Home Improvement/Remodel Thread

[Tugboat]

16 hours ago, Outpost31 said:

I never knew I would enjoy yardwork, but there is something about having a house, having a yard and improving the way it looks.  The feels you get when you put all that manual labor into something and then see the result is better than any video game and any movie (with the exception of The Thing and a couple others).

I always hated, loathed and despised yardwork when the house was my parent’s or when I was renting.  Now?  It’s damn cathartic.  

So far I have turned one patch of weed-infested area into a mulch pad with a lilac bush to be planted, I’ve turned a mud/dirt filled spot in front of my fence into a beautiful river rock bed, and I’ve turned a root and weed and shaded dead spot in my back yard to a white marble rock bed with a tree in the middle.  Looks frickin majestic at night.  

And the best part is that I have done it all literally by myself and I’ve learned/improved with each new project.  The weed block is kinda sticking up in the first bed I finished, so I will have to go back and fix that, but the second one is flawless, having taught myself a few lessons from my mistakes.  

Cannot wait until I plant some grass in my backyard.  That first beer after a day’s work in a finished back yard is going to be amazing.  

I’m going to have my front and back yard completely finished by the winter, at which point I’m going to turn my attention to the interior.  

My spare bedroom is going to be turned into my office/library with an America/author theme.  Got some flag pictures, a couple Lincoln pictures and all the history books I’ve been collecting as well as a framed calligraphy poster of Poe’s Annabelle Lee and a Poe portrait.  I’ll be looking out for more of those.

My basement is going to be an epic movie theater room.  Going to drop about 5,000 on the biggest TV and best sound system I can buy and then fill it with all the movie memorabilia I’ve been collecting over the years.  

Might have a lot of questions in this thread come winter time because I understand the gist of landscaping and figured (correctly) I could learn as I go on my yard, but inside is when I’ll need a lot of help.

You got that 45 degree mow angle action going yet?  If not, you absolutely should.  It's the hottest way to mow a lawn, by far.  Addition satisfaction for sure.

[theJ]

I was all geared up to work on the crawl space today and prep for my next electrical project - then the mower crapped out last night. 1 PTO clutch and a shaft seal later and that's done. But I only got half the yard done and no work in the crawl. 

Productive Saturday

 

[vike daddy]

been extending the leech lines this weekend on a septic field at a house i bought. lots of fun.

[Tugboat]

On 12/08/2019 at 11:20 PM, vike daddy said:

been extending the leech lines this weekend on a septic field at a house i bought. lots of fun.

Sounds poopy tbh.

[Tugboat]

On 10/08/2019 at 6:34 PM, theJ said:

I was all geared up to work on the crawl space today and prep for my next electrical project - then the mower crapped out last night. 1 PTO clutch and a shaft seal later and that's done. But I only got half the yard done and no work in the crawl. 

Productive Saturday

 

Stuff always seems to have a way of piling on like that.  Just waiting for something else to need doing, before it blows up and needs attention first.

[navysaintsfan]

So, we are new homeowners, and just identified one of the first things we might like to update. Its a split level home, and right here above the front door we are thinking about one of those nice accent windows? A nice frosted glass maybe. Just something to let a little more light in during some of the nice sunny days. Maybe also replace the door with something with a nice frosted window as well.

[vike daddy]

3 hours ago, Tugboat said:

Sounds poopy tbh.

no, not at all.

the way a septic system works is that all the fixtures and toilets of a house drain in to a central line that enters the tank, a 1000 or 1500 gallon concrete, or now plastic, vault. the "solids" as we politely call then fall to the bottom of the tank and become a sludge that is periodically pumped out, and once the tank is full only fluid escapes in to the leech lines in your yard which disperse it and allow it to creep in to the soil.

the system i was working on, a house i bought recently, hadn't been used very much lately and before then was only being used by one person, an old lady living in the house. so the leech lines themselves were bone dry and dusty.

but thanks for your concern, lol.

 

Edited August 14, 2019 by vike daddy

[theJ]

1 hour ago, navysaintsfan said:

So, we are new homeowners, and just identified one of the first things we might like to update. Its a split level home, and right here above the front door we are thinking about one of those nice accent windows? A nice frosted glass maybe. Just something to let a little more light in during some of the nice sunny days. Maybe also replace the door with something with a nice frosted window as well.

 

Both great ideas.  I'd personally go with a round top window over the door.  Looks more uniform instead of just an add-on, but either way would be an improvement.

Also, for vinyl sided houses that are white/grey/brown, i'm a big fan of a front door with some color.  A nice bright red or green or blue.  I think your house was a pale yellow or something IIRC?

[Hockey5djh]

Busy weekend for me over here.

 

 

[Hockey5djh]

Don't mind those first images, they were from the first week or so when we bought the house.

