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UKJeff posted:Big trees require regular trimming lol no they don’t
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May 30, 2023 04:34
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Trees definitely require regular trimming but that regular may be years in between. Trees grow so much better and healthier with our help. My neighborhood lost a bunch of ash trees due to insects (eab). I'm glad I didn't have one of them but I still gained a lot of sun in my yards due to my southern neighbor losing 4-5 of them. Then my other side lost an apple tree that was sick and damaged. I cut down a tall spruce next to my front patio as it was dying from the top down. I also planted two pears in the backyard, then a Linden, and most recently a catalpa. So overall I'm net +3, meanwhile nobody else has planted a single tree. Its very annoying as every year is a year of growth missed. I drove by my old place where we planted a maple in the front yard in 2010 and it's a nice sized tree now. I brought it home in the back of my Saturn, and the trunk is maybe 6" diameter or more.
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May 30, 2023 05:12
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I think it would be a great idea for municipalities to offer grants to get professionals to care for mature trees. I actually might see about trying to suggest that somehow because my city does talk about wanting to increase tree cover (while still allowing developers to raze perfectly healthy trees though). I’m planning on getting someone in to have a look at my trees and perhaps do a spiral cut (just reduces the wind loading) sometime this summer.
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May 30, 2023 06:17
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It is done, I'm finally finished. I'll admit it's not pretty, but it's effective and I'm happy to have everything working and be done before the impending summer heat. It's so nice to have all of the bedrooms with their own individual units for the year and hopefully will save me a lot in heating and cooling. Ran a 1/2" PVC line for drainage and used an adapter for the vinyl tubing to adapt it to an NTP threading and to the outside.      
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May 30, 2023 06:21
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That reminds me, I booked an insulation install for July, going from about R12 to R50 (recommended level for the area) and pretty happy about that! Next step:heat pump and tankless water heater.
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May 30, 2023 06:25
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Bloody posted:lol no they don’t Sure, If you don’t mind having them drop branches on your house or fence
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May 30, 2023 11:06
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UKJeff posted:Big trees require regular trimming This is an exceptionally broad statement to the point of being wrong, which is why a few people have already told you this. UKJeff posted:Really, the solution would be for the government to recognize large trees "Hi, I'm from the government. I'm here to help!" No, we do not need more government regulation restricting the rights of what private citizens can or can not do on their own property.
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May 30, 2023 13:31
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Motronic posted:This is an exceptionally broad statement to the point of being wrong, which is why a few people have already told you this. It’s correct in the context in which the statement was made. If you want to be pedantic and be technically correct here, have at it. quote:"Hi, I'm from the government. I'm here to help!" LOL a literal “muh freedoms  ” in the wildWe all live in a society and our actions affect each other, as much as you would like to pretend otherwise. Sorry your little libertarian fantasy doesn’t reflect reality
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May 30, 2023 13:52
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UKJeff posted:It’s correct in the context in which the statement was made. If you want to be pedantic and be technically correct here, have at it. Can you please explain the context for me then? This is what I read: UKJeff posted:Big trees require regular trimming and arborists aren’t getting any cheaper. I have a monster tree in my back yard that’s close to my house and garage. I have to pay to get it trimmed or else the branches might break and fall on my house. Last time it was $2000. I don’t agree with the people who cut the giant trees down, but I can see their point of view. Are you saying the context is "this one specific tree near your house"? Are you saying "all big trees"? Are you saying "all big trees near any house"? UKJeff posted:LOL a literal “muh freedoms This is the kind of extremely online performative overreaction/unrealistic solution with zero understanding garbage that I wish would remain in D&D. Have you ever even worked in local government to understand the implications of your little suggestion?
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May 30, 2023 14:03
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Illuminado posted:It is done, I'm finally finished. How difficult was this? Costco sells a mini-split labeled as DIY-friendly and I'm vaguely thinking about getting an individual unit for my bedroom, because I don't mind warmer temperatures during the day but I greatly prefer sleeping in the cold. I waste a lot of energy cooling the house when all I really want is the bedroom
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May 30, 2023 14:24
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Motronic posted:Can you please explain the context for me then? This is what I read: You're literally quoting Ronald Reagan. One of the larger influences responsible for our country and government currently being garbage.
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May 30, 2023 14:46
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Talk about actual trees and how to trim or not trim them. If you want to talk about the merits and faults of a hypothetical government tree care scheme, make a thread in D&D or something idk just don’t have a dumb slapfight about it here
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May 30, 2023 15:23
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I recently had to take down a 200-150 some old Oak and that made me really sad, but the arborist said it wasn't healthy and it kind of would have killed my kids if it fell. It was either $3500 or $4000 to remove and have the massive stump grinded down. Now I have a nice little patch that will probably never grow grass well!
