to put in a French Drain, you can probably fill that depression with 1-1.5 yards of landscaping sand ($300 delivered?) which will prevent the pooling and drowning your grass roots. That would almost certainly be cheaper than a proper drainage system. Hard to tell from a single photo though
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Apr 10, 2023 04:19
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Also, was that dark... Beauty bark with the... Concrete retainer? Part of the original landscape design. Kind of looks like the original plan was to let the yard drain out to the park behind it? If that's the case you can probably run a French Drain and pipe it out under the fence there. Unless there's a picnic area right behind your fence the city probably won't care about you draining to the park
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Apr 10, 2023 04:23
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Oh I meant one of these: Like a slightly sloped ditch filled with river rocks. No actual perforated pipe. We live in Texas, yeah. There's no house to the left of us. To the left of the photo is the street and a street gutter. Draining to the sewer below street level sounds like it might be something we should have a professional do.
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Apr 10, 2023 04:24
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Hadlock posted:Less than 3' elevation drop and you probably won't have enough slope to drain it properly, which is why you'd need to drain it to the sewer, which is a couple feet below street level
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Apr 10, 2023 04:49
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In case anyone else needs it, here’s a reminder to clean under/behind your fridge.
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Apr 10, 2023 06:04
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Valicious posted:I want to install energy efficient and renewable systems such as a heat pump and solar panels, but light research into tax and discount incentives has my head spinning. I read the Inflaction Reduction Act increased some tax credits, but I think there were some upfront discount if you meet certain qualifications? Solar tax rebates were restored to 30% and extended to 2033 or so. Heat pump tax credits are tightly linked to income, if you make over $96k (iirc) you only qualify for a $4k credit. Those are all active now afaik, although some state subsidies may not be
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Apr 10, 2023 08:03
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Bwee posted:Would it need to be a french drain with a buried pipe or would a dry creek bed type thing work? Think of it this way, to create a dry creek bed that can actually drain water you need to excavate a trench that's sloped toward some point of egress for water and then fill it with rocks. All of the hard work in creating a dry creek bed is what you'd need for a french drain anyway, you're just choosing to fill the lowest void in the trench with more rocks instead of a perforated pipe. But a perforated pipe is easier to lay, it's less likely to clog, and it has a better flow rate than the rocks. I'd rather put that pipe in than not So the answer is that you should lay a french drain, what you put on top of it is a style choice.
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Apr 10, 2023 09:22
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spf3million posted:Is that even allowed? I figure the city water treatment plant wouldn't want everyone dumping their flooded-yard water into the municipal waste sewer. YMMV but I'm pretty sure draining into a sewer system is usually illegal and is generally a bad idea, there should be a separate stormwater system that you drain into instead. I know there are older homes that were set up to drain stormwater into sewers but yeah, avoid doing that
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Apr 10, 2023 09:32
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Can a very small drip leak on a valve introduce air into a water system? I'm getting air in my hot water tank somehow and the drat thing bangs and glugs shortly after I take a shower and run the cold side. In my head I have air in my thermal expansion tank somehow but I don't have any other leaks that I can identify. I do know that I have a very small leak on the valve for the main water feed coming into the house that is on my list to get fixed but it's minuscule, or maybe the water coming into my house is just semi-loving carbonated.
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Apr 10, 2023 11:02
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We're redoing our attic insulation and putting in insulation for the first time into our crawlspace. We're getting quotes for both fiberglass and Rockwool batts in the attic, and the price is about double for 8 less R value, R-30 vs R-38. We're in the bay area so we don't get freezes generally but do get down to the 30s in the winter and up to the low 100s in the summer. Attic and crawlspace are both vented and moisture and rodent free already thankfully. I assume R-30 isn't really enough given the increasing climate instability, is it common to layer fiberglass on top of rock wool? We're primarily interested in the Rockwool for it's sound dampening properties. Both quotes I've gotten so far have not suggested Rockwool in the crawlspace, is that for any particular reason beyond cost? Both quotes have also suggested lower R values for the crawlspace than the attic, is this a normal practice?
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Apr 10, 2023 15:46
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Yeah stormwater sewer. If he lives in flat rear end Texas he almost certainly has access to one
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Apr 10, 2023 16:27
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Just leave Texas
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Apr 10, 2023 16:59
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Texas is pretty awesome, low taxes, excellent food, good job market, relatively affordable due to infinity buildable land. The roads are excellent Biggest con is the last couple of governors have been using it as a stepping stone towards presidential runs, resulting in weird/bad policy
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Apr 10, 2023 17:25
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how did you post that with your power lines frozen
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Apr 10, 2023 17:36
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I don't think you could pay me enough to move to Texas. Things like 'low taxes' is not a feature of your infrastructure sucks.