[theJ]

On 8/26/2019 at 9:05 AM, Hockey5djh said:

Don't mind those first images, they were from the first week or so when we bought the house.

Looks really good!

[Dome]

looking at building some heavy duty shelves in the garage. 2x4s and plywood. so many plans are similar, but just a little different.

is there on way of building them that people feel is better than the other ways? whether it's getting the most out of your lumber or just an easy way to do it, what do you think is best?

I've built some patio furniture and a couple decks so I'm comfortable building stuff, I just don't know which process/plans I should follow when there's so many to choose from.

[theJ]

6 hours ago, Dome said:

looking at building some heavy duty shelves in the garage. 2x4s and plywood. so many plans are similar, but just a little different.

is there on way of building them that people feel is better than the other ways? whether it's getting the most out of your lumber or just an easy way to do it, what do you think is best?

I've built some patio furniture and a couple decks so I'm comfortable building stuff, I just don't know which process/plans I should follow when there's so many to choose from.

I like a nice cantilevered shelf.  I use it for lumber storage, so i don't have plywood spanning the supports.  But you can add plywood and it's functional for anything.  The plus is that you don't have any posts getting in your way for bulkier stuff.  Minus is it's a little harder to construct.  Picture and a video below.

Basic premise is 2x4 mounted to the studs in your wall, with your cantilevers attached to them.  At about 2:30 in the video he starts making the cantilevered supports.

 -  

 

[theJ]

GRUBS

So i'm fighting grubs, again.  These things seem to follow me wherever i move.  It's ridiculous.

Back in 2012 moved out of a rental.  At the time, the lawn had been completely nuked by grubs.  At the time, i didn't know much about the stupid things, but the landlord educated me a bit before we moved.

After we moved, i realized the new house had them pretty bad when a mole problem cropped up, and some of the grass started to yellow.  I had a fairly decent sized property, but a lot of woods, so treating with some Grub-Ex didn't put me out much.  I treated twice per year, and just nuked the lawn with that nasty crap to keep the grubs at bay.  If i was a few weeks late on treatment, the moles let me know.

We moved again earlier this year.  A few weeks ago the moles moved back in with us.  I checked the lawn - yep, grubs, again.  Sigh.  These things are relentless.  But now i have acres of lawn, and treating with Grub-Ex twice/year would be a $1000/year thing.  That's just not going to happen.  I'll see a dead lawn, or a "lawn" filled with clover before i spend that kind of coin on just killing grubs.

 

So...anyone have experience with some sustainable ways of treating grubs?  Some things i found in my 1-2 hours of research tonight.

• Replant with tall fescue - more resistant to grubs
• Replant with some clover - grubs don't attack it
• Use milky spore sometime next year, because it will stay in the soil for year, helping to keep the grub population lower

I'm thinking i'll go ahead and replant, and cross my fingers that the grubs won't kill off the new grass before it has a chance to start.  Maybe throw down one bag of grub-ex in the spots that are really really dead and have to be completely replanted (the places i overseed will just be at the mercy of the living grubs).

[Tugboat]

9 hours ago, theJ said:

GRUBS

So i'm fighting grubs, again.  These things seem to follow me wherever i move.  It's ridiculous.

Back in 2012 moved out of a rental.  At the time, the lawn had been completely nuked by grubs.  At the time, i didn't know much about the stupid things, but the landlord educated me a bit before we moved.

After we moved, i realized the new house had them pretty bad when a mole problem cropped up, and some of the grass started to yellow.  I had a fairly decent sized property, but a lot of woods, so treating with some Grub-Ex didn't put me out much.  I treated twice per year, and just nuked the lawn with that nasty crap to keep the grubs at bay.  If i was a few weeks late on treatment, the moles let me know.

We moved again earlier this year.  A few weeks ago the moles moved back in with us.  I checked the lawn - yep, grubs, again.  Sigh.  These things are relentless.  But now i have acres of lawn, and treating with Grub-Ex twice/year would be a $1000/year thing.  That's just not going to happen.  I'll see a dead lawn, or a "lawn" filled with clover before i spend that kind of coin on just killing grubs.

 

So...anyone have experience with some sustainable ways of treating grubs?  Some things i found in my 1-2 hours of research tonight.

• Replant with tall fescue - more resistant to grubs
• Replant with some clover - grubs don't attack it
• Use milky spore sometime next year, because it will stay in the soil for year, helping to keep the grub population lower

I'm thinking i'll go ahead and replant, and cross my fingers that the grubs won't kill off the new grass before it has a chance to start.  Maybe throw down one bag of grub-ex in the spots that are really really dead and have to be completely replanted (the places i overseed will just be at the mercy of the living grubs).

Have you tried hiring Birds, via an nice bird feeder setup?  Just 'cause you feed them, ain't mean they don't want a grub for desert.  And the more birds you can lure to hang around your house...the more grubs will get eated usually.