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May 30, 2023 15:33
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priznat posted:I know, once mature trees are gone you won’t get that back in your lifetime. It kind of stresses me out seeing a lot of really nice trees in my area getting cut down to make room for hideous mcmansions that will probably won’t last as long as the tree did. And paving everything. Just creates miserable heat islands. Can confirm. We live on the outskirts of town in a heavily wooded area, and there is a noticeable temperature drop the last couple miles going home from the grocery store. It's not uncommon that I show up somewhere dressed too warm because it felt right at our front door. That said we've lost a fair amount of large trees from storms and because our property is next to an easement for large power lines. A couple years after we moved in, the electrical company decided they were expanding the clear-cut distance from the lines, which has us on the razors edge of being unshaded if they go any further.
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May 30, 2023 15:54
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Part of the problem as well is cutting big trees creates a domino effect where the remaining trees have less of a wind break from being in a group and then are more likely to come down in a windstorm. A group of healthy well kept trees spanning a few properties are extremely useful for acting both as a sun and wind break. My grandpa had a farm on the prairies and when they moved there he planted a group of some kind of tall deciduous tree, I think it was poplar, and they grew to be about 60-70’ and did a fantastic job in breaking up the wind that would blast even in summer. Made a huge difference around the house.
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May 30, 2023 16:00
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Ended up cutting down a big oak in our front yard after consulting with two arborists. It had a pretty hefty lean, and if it fell, it would have landed right in the septic system. Didn’t want to have a chance of spending tens of thousands on a septic when $3k took the tree down. Luckily we did, because it was rotten from the inside. The guy who cut it was able to stand in the hole up to his waist, so probably 3-4’ down. The middle in the picture is just filled with the sawdust/wood chips from the cut. The arborist cutting said there’s no way to tell how long it could have lasted like that, but I’m glad I don’t have to worry about it. We’re trying to think of what to put in place of it but it seems like the area is hosed for a bit based on what I’ve read. 
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May 30, 2023 16:34
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nwin posted:Ended up cutting down a big oak in our front yard after consulting with two arborists. It had a pretty hefty lean, and if it fell, it would have landed right in the septic system. Didn’t want to have a chance of spending tens of thousands on a septic when $3k took the tree down. I just threw a couple wood bucket barrel planters on mine and landscaped around it. Doesn't too bad, and the flowers bring in bees and hummingbirds  edit: Also had some birdfeeders there until a couple of adolescent black bears decided to order takeout 
Eason the Fifth fucked around with this message at 16:44 on May 30, 2023 |
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May 30, 2023 16:37
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The Dave posted:I recently had to take down a 200-150 some old Oak and that made me really sad, but the arborist said it wasn't healthy and it kind of would have killed my kids if it fell. I spent my Saturday laying cardboard, compost and mulch to turn a swath of grass (8'x25') into a wildflower meadow. I was surprised at how easy it was compared to the past when I'd kill the grass with chemical, add compost and turn it all over. If it doesn't affect te grading too bad I think you should do it where the tree was. The soil there is probably a good candidate to bring back.
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May 30, 2023 17:02
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THE GOVERNMENT is across the street from my house cutting up a giant rear end tree limb RIGHT NOW. And even using an electric chainsaw now per their rules promulgated in... The 90's.  It's super quiet and making short work of it. Stihl brand. It fell down over the weekend and we're lucky it didn't kill anyone or damage a car.
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May 30, 2023 17:06
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I have a willow oak in my backyard that has some cavities showing in pruning wounds that haven't fully healed over. I need to get an arborist to come out and check on it. My father is a forester and his opinion from photos was basically that it probably eventually get heart rot (if it hasn't started already) but that it will likely be decades before it succumbs to it. Probably will plant another tree somewhere nearby this year so I'll still have shade when that finally happens. Changing the subject: the PO had recently bought and installed a GE top load washing machine and I am in awe at how much it sucks rear end. Loud as poo poo, goes out of balance easily, doesn't rice clothes clean, is hard on clothes, and even manages to stink because it doesn't actually drain all the water out leaving a nice stagnant puddle under the tub where you can't see it.
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May 30, 2023 17:18
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Shifty Pony posted:I have a willow oak in my backyard that has some cavities showing in pruning wounds that haven't fully healed over. I need to get an arborist to come out and check on it. My father is a forester and his opinion from photos was basically that it probably eventually get heart rot (if it hasn't started already) but that it will likely be decades before it succumbs to it.