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Apr 10, 2023 18:33
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Potentially dumb question: I have original hardwood floors in my house (from 1930). Overall, they're in pretty great shape, but we have a few spots around the house where the floorboards are loose or cracked. I definitely don't need a full refinish- visually everything *looks* great, but I'd like someone to come by and fix the loose/broken boards along with checking out one particular room that seems to have more issues than the other. There were a couple boards that had fallen through to the subfloor while we were buying the house and the PO hired a handyman to fix those prior to closing. For the most part, his work is fine, though it seems like it might be more of a band-aid than a full-on fix (that said, nothing he worked on has broken again). What kind of contractor/business do I call for this? Most places that specialize in floors seem to focus on refinishing, though maybe that's just what they like to advertise up front. Based on the work the prior handyman did, I think I'd like to hire someone that is a little more specialized. This is in no way urgent- only one board that has an issue is in a main walking path, and we've put something in the way so that no one steps on it- so I have plenty of time to look around for someone.
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Apr 10, 2023 18:42
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Spikes32 posted:We're redoing our attic insulation and putting in insulation for the first time into our crawlspace. We're getting quotes for both fiberglass and Rockwool batts in the attic, and the price is about double for 8 less R value, R-30 vs R-38. We're in the bay area so we don't get freezes generally but do get down to the 30s in the winter and up to the low 100s in the summer. Attic and crawlspace are both vented and moisture and rodent free already thankfully. Fiberglass doesn't have the same stc rating, as you're aware, but it does help. I'd go for a higher r value personally. It's going to cost less to install and save you money on conditioning your house in the long term. Sounds coming from outside your home aren't generally directed from overhead, they would come from the street and neighbors and yards. And sounds inside your home are going through the walls and doors. Also heat rises and the sun is merciless on your roof so yes, the attic needs a lot of insulation to combat heat from crossing either direction. The earth's temperature is pretty stable beneath you.
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Apr 10, 2023 18:45
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What is the correct PPE for installing fiberglass insulation in the attic Looking at the photos there is a minimal amount (no more than 1/4" in the thickest places, 50% of the ceiling drywall is visible  ) of 50 year old cellulose insulation in the attic and it regularly tops 90F in the summer thinking the payback period will be less than one year to go drop some insulation rolls up there.Thinking I just need a tyvek suit, P100 half face respirator, uh, some kind of fiberglass handling gloves, and a box cutter to cut the rolls to size? I think I want something like "R-30 Unfaced Fiberglass Insulation Roll 15 in. x 25 ft." ?. Looks like they offer a "faced" version but I don't think we need a vapor barrier in a fairly arid climate please advise Give me a realistic idea of how much work this is? Thinking 2-3 hours to unroll the stuff and cut it to size, the ceiling framing appears to be standard stze, I'll find out for sure after we close. At $30 a roll seems like, especially in california, the labor is going to be 3-4x the cost of the insulation
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Apr 10, 2023 18:55
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Hadlock posted:What is the correct PPE for installing fiberglass insulation in the attic I've been cutting the insulation with utility scissors, it's a little nicer than the knife and much safer. I wear a respirator, a hat and old clothes. Then wash em seperately. Sometimes I'm just itchy. Unfaced is the way to go. All that being said, I'm planning to pay insulators to vacuum up the old stuff and blow new insulation this next year. Or just blow more in, either way.
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Apr 10, 2023 19:08
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QuarkJets posted:YMMV but I'm pretty sure draining into a sewer system is usually illegal and is generally a bad idea, there should be a separate stormwater system that you drain into instead. I know there are older homes that were set up to drain stormwater into sewers but yeah, avoid doing that
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Apr 10, 2023 19:12
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Hadlock posted:What is the correct PPE for installing fiberglass insulation in the attic Removing old insulation is miserable, dirty work. I would wear a full Tyvek suit, P100 respiration, and gloves that I've probably duct taped to the suit. Rolling out new is easy and quick. I laid down a little over 200sqft of the stuff in a knee wall attic space in maybe an hour the other day (just on the floor, no wall or ceiling work that time). I just wore long sleeves, my respirator, and some nitrile gloves. The new fluffy stuff is really soft and nice, I was not itchy at all afterwards.
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Apr 10, 2023 19:24
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From what I can tell 90% of what little cellulose insulation still exists, my guess is that 2-3 shop vac loads would make quick work of it. There's so little I had to double check the report to confirm what I was looking at was even insulation. I'm thinking I can just toss the fiberglass over top the cellulose
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Apr 10, 2023 19:39
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My mom just got her gas water heater replaced with an electric water heater. Not a hybrid heat-pump/electric, just old fashioned electric. The plumbers she talked to said the hybrid was "too complicated" and gave her outrageous quotes for it compared to a regular electric. And then they didn't really even know what they were talking about, the told her that she should get her electrician to install "a plug for an electric water heater" but electric water heaters don't plug in, they're hard wired directly. So glad I'm handy enough to do lots of things by myself, because between inflation and trades just being old-fashioned sticks in the mud, I really dread dealing with them most of the time.
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Apr 10, 2023 20:06
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After 12 years of owning a house, I'm selling it and going back to renting. We keep it fairly clean, but I'm getting it ready for viewings which is stressfull. I've never done a full dust/ wipedown of the interior. When I do spot dusting I usually use a swiffer dust cloth, but that seems uneconomical for the entire building. Any recommendations? I'm thinking bowl full of warm water and a rag that gets cleaned every few walls or so.
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Apr 10, 2023 21:02
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How hot is your local market? Might not matter at all!
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Apr 10, 2023 21:17
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