The Home Improvement Thread

[Taco Loco]

My HD charges a flat $65 to deliver to my house. I already made a parts list, because I would like to have a waterline ran out to the garden. I’m hoping HD would put their mulch flower bed mulch on sale 5 for $10.

My boys dug 130’ trench to the shop for the buried hot wire on the electric fence, it took them about 2 days goofing around, easy digging here, all sand.

Weather over the next few days is expected to wet, Pacific Jet stream is supposed to stuck over Texas for the 4 days and it's supposed to bring in a lot of moisture. We need the rain, guess I can’t complain too much, might to work on something out in the shop, I definitely need to pick up and do some cleaning.

 

[Taco Loco]

@Oswego

Use grease on the hose bibb threads, that hose you bought, the ends are not copper and the hose will seize onto your hose bibb, I have 2 of those hoses.

 

[Taco Loco]

After 3 or 4 days, I finally got this bastard, there are about 6 or 7 mounds he made, not shown in the pictures.

 

[AlienXtx]

Fuckers. I have at least one, but he's sparatic in mound building

 

[Oswego]

Oh damn, your getting serious with ordering tiller, that’s like paying for gym membership and not attending,

To be fair, I cleared my garden area with the tractor before I put electric fencing up. I also moved 14yds of mulch/compost and dump it into 3 piles in the garden, From the piles, I move it by loading up 5gallon bucket a time, to dump on my rows.

Came down to time vs money and at this point my time is worth more than the money the tiller costs. Should of just gotten it last fall/winter. Trying to hand till a 500sqft bed thats never been tilled before sucks

Spoke to my buddy from NYC who thought he had #19. Turns out it was just a URI and he got lucky. Somehow he got tested by accident. Went in for flue and strep test and after he came up neg for them they gave him a #19 test before SHTF in NYC. He's 41yo so based on what Ive heard he should not have gotten it. Said it took them 4 days to get his results back. Poor guy was telling me about all his dead co-workers. His list is up to 9 people he knows and worked with.

So... on another topic besides death he was making fun of me for getting the tiller. He's one of those "no till" tree huger guys. He works in NYC but has 35 acres on a river w/his wife and child.

My HD charges a flat $65 to deliver to my house. I already made a parts list, because I would like to have a waterline ran out to the garden. I’m hoping HD would put their mulch flower bed mulch on sale 5 for $10.

My boys dug 130’ trench to the shop for the buried hot wire on the electric fence, it took them about 2 days goofing around, easy digging here, all sand.

Weather over the next few days is expected to wet, Pacific Jet stream is supposed to stuck over Texas for the 4 days and it's supposed to bring in a lot of moisture. We need the rain, guess I can’t complain too much, might to work on something out in the shop, I definitely need to pick up and do some cleaning.

We had crazy winds last night. Downed branches all over my yard this morning.

@Oswego

Use grease on the hose bibb threads, that hose you bought, the ends are not copper and the hose will seize onto your hose bibb, I have 2 of those hoses.

Thanks for the tip! Ill need it because that hose will be connected and disconnected once a year max. I had a feeling I should of splurged on a commercial grade one, but oh well - known corrosion issues before I even get it

 

[Taco Loco]

Came down to time vs money and at this point my time is worth more than the money the tiller costs. Should of just gotten it last fall/winter. Trying to hand till a 500sqft bed thats never been tilled before sucks

Spoke to my buddy from NYC who thought he had #19. Turns out it was just a URI and he got lucky. Somehow he got tested by accident. Went in for flue and strep test and after he came up neg for them they gave him a #19 test before SHTF in NYC. He's 41yo so based on what Ive heard he should not have gotten it. Said it took them 4 days to get his results back. Poor guy was telling me about all his dead co-workers. His list is up to 9 people he knows and worked with.

So... on another topic besides death he was making fun of me for getting the tiller. He's one of those "no till" tree huger guys. He works in NYC but has 35 acres on a river w/his wife and child.



We had crazy winds last night. Downed branches all over my yard this morning.