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May 30, 2023 17:24
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Kylaer posted:How difficult was this? Costco sells a mini-split labeled as DIY-friendly and I'm vaguely thinking about getting an individual unit for my bedroom, because I don't mind warmer temperatures during the day but I greatly prefer sleeping in the cold. I waste a lot of energy cooling the house when all I really want is the bedroom You can peruse the photo album I made for the project. If you're pretty handy I'd say it's worth it, I'm pretty happy with these Pioneer units so far, but ask me again after the summer. Due to the layout of the bedrooms at my place, there wasn't an exterior wall that could accommodate the units; you need 4" from the ceiling and the high windows in the bedrooms made that infeasible, and if I had to do it again, I would have paid the money to do the in-ceiling units for my particular situation, but they were twice as expensive as the wall units and I had a pretty tight budget for this project. Wall Unit ~$350  Ceiling Unit ~$700  I would say that if you're able to install these on an exterior wall (and you don't mind the vinyl covers running along the outside of your house), it's a LOT easier than installing them in an interior wall with the pump and everything. Running these vinyl covers EXACTLY to where the interior units are installed makes the aspect I struggled with the most much easier and as long as you are knowledgeable and capable of running electrical to your outdoor unit, you could manage a 3-Zone Install in a weekend.  I really didn't want to have those covers criss-crossing the back-side of my house snaking around windows and such, so I just ran everything into the attic, but then down into the interior walls, which was an absolute pain in the rear end, and I had to have a friend help with mounting the units while I fumbled around in the attic trying to manage the rigid coolant lines. My Full Order was:
Paid about $4,500 USD for everything, but the estimates I received for a contractor to do this job were all over $15,000.
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May 30, 2023 18:46
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Kylaer posted:How difficult was this? Costco sells a mini-split labeled as DIY-friendly and I'm vaguely thinking about getting an individual unit for my bedroom, because I don't mind warmer temperatures during the day but I greatly prefer sleeping in the cold. I waste a lot of energy cooling the house when all I really want is the bedroom The Midea U-Shaped AC seems to be getting more market penetration and I can't speak to the quality at all, it seems like potentially an AC that is easier to keep installed year long as it obscured less of the view and allows you to open the window while installed. If you're looking for some mild seasonal cooling that seems like a much less intensive experiment than going full minisplit.
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May 30, 2023 18:52
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Ceiling units are louder because they also include condensate pumps (the wall units just let gravity drain the condensate), my installer recommended against them unless there was absolutely no other option. One thing that seems obvious but had me really worried up until install time... If you're using wall units, they need a straight line down for condensate to drain, but the line set doesn't have that limitation. I was very worried that since my outdoor unit was on one side of the house but one of my indoor units was on the opposite side that there'd be some crazy sloped line set running in the basement because I misunderstood/misinterpreted what I was told about "no elevation change for wall units." But the line set was able to just run through the joist space in my basement to the dining room unit, and then the dining room unit just drains straight down normally. I don't know if that explanation or my original fear makes any sense to anyone else, but maybe it will be helpful.
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May 30, 2023 18:57
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FISHMANPET posted:Ceiling units are louder because they also include condensate pumps (the wall units just let gravity drain the condensate), my installer recommended against them unless there was absolutely no other option. I was a bit concerned about the noise from the condensate pumps, even the instructions say to put some dampening material between them and the joists to avoid noise transfer. I just hung them from a 2x4 I mounted to the rafters so that any noise / vibration wouldn't be transferred to the ceiling below. I haven't heard them come on yet, but I don't live in a very humid climate.  It's kind of hard to tell, but the 2x4 is just mounted at the top and hangs down.
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May 30, 2023 19:05
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I can't do a window AC because my house is unfortunately part of an HOA and there's a rule against them, but I do have an exterior wall that should be an appropriate mounting point. I'm not that advanced of a DIY person though and the idea of drilling through the exterior wall concerns me quite a bit. Thank you for the input, it's a project that needs a lot more thought.
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May 30, 2023 22:55
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The Dave posted:The Midea U-Shaped AC seems to be getting more market penetration and I can't speak to the quality at all, it seems like potentially an AC that is easier to keep installed year long as it obscured less of the view and allows you to open the window while installed. I have one, it's pretty quiet and effective. Don't really count on their marketing saying you can open the window - you have to air seal around it to not let bugs and stuff in. Also, for whatever reason the screen on my window is not in the right place to go into the U, so if I opened the window I'd get tons of bugs. It is a poo poo ton quieter though. It's entertaining because the remote for it is identical to the one that just got posted. Illuminado posted:I was a bit concerned about the noise from the condensate pumps, even the instructions say to put some dampening material between them and the joists to avoid noise transfer. I just hung them from a 2x4 I mounted to the rafters so that any noise / vibration wouldn't be transferred to the ceiling below. I haven't heard them come on yet, but I don't live in a very humid climate. You might want to put some kind of pan and one of the water leak alarms up there. If that pump starts leaking you aren't going to find out until all that blown in is soaked through.
