thoiboi

Instructions unclear, bought more CLOV and weed stocks

CCColtsicehockey

I have not done a soil test. With all the work I have put in I really should have done one by now. I need to get that done. I have thought of burning the whole thing and starting from scratch but honestly, although these problem areas and the weed areas I am working to control on the rest of the yard it is still probably less than 1/3 of the yard maybe only 1/4 of it. Not sure it would be worth killing it all. The grass area of the yard is a good 16-17k sqft. One of the areas won't matter in a year it will be concrete drive. The area by the fire pit and the area between the woods and the bed are the two areas I really want to have a good solid grass growth figured out.

CCColtsicehockey

Clover, I have a few patches but not a ton. Crabgrass is extra bad this year. I think I got the preemergent down just a little late this year. Also, still trying to kill off one area of Bermuda that crept in from a neighbors yard.

civicdrivr

iTrader: (9)

Do you treat throughout the season as well?

CCColtsicehockey

Yeah, I do Scott's weed and feed throughout the year except missed this summer because by the time I usually do it it was so hot out and I didn't want to burn the grass.

I also do tenacity down at seeding since you can use it as a preemergent when seeding TTTF and KBG. Going to switch to a liquid preemergent this year as well called Prodiamine. Been trying to switch to a lot of liquid application stuff since it is much cheaper to buy when I am treating 17k sqft. Between Tenacity and Prodiamine I should be able to have the yard coated in preemergent the entire year. The biggest things now to deal with will be the Poa Annua and Virginia Buttonweed that I have some of since those seeds can live in the ground for 2-3 years before sprouting. Virigina Buttonweed also grows from rhizomes, seeds, and even its own clippings. Pain in the ass stuff. I managed to reduce my infestation by half when I weeded out pretty much all of it last year before overseeding. Then planted new grass in all those places. Still, half the places came back. I Will repeat it all over again and hopefully I can at least knock out half of what is left.

civicdrivr

iTrader: (9)

Scotts sucks.

Get a soil test done (do multiple sections of your yard) and see what you need. Then go from there.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

I think it depends on the grass type...the pink weed & feed from Scott's was great for St Augustine at my old place.

SamDoe1

You don't have to scorched earth the whole thing, just the part you want to redo. Till it up, add some fresh soil, and reseed. Doing the soil test will certainly answer the question of why is nothing growing.

This. Scotts blows. It's a generic blend of shit that's supposed to work for everyone but works for no one. Kind of like the all season tires of the grass world. Get what you need to specifically treat the situation you have.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

It worked great on St. Augustine grass in Florida.
***this thing on?***

The only thing it couldn't erradick-ate was crab grass...that shit is like a mini tree
and way too robust.

civicdrivr

iTrader: (9)

So it didn't work...

St Augustine is popular in FL but not NC. NC is mostly fescues.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

I would be shocked if there was something that would kill crabgrass and NOT kill the grass, our firstborn and all roaches at the same time.
But yes...
I got yard of the month on this shit...so it did work.

CCColtsicehockey

It is hard to kill without using something that will kill the grass you are correct. The answer isn't to kill grab grass. It dies in the cold. The solution is to prevent it from coming back with a preemergent. Even in FL I think it should get cold enough for it to die on it's own. At least with fescue I can also use tenacity as a post-emergent to help kill it.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

well then there's my problem right there...
it hasn't been cold enough for long enough for some years now.

I keep checking my crabgrass for @justnspace but haven't seen him lately.

CCColtsicehockey

Not much to report on the garage build since the last update. I have finished my plans about as far as I can go with them. I will be getting the builder's take on them in the next week or so to make sure everything I have tried to do is actually possible from a building standpoint. Still finishing up my 3d models I am working on for it but it might be easier to just wait as the builder is also an architect and will do the full plans anyways. Pretty sure I am sold on doing synthetic wood garage doors from Cloplay even if it means I need to do a stick build garage and subcontract out the inside. Just something I really want on the final look of the house.

We had some heavy winds and rain the other day. Some trees came down up by my dad's place including trapping 4 families on a culdesac so went up with my chainsaw and cleared it out before any of the tree services could arrive.





The newest addition to the family, Kenzi, checking out my work. Only 7 months old but she is doing pretty good on her off leash training already.


