The Home Improvement Thread. Successes and Failures

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Lawns are dumb. I mow every couple of weeks so it doesn't get white trashy, and I occasionally hit the front with selective broadleaf killer to deal with dandelions so that we don't get in trouble with the city code enforcement busybody. Otherwise IDGAF and I'd just as soon turn my front lawn into something ultra low-maintenance. We do have to keep the back as long as we have a dog, but we're planning on eventually paving over part of it, installing some borders and planting beds, and transforming it into the bare minimum amount of grass needed for a dog run.

 

[Swansong]

This surprised no one more than me, but I've really enjoyed yardwork since moving out of condo life and into a single family home. My yard is small - the whole lot (plus house, garage, driveway, patio, deck, walkway, sidewalk) is like 1/6th of an acre so it's not like there's a ton to do.

But I've found it super rewarding to see an immaculate lawn.

 

[French Rage]

We had some grass recently placed in our front yard (maybe 1000 sqft?) before we moved in, probably to look nice and get the house sold, but it's been getting weaker over the past year plus. I was more than happy to mow it, since that amount takes all of 5 minutes, but it seems to be a losing battle to keep it alive. Plus they've cut back on lawn watering here to two days a week, and the grass was doing weakly at 4 days a week, so I think we may be fighting a losing battle here. We already have some fake turf in out side yard, and I've been seriously thinking about doing that in the front yard too. It does look nice, it's easy to keep raked, and it feels like having actual grass here is getting more and more irresponsible and untenable.

 

[LynahFan]

Lawn care here in Florida is amusing to me. Trying to keep nice grass growing on sand is….challenging. The good news is that groundwater is only ~6 ft down, so everyone just drills a pipe and plops a pump on top. The water filters through the sand and right back into the aquifer, so no harm ho foul. Unfortunately, most of the groundwater here is loaded with sulfur, so my kids coined the phrase, “stinklers,” which is perfect. Everything *except* grass grows like the land wants to return to the jungle, so I pay just as much in tree maintenance as I do in lawn care.

 

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

Oh god the sulfur is so bad. I once had a corporate apartment in jax. The sprinklers at night made area smell like rotten eggs. I started washing my hair in distilled water jugs from Publix because the water was so gross

 

[Swansong]

well that's awful

 

[dxmnkd316]

We had some grass recently placed in our front yard (maybe 1000 sqft?) before we moved in, probably to look nice and get the house sold, but it's been getting weaker over the past year plus. I was more than happy to mow it, since that amount takes all of 5 minutes, but it seems to be a losing battle to keep it alive. Plus they've cut back on lawn watering here to two days a week, and the grass was doing weakly at 4 days a week, so I think we may be fighting a losing battle here. We already have some fake turf in out side yard, and I've been seriously thinking about doing that in the front yard too. It does look nice, it's easy to keep raked, and it feels like having actual grass here is getting more and more irresponsible and untenable.

Almost certainly "quick green" or "contractor grass". Probably annual rye mixed in to whatever was

Also, the best way to water your grass is heavily once a week. It encourages the grass to push its roots deeper. Short waterings several times a week only makes the grass less drought-tolerant (and shallow root systems).

You need 1" per week, depending on the type and cultivar. I take the water meter readings, the area I'm watering, and then calculate a gallons/sq ft to give me a calibrated number for how long I need to water. You can easily do that with a small tupperware container while you water too.

 

[Slap Shot]

Almost certainly "quick green" or "contractor grass". Probably annual rye mixed in to whatever was

Also, the best way to water your grass is heavily once a week. It encourages the grass to push its roots deeper. Short waterings several times a week only makes the grass less drought-tolerant (and shallow root systems).

The once per week method might very well work, but I experienced very good results employing a different method. Bear in mind my house (had) and cabin (have) built-in sprinklers with timers. From my experience shorter spurts twice per day before the air temps rise and additionally after the sun sets produced a very lush result.

 

[walrus]

Citation needed.

It was all over the news. Apparently folks don't understand how much Round Up is sprayed in the US. Want your grains dead so you can harvest, lets spray Round Up and then grind it into flour or make animal feed, yea for Round up in your food. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/glyphos...ling-chemical/

I'll never understand why people want to poison where they live for a lawn. And having a water table so close to the surface and using it to water the lawn means every chemical placed on the lawn means it goes in the aquifer also.

I'd also suggest googling how much energy goes into lawn/yard care in US and what impact does that have on global warming

 

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

I agree with Warus. I think the round up piece is true also but can’t verify.

i can’t wait for people to get used to not having a green lawn. I’m using the quack grass situation to get rid of a bunch of grassy area

 

[Spartanforlife4]

I had one die in the old house. Bought a replacement from Amazon and hooked it up with minimum fuss. Just make sure you wire it correctly.

One other thing to check -- the pipes that lead to the pump may be clogged with years of gunk. I had that problem too around the same time. Bought a test tube cleaner brush and gave the pipes a workout. That cured the problem.

Since then I've become diligent in cleaning the pipe u-turn (trap?) once a year.