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May 30, 2023 23:42
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I don't think that's a bad idea, but I can imagine 100 other ways that this will be a problem, and as was mentioned earlier, it's wired in such a way to where if the pump fails to work properly, the unit will throw an error code and not cool, so that would only affect a line leak on the other side of the pump, and while that's certainly possible, less likely than the pump failing, or a leak before the pump which would be more obvious from the front. Also there are 2 other pumps on the other side. On the other hand, that could be cheap insurance, so I'll look into it and see if it's feasible. I am a bit anxious about making sure that works properly.
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May 31, 2023 05:54
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I wanna put up some string lights in the backyard, between the stucco house and some 6x6 12' fence posts that are cemented in the ground. Can I get away with these eye screws that go right into the stucco and fence posts? Then some 1/16" wire rope between them and maybe these turnbuckle tensioners? For the eye screws I was thinking of drilling the pilot hole into the stucco, filling with silicone sealant, and then screwing in the eye screw. Does my plan sound ok?
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May 31, 2023 17:58
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Personally I'm not a big fan of penetrating stucco (EIFS) if you can avoid it. Any other mounting options for the house side of things?
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May 31, 2023 18:23
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Everything depends on what's behind the stucco exactly where you want to hang these lights, and you probably shouldn't be making holes in stucco.
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May 31, 2023 18:23
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Is there wood trim surrounding a window or door nearby your could hang string lights from? I had success routing to something like that at my house. Or routing to some fascia on your roof overhang?
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May 31, 2023 18:32
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If ya want to do it real nice you can set four big posts and hang it from those. What I learned on the string lights is the swag is always more than you'd expect, and the mounting is always higher than you thought. Same with a shade sail. Deflection is a bitch.
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May 31, 2023 18:39
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I was hesitant to drill into my stucco when I hung lights, so I mounted a metal pole on the deck/landing at my house and then strung the lights from that.
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May 31, 2023 18:40
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What issues are there for drilling stucco? Curious because I've drilled a lot into stucco.
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May 31, 2023 18:43
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skipdogg posted:Personally I'm not a big fan of penetrating stucco (EIFS) if you can avoid it. Any other mounting options for the house side of things? There's a round junction box on the side of the house. Not sure how much weight I'd want to be hanging off that though. And if a branch lands on the wire and rips it off the house, I'd rather have it be a small hole around the eye screw I think I've drilled into stucco when needed for other things (mounting a flag, mounting a transformer box for low voltage lighting, etc)
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May 31, 2023 18:55
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As part of a larger project I need to build a backsplash for a home bar. Its very long and thin, about 6 inches high by about 12 linear feet. I would like to make it clean, smooth, waterproof and also, if possible, be very very thin. So, I am casting around for material ideas (suggestions welcome) and one thing I am considering is using rolled aluminum flashing. I am curios if anyone has experience with that and any advice they might have. Specifically I wondering/worrying about 2 things: getting it to lay flat, and holding it with adhesive. Any recommendations on adhesive to bond it to plywood are welcome as are suggestions on removing the "roll" out of it so it lays flat while adhesive sets.
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May 31, 2023 19:16
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StormDrain posted:If ya want to do it real nice you can set four big posts and hang it from those. What I learned on the string lights is the swag is always more than you'd expect, and the mounting is always higher than you thought. Sag can be mitigated a good bit by using some stainless steel cable to hang the string lights from, rather than letting them support their own weight. You can tighten up the cable a lot more than the string lights will support. For example: https://www.amazon.com/Litcher-Suspension-Cable%EF%BC%8CInclude-Transparent-Turnbuckle/dp/B07GJQQ9RT/
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May 31, 2023 19:19
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n0tqu1tesane posted:Sag can be mitigated a good bit by using some stainless steel cable to hang the string lights from, rather than letting them support their own weight. You can tighten up the cable a lot more than the string lights will support. Yes, and that tension is a force, and the weight of the string lights adds to that force. Whatever hardware in your structure has to be up to the task, and what it's mounted to as well. It really hurts on a post, its a tall unsupported member. Add tension and more force bends, raise it higher and it bends easier. Even harder on the shade sail mounts when it is left up and it snows unexpectedly.
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May 31, 2023 19:24
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Illuminado posted:What issues are there for drilling stucco? Curious because I've drilled a lot into stucco. Most of what folks call stucco these days is actually an Exterior Insulation Finishing System(EIFS), aka synthetic stucco. Depending on how and when it was installed, the EFIS could be acting as the moisture barrier to the home. Creating penetrations in the moisture barrier of the home is generally a bad idea if you can avoid it. Yes you can seal it up, but eventually that seal will probably fail, and by the time someone notices water has gotten behind the EIFS and rotted the wood out creating a very expensive repair. It's just personal preference to me. Updated installation requirements and methods have mitigated a lot of the issues with the product. It's difficult to give specific advice without knowing all the information. I generally try to minimize any sort of penetration into the home if possible. When/if water or rodents/insects or whatever get in, by the time you notice it's going to be a big headache to deal with.
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May 31, 2023 19:29
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