Got the road clear about 30min after a family that was to move that day moving truck showed up.




Then we randomly got snow at the end of the rain storm.


Nice welcome back home present to see while I was gone I had a tree of my own down that also took out a section of my fence.




Took down the rest of the tree figuring it was only a matter of time before it would come down too


Fixed the fence so the dogs couldn't get out. Thankfully I had one spare split rail left from the last time I had to do repairs. Need to stock up again.


So happy to have the loader to save my back


Split some of it last weekend.


This weekend I split the rest but realized my bottom beams had rotted out so replaced them with some old fence posts that I had to replace.






Something about splitting wood is oddly relaxing to me. Almost go out of my way to find some wood to split at times. Have plenty for the next year of fires but will probably still be on the look out for more.

BreezyTL

iTrader: (8)

Good work on clearing the road. Splitting wood is good exercise and fun swinging/hitting things while accomplishing a task. OCD ass wood pile, burn that shit on the bottom right and stack it correctly next time!

CCColtsicehockey

Shit on the bottom sucks. It is trash pine and most to thin to split but yeah the stuff I had split in there I should have stacked right. I am sure my OCD will get the best of me at some point and I will tear it down and restack

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

how are the mailboxes around your way though? built solid?

civicdrivr

iTrader: (9)

I'm sure they're pretty solid. It's the landscapers you have to worry about.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Landscapers are the worst. More like scapegoaters, am I right?
Fuck that guy.

Midnight Mystery

Let the dogs out before the landscaper arrives to see things straight.

CCColtsicehockey

Have a couple of dead trees on the property that I need to remove. One had a chance it could fall on my shed and the other would allow me to widen an often used path on the property. The one by the shed was smaller and I don't have any pictures of it. I should though cause it certainly gave me enough trouble trying to fall on the shed even with the precautions I took to prevent it. The other one I dropped right where I wanted. It was very dead from insect damage. It is a problem I have been fighting. Obviously can't spray the entire woods but definitely have started spray further into the woods in hope of keeping them out of the trees that are closest to the house.



Eaten a bit by ants


It is crazy what this thing lifts. Makes cutting rounds easy though when you can get the entire tree in the air at once.


Restacked all the wood I just cut as the regular pile was getting small again and I need a place to stack these two trees.



I spent a lot of time on the garage plans this past week in SketchUp. Really starting to love the program for doing drawings. I know I am using it wrong in certain aspects of making the plans but it got me a decent visual ahead of time that I can show an architect. The way I did the one internal wall isn't right so when I decided I wanted to move it 1.5ft closer to the middle of the building I would need to almost start over. Decided I will just tell the architect that and not bother with it. I have to have not only plans from an architect but also engineering drawings as well so I can't even create my own plans.

Still need to figure out my lighting and electrical plan and if I am going to plump for air connections or not. I am missing the bathroom under the inside stairs in my plans as well as the pressure washer station on the wall next to the person door between the garage doors.

I also am concerned a bit about where this will end up price wise. The latest design has gone a bit far and maybe to far at this point. Fully expect my next quote to be way past the point of doable.

BreezyTL

iTrader: (8)

Good lord. I'd put a living space in there too. Tell the wife I will see her when I see her in crossing. That looks too nice for an extra garage!!

00TL-P3.2

That's 2nd/guest house looking.
Love it.
Do it.

SamDoe1

That looks amazing. Your sketchup skillz are also amazing, where did you learn?

I wouldn't bother plumbing for a compressor, switch to battery tools and be done. Air compressors aren't really worth it anymore.

CCColtsicehockey

I have septic I can't actually increase my sleeping space legally without adding a second tank.

Haha, thanks but I can't take credit for all of it. I only designed the building. The lifts, cabinets, garage doors, and windows/doors are all from the shape catalogs that are available for use. I did take some AutoCad courses in high school so I have a bit of an understand of the tools. Still learning as well though. I watched a few videos and realized I was doing the windows and doorways wrong as there are some simple ways to do the trim around those openings which I did not do.

Yeah, you are probably right on the battery tools. Probably just keep my existing compressor and plumb it up the wall to a 50ft real for filling tires and call it a day.

SamDoe1

I'm pretty good with Solidworks but Sketchup is always a mystery to me. I unfortunately can't use solidworks at home because it's ludicrously expensive so I need to learn sketchup and/or F360. Seems like all the influencers are all in on sketchup though.