Finally, clean your outside unit at least once every 2 years. My AC company wanted $400, but YouTube U showed me how to do it. You need a shop vac, spray foam cleaner made for ac's (home supply store or Amazon) and a garden hose. Looks like a 1-2 hour job. Cleaner arrives tomorrow from Amazon.

You were right about the gunk. I tried cleaning the pump at first thinking it may not even be broken, just clogged. When I unhooked it the pump the collection basin was filled about halfway with sludge from up to 20 years of neglect. Then we put vinegar through drain line from the humidifier to the condensate pump and that dumped out even more grit and sludge. Can’t seem to be able to access the line coming from the AC/furnace, so

Alas, it was broken despite my attempt to save it, but the new one is hooked up and running great. Haven’t accessed the pipe coming from the AC coils on top of the furnace, so the full cleaning may only be partially done, but it seems to be running okay so far.

 

[dxmnkd316]

It was all over the news. Apparently folks don't understand how much Round Up is sprayed in the US. Want your grains dead so you can harvest, lets spray Round Up and then grind it into flour or make animal feed, yea for Round up in your food. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/glyphos...ling-chemical/

I'll never understand why people want to poison where they live for a lawn. And having a water table so close to the surface and using it to water the lawn means every chemical placed on the lawn means it goes in the aquifer also.

I'd also suggest googling how much energy goes into lawn/yard care in US and what impact does that have on global warming

Calm down. I said citation needed not you're full of shit.

Thank you for the link.

 

[dxmnkd316]

The once per week method might very well work, but I experienced very good results employing a different method. Bear in mind my house (had) and cabin (have) built-in sprinklers with timers. From my experience shorter spurts twice per day before the air temps rise and additionally after the sun sets produced a very lush result.

Of course it produces lush results. Because you use an assload of water. Lol

 

[dxmnkd316]

I agree with Warus. I think the round up piece is true also but can’t verify.

i can’t wait for people to get used to not having a green lawn. I’m using the quack grass situation to get rid of a bunch of grassy area

We're expanding our landscaped and mulched area after not liking the original plan once we had it in. We've taken out about 20% of our grass in the front. Plans to do another 20% with landscaping around another tree and another 10% with expansion of a walking area that grass doesn't grow great in anyways. We're also going to take out probably 10-15% with the new deck in the backyard. And another 10% with expanded edge landscaping. we're also going to do some raise before gardens and pollinator gardens next year.

It's pretty incredible the reduction we're planning. Almost unthinkable 10 years ago.

 

[Slap Shot]

Of course it produces lush results. Because you use an assload of water. Lol

10 mins at a time is not an assload - and I should have clarified I didn't do this every day of week.

 

[Swansong]

My best results have come from watering each zone between 5-20 minutes (depending on temperature and general rainfall) each day before it gets hot. So I start it at about 4:45 AM and it's done with all five zones by 6:30.

 

[joecct]

More fun with the air conditioner compressor.

While out of town down in Williamsburg, our thermostat starts reporting 80+ degree temps in the house. We have (had) one of those energy things from our electric company on and our neighborhood newsletter reported that giving the thingy a whack or two restores the compressor to life. I sent my daughter over and two whacks later the AC is working again.

So I called PEPCO to come out and check the thingy. They said all was AOK, but that night the AC went out again.

We had our scheduled vacation down in SC the next day so I monitored the temps and we got up to 80s. Called PEPCO out to remove the box,they did, but the AC still was out.

Called the HVAC company. They came out today. I was prepared for a new mega bucks AC unit. Nope. The capacitator was shot and $199 later, we have AC.

Whew. And they deep cleaned the coils for a discounted price.

The AC unit is 8 years old. Glad it wasn't shot.

 

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

New house went up door. They had to build a swale between our driveways for drainage.

city engineer told landscaper to have swale dump the water on my property so it literally dumps water onto the crack where the apron from street meets driveway. I tried to have my driveway seal coated yesterday and they couldn’t finish since the swale dumped water on my driveway.

im not pleased . They put in irrigation system so there now will be water being dumped on my driveway every day

 

[dxmnkd316]

New house went up door. They had to build a swale between our driveways for drainage.

city engineer told landscaper to have swale dump the water on my property so it literally dumps water onto the crack where the apron from street meets driveway. I tried to have my driveway seal coated yesterday and they couldn’t finish since the swale dumped water on my driveway.

im not pleased . They put in irrigation system so there now will be water being dumped on my driveway every day

You can't harm someone else's property like that especially with regards to drainage. I can't take all of the water on my property and dump it into my neighbors yard.

 

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

You can't harm someone else's property like that especially with regards to drainage. I can't take all of the water on my property and dump it into my neighbors yard.

City of Edina engineer told me to pound sand just now. They have no code or obligation to improve anything- they just can’t make someone more harmed than before. She said overall they deem me less harmed than before the house was built, so they cannot and will not ask my neighbor to move the discharge, even though she admitted that the water sitting there will cause damage