Thanks for the tip! Ill need it because that hose will be connected and disconnected once a year max. I had a feeling I should of splurged on a commercial grade one, but oh well - known corrosion issues before I even get it

consider upgrading your hose bibb too, with running a 100ft hose, look at the difference in the internal shut off valve, makes a huge difference with volume of water.


standard vs. compact 1/4 turn vs. large handle 1/4 turn
Same order as picture.

standard vs. large handle 1/4 turn

 

[Oswego]

I'm running almost 200'

Gotta use frost free bibs up here. Learned that the hard way on year 1 or 2 of ownership when I never insulated or turned off my exterior bibs. Had 3 down to 1 now

Plumbing was a joke when I bought. Ripped out everything except for one and upgraded that one because it branches right off my main supply line and I only had to buy the bib and solder it in. When I upgrade the whole house Ill be putting in pex with home runs to each item but for now running the hose from the front of my house to the back with a old commercial 3/4" hose line to the back (blue ball in sketch) where Ill attach the new one. When I upgrade Ill be adding hot and cold to my driveway, the rear of the house where the blue ball is, and the current location I'm using. Lucky for me I have a unfinished basement so it's fairly easy install when I get around to it.

 

[Taco Loco]

I forgot about the frost free bibb up there, oh well.

I’m running 175’ of hose, I will eventually put in a buried pvc section going out to the garden, with 2 or 3 hose bibbs, not considering pex, because of those damn pocket gophers, pex is much thinner than the pvc.

 

[Oswego]

I forgot about the frost free bibb up there, oh well.

I’m running 175’ of hose, I will eventually put in a buried pvc section going out to the garden, with 2 or 3 hose bibbs, not considering pex, because of those damn pocket gophers, pex is much thinner than the pvc.

I'm not running any lines exterior. Too much BS with the cold weather + in a subtropical humid climate water is not needed all that much here. Think we just had 4-5 days of nonstop rain finally stop and let the sun out yesterday. I'm planting native species so only need to get them started for the first couple weeks & maybe sporadically if we get a drought. Hose is mainly to get some grass seed going in some bare spots I have in my lawn of weeds + anything big I plant. Should of done the grass patching in fall for best results, but whatever I don't really have grass....it's a mix of weeds and moss and sand

Just spotting these two little guys that came up over winter. I'm going to move them out f this bed (beds getting replanted completely) and take care of them. When I bought I had a 25-35' Holy tree right in the middle of my yard. It looked just like a HUGE Christmas tree in shape. Really cool old school tree, but the location killed the yard. Took out 20 trees when I bought due to their poor and or dangerous locations.

 

[Oswego]

&%&^$%$%&^#@!@$^^

just tracked my order....price changed.....

was in stock when I placed my order.... now showing a cost of $0.01....thats not good.

now I check stock and it says delivery for the tiller is available 4/10.

Knew I should of done this sooner than later

Fingers crossed it's just a glitch and I'm tilling later today

I still can't plant most of my stuff but I wanted the bed prepped for next weekend.

 

[Taco Loco]

&%&^$%$%&^#@!@$^^

just tracked my order....price changed.....

View attachment 22497


was in stock when I placed my order.... now showing a cost of $0.01....thats not good.

View attachment 22498



now I check stock and it says delivery for the tiller is available 4/10.

Knew I should of done this sooner than later

Fingers crossed it's just a glitch and I'm tilling later today

I still can't plant most of my stuff but I wanted the bed prepped for next weekend.

what do you plan on growing?

 

[Oswego]

I do like some pvc though. Used 1" sch 40 down the marina for decades. Sucked taking it off all the docks to yank the docks out before the ice set in then putting it back every spring along with the docks, but after a couple years I had a good system down and could get everything done in a weekend.

Even used to use the old pvc as bushings. Would cut it into 1" sections, run galvanized chain through the sections, then bolt the chain to the docks around the poles/piles. Used to use rigid steel brackets but the wood framed docks needed play from the tide and waves.



So bored... ate lunch - went back outside to work. Poring rain & high winds Should blow over soon.

here's what I used to have to keep running & where I ran my lines when I was a teen. That dirt sucked running under the road. I remember picking at it for days. Think it took me a day to go half way across the road, bury the line, then move to the other side (wasn't allowed to shut down the road). So many layers of trap rock laid down over the years. The other location was easier w/no road base to dig through.

 

[Oswego]

what do you plan on growing?