CCColtsicehockey

I even did all that on the free Web version. I am doing it all on a Chromebook. Actually currently trying to figure out if I can install Sketup Desktop 2017 on the linux VM on my Chromebook. The Web version doesn't allow you to render things.

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

Looks bad ass, Jason!

Do you need the walk-in door on the front if you have one on the side?

CCColtsicehockey

I have been going back and forth on that myself as to whether I do. It is somewhat to mirror the current garage. Also was planning to put my pressure wash hardwired and hard plumbed system so I can just pull the hose out the door to wash cars in the driveway. I really should update the pictures with the landscape around as well as it should define more whether I want to keep it. My fence will be 1ft to the right of the far right garage door. The back door will only be accessible from the backyard or going through the gate first and not from the driveway.

CCColtsicehockey

Earlier this year a landscaper took out my repaired mailbox post. It was just a few days after one year from when I had repaired it. The guy tried to act like he was doing the right thing and coming to tell me would take care of it and make it right. Got his number, he told me to send him a bill for what the post cost. Got him the bill and he pulled a 180. Went back and forth with him for 2 weeks. He told me I was crazy, I was trying to scam him, and that the cost of the post was more than the cost to fix his truck. I had a metal mailbox post. The new version, from the same company, was $365 shipped. Sure I could have could a similar cheaper one but you broke it not my fault. He disappeared for like 2 weeks on me after that. Reached out to a neighbor to get their direct contact/owner of the company.

The owner called me 3hours after I reached out via email with the full story and pictures. Found out that guy was nothing but trouble for him. He had already fired him. He also had no idea the guy had hit something with his truck either. An hour after we had gotten off the phone he had Zelled me the money no questions asked. Super standup guy.

Finally ordered the new post. Then the weather was either bad or I had other things going on for the next 3 weeks. Finally got around to installing it last week.

Not only did the buy manage to hit the mailbox with the trailer he hit it so much he had run over the bed with the trailer tires and messed up the glued together block.

Started with separating the mulch.


Luckily the mailbox had managed to work for 2 months after that even though he broke the top support clean off. Dug down some more to get the weed mat up.


There was so much mulch and dirty the 18in screwdrive I had used to test a week earlier told me there was no concrete. Well that was wrong.


Post was installed on this metal insert with 4 screws. These things are supposed to be the size of a 4x4 but this one was no where close.




After lots of digging, I was able to get the thing out of the ground.




As part of this project I want to relocate a sprinkler head that was obviously installed before someone decided to install a decorative bed wall around the mailbox. 2/3 of the sprinkler arc just blasted the pavers. So I was moving it inside the bed.


After a lot of tamping the clay tight around the post every 2-3in it was nice and secure. I chose not to do concrete seeing as the post has been hit 2x in 12 months. Figure this way maybe if it is hit again at least it won't break. Weed mating back in place. Just need the mulch.


So the mailbox I had bought when my last one rusted through was not the same brand as the post I had. It fit just fine. Well apparently they went to a much more substantial mount plate with this one and their new mailboxes are larger than the one I have. I had to trim the brand new post arm.


There is also a raised lip on the bottom tray. It allows the box to sit up a bit higher than I like so I might end up trimming it off as well. You can only see it from certain angles though.


The other hazard of running a post and mailbox that are different brands. The finishes don't match. I really like the finish of the post and already found the powder coat they used for it. Thinking I will have the mailbox re-powder coated to match sometime soon.

SamDoe1

Looks awesome!

Next time you have to replace this when it gets run over again don't bother digging it up. Just wedge a 2x4 under the lip and get a 4x4 or a log as a lever and just pry it out of the ground. Can be done super fast lol. Mine was wood so I just screwed a piece of ply to the side to use as a pry point.

civicdrivr

iTrader: (9)

The difference in finishes is bothering me.

You should feel bad.

00TL-P3.2

Nice work.
We're thinking about capitalizing on the crazy market here & downsizing a bit & adding property.
Houses are turning in under a week, so it's tricky. We have found a few contenders, but they're offer accepted before we even get in touch with our realtor.

House around the corner from us, similar floor plan, but smaller lot, was listed for almost 250k more than we bought our house for

civicdrivr

iTrader: (9)

Do it.

00TL-P3.2

We're gong to see where a refi would put us, but our realtor gave us a potential listing price on our house, and we'd be able to put a large down pmt (like 40-60% down) on something smaller with an acre or more.
Challenge is finding it, and jumping on it quickly when we're both working full time in the office. Market's so much different than when we bought in '17.

CCColtsicehockey

The market is crazy right now for sure. Similar case to you mine has jumped 250k in price from what I paid 6 years ago. Most of that is really in the last 2. Get land and have fewer neighbors. Best thing.

CCColtsicehockey

Kind of really hate it too. Need to find out how bad it is to powder coat it since the hinge piece is not removable.

00TL-P3.2

We found a nearly ideal place on 1.5 ac.
It's a lot smaller than what we have now, but we estimate we're not using almost 1000 sq ft of our space right now.

Realtor says it may have an offer, but has stayed 'live' online for the past couple days.

Realter & lender estimate our house would probably sell in under a week.
We'll be spending the next couple days prepping to be ready to list at the drop of a hat. We want to hold off on listing until we're in process on a purchase. In the worst case that we can't find a house to buy, we don't want to get stuck with no home if ours sells first.

civicdrivr

iTrader: (9)

No one notices.

CCColtsicehockey

I have recently learned that information I was given in January 2021 as to understanding the zoning regulations as far a size of an 'accessory structure' which includeds detached garages and sheds among other things is calculated. The regulation states that the footprint of the accessory strucutres can't exceed the first floor heated square footage of the pimary structure. It was originaly explained to me is that footprint was just the dimensnions of the first floor of the structure and that the square footage of other floors did not factor in. I have since been told this is incorrect. I have asked for further clarification on this as it severly impacts the other size of my garage. Effectively to build it detached it would be cut in half or build it single story to get at least the garage space needs I am looking for. Still waiting to hear back on all of that.

I don't do well sitting idle for someone else to tell me things. There is another almost loophole in this regulation and that if the two structures are attached at the roof line they are considerd not detached. To take this one step further by roof line it means as simple as a small breezeway roof covering the walk path from two buildings. Doing this means you have zero size regulations on the additional structure. This has been verified by the township. Should I want to pay for it I could build a 5000sqft garage using this look hole.

I spent the past weekend working on a new plan to take advantage of this. I was originally againt a plan like this as I was trying to build it as far in the side woods as I could to try and not make the property look like a compount. I also didn't want to block my back 8ft wide gate to the rear yard. My gate on the other side of the house is only 4ft wide and doesn't fit the tractor through. Didn't really want to redo that gate. Woud also prefer not having to go through that gate over the yard with the tractor everytime I need to use it for something that isn't mowing. Making a long breezeway more of a porto cochere was an option but would be rather expensive to have say a 35/40ft vy 20ft covering over my driveway connecting the two structures was my other idea originally. This time around I chose for a smaller one but still wide enough for the tractor. 10ft should be enough seeing as the tractor is 56in and the widest point.

This design does bring the breezeway rather close to my AC units. Should leave me a 6.5ft wide area to enter the breezeway with the tractor. I am considering widening the breezeway to 11 or 12ft just to make sure it is plenty wide. Had I originallg gone this route I would not have had to go through with my zoning text amendendment to build in the side yard as being attached makes this not count as building a detached strucutre in the side yard. Probably not worth fighting with them over that $400 but still annoying.

So here is the first go around of the new design. I have not finishe the rear and side window placements. I had to render the house to go with this to see how it fit. This will need to be dug into the ground even more than the previous design so that it is level with the existing driveway. somewhere around 2ft 4in - 2ft 8in is the current guesss without having a survey done. I also need to rethink and plan where the powerwash station goes and the cabinet layouts for this build. By breaking up the garage into two halfs with the shop in the corner it technically will hold one car less. Let's be honest it was unlikely I woud ever own 8 cars. I do have to also be careful because the U shape nature of everything means cars will always need to be parked in the garages to make sure not to block any other cars from getting out.













I do unfortunately lose about 250sqft more of my backyard going to this design over the previous one. It does make the house look a bit more like a compound. I do gain a cosiderable amount of additional space in the wood shop, 100+ sqft.