Nothing food based really. More form vs function....well it will be good for birds and bees for sure. I let my beds get away from me and just started taking them back last fall. I planted 2k worth of plants many years ago in poor locations and now I know much better. Got a ton of moving and splitting/splicing of old plants for additional new plants.

blueberries (when I get them - rest of the stuff i have), native perennial wild grass, native annual wild grass, 10+ different kinds of summer bulbs (already planted a ton of fall bulbs last year), moving some climbing evergreens to my trellis, moving some laurel bushes, moving some old bulbs previous owner planted in weird spots, separating out some sea grass/splitting it for planing in additional new locations, some climbing flowing seeds I got last year for my trellis (forget what they are), my two new holly trees I just found, moving a small scrub pine thats never grown in the 15+ years Ive been here (might be a dwarf and I kill it moving it?), splitting and adding some new never-die ground cover plants. Also 3 forsynthia I just planted in fall to make it through winter - gotta move them to their permanent location after tilling

 

[Taco Loco]

Nothing food based really. More form vs function....well it will be good for birds and bees for sure. I let my beds get away from me and just started taking them back last fall. I planted 2k worth of plants many years ago in poor locations and now I know much better. Got a ton of moving and splitting/splicing of old plants for additional new plants.

blueberries (when I get them - rest of the stuff i have), native perennial wild grass, native annual wild grass, 10+ different kinds of summer bulbs (already planted a ton of fall bulbs last year), moving some climbing evergreens to my trellis, moving some laurel bushes, moving some old bulbs previous owner planted in weird spots, separating out some sea grass/splitting it for planing in additional new locations, some climbing flowing seeds I got last year for my trellis (forget what they are), my two new holly trees I just found, moving a small scrub pine thats never grown in the 15+ years Ive been here (might be a dwarf and I kill it moving it?), splitting and adding some new never-die ground cover plants. Also 3 forsynthia I just planted in fall to make it through winter - gotta move them to their permanent location after tilling

get that truck out of there, let that backyard go wild with blueberry bushes, less maintenance and more food.

 

[Oswego]

I'm aging it like a fine wine. Just think of how much Ive saved it from avoiding winter road salt

 

[Silverback]

After 3 or 4 days, I finally got this bastard, there are about 6 or 7 mounds he made, not shown in the pictures.

View attachment 22456 View attachment 22457

Meanwhile, @Taco Loco preps for round 2.

 

[Taco Loco]

Meanwhile, @Taco Loco preps for round 2.

View attachment 22507

 

[Oswego]

HD screwed up. Forgot the tiller and fuel, yet invoiced me for the fuel & the order shows as everything being delivered (tiller invoiced for one penny?). Been on hold for 20 min waiting to talk to a human. Hopefully they can get it here today.....got a slight drizzle...perfect tilling weather.

 

[Oswego]

HD screwed up. Forgot the tiller and fuel, yet invoiced me for the fuel & the order shows as everything being delivered (tiller invoiced for one penny?). Been on hold for 20 min waiting to talk to a human. Hopefully they can get it here today.....got a slight drizzle...perfect tilling weather.

Called corporate online customer service. an hr later the corporate rep gave up my local store is so fubar. She was super cool and nice. said my store was basically full of morons. They told her they delivered everything and they doubled down on the $0.01 price for a $369 Honda tiller. She was amazed. she said - "you are selling a $369 tiler for $0.01" and the manager said "yes, thats the price".

I took a pic of the delivery with the truck and driver in the background and the driver did the same. If not just craziness from our current situation - I'd assume some employees might be taking advantage of the current situation.

Best thing was at 9pm last night I tried to buy another tiller just to see what it would say - it guaranteed delivery today from the same exact store.

After speaking to the store they said they now have no stock - I said if you all are selling them for $0.01 I can see why

Supposed to be refunding the fuel cost, the $0.01 for the tiller, and recommended I place another order, but that they don't deliver on Sundays. They also said they will refund the delivery charge. I didn't ask for it - they offered and I accepted. Not trying to be a dick - just glad they are still open. Everything's on my cc so I really don't care, not like I have a hard schedule to meet - just screwed my plans up and wasted a few hrs of time.

All that said - never had any issues in store for 20+ years and same for ordering ordering items to this store to be picked up, but this "expedited $35 delivery" has been messed up from day one.

 

[Taco Loco]

HD screwed up. Forgot the tiller and fuel, yet invoiced me for the fuel & the order shows as everything being delivered (tiller invoiced for one penny?). Been on hold for 20 min waiting to talk to a human. Hopefully they can get it here today.....got a slight drizzle...perfect tilling weather.

actually you should only till when it’s dry, it’s due to soil compaction and less oxygen going into the soil.