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They’re not fancy but the cheap multipack of dimmable LED flood lights from Costco work great with my standard Lutron dimmer
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May 11, 2020 16:27
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I have a plethora of lawn related questions incoming over the next few months but I'm going to start with two simple ones: 1.) What do you guys use for tick treatment in your yards? I've typically used Spectracide Insect Killer for Lawns (https://www.lowes.com/pd/Spectracide-Triazicide-For-Lawns-Granules-10-lb-Insect-Killer/50236519) and it seems to have worked fine, but I'm interested to know what other products people use. Preferably something I can get via Amazon as I don't want to go to Lowes for even curbside pickup. But I'm also interested in knowing alternate methods and maybe less... toxic? methods. 2.) When we first moved to this house about 6 years ago the grass, while not amazing, was good enough to walk around in and feel comfortable. Now I feel it's being slowly overtaken by weeds and is just ... less enjoyable. edit: I'll provide pics soon. But what's a general treatment plan to deweed a yard and encourage better grass growth?
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May 11, 2020 22:54
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For lawn stuff you might be better served over here!
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May 12, 2020 00:43
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BonoMan posted:But I'm also interested in knowing alternate methods and maybe less... toxic? methods. Adopt some possums imho
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May 12, 2020 00:48
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BonoMan posted:.
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May 12, 2020 01:52
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B-Nasty posted:LED light and dimmer compatibility, in the year 2020, is still a huge shitshow. Some dimmers and LED bulbs/fixtures just don't play nice with each other. In some cases, you can adjust the dimmer to only dim within a range that the LED bulb doesn't flicker or hum at, but sometimes, it's just bad at all levels. I caved and shackled myself to the Philips Hue system. It just works, and having color adjust along with dimmers is surprisingly nice. Just wish the bulbs didn't cost so much. 
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May 12, 2020 01:55
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Sirotan posted:Adopt some possums imho
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May 12, 2020 02:06
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I'm going to install some hinges soon, and so that I don't accidentally screw myself over, I figure I'd post here juuuust to be sure. Does it matter which side of this is attached to the door and which to the cabinet frame? 
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May 12, 2020 02:19
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Sirotan posted:Adopt some possums imho I have had a possum before. He was a gently, if ugly, creature. Also it always shat all over me. WithoutTheFezOn posted:Have you tried weed and feed? Seems an obvious first step. I looked at Weed & Feed but got gunshy with its toxicity since I have kiddos around. But that was a while ago and I was probably just getting misled by internet poo poo. devmd01 posted:For lawn stuff you might be better served over here! Ah! Nice! Back when I bought my house this thread didn't exist... knew I should have checked again.
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May 12, 2020 03:14
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The Wonder Weapon posted:I'm going to install some hinges soon, and so that I don't accidentally screw myself over, I figure I'd post here juuuust to be sure. I'm my experience, the bigger side attaches to the door and the smaller side attaches to the frame fora few reasons. One is swinging the edges of the door so they clear the frame, the other is you want a lower footprint on the frame so hinges can sit side by side etc.
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May 12, 2020 03:37
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BonoMan posted:I have a plethora of lawn related questions incoming over the next few months but I'm going to start with two simple ones: Welcome, fellow lawn-owner! 1.) DoMyOwn.com has become my main stop for lawn and insect chemicals and equipment. They also have great guides to help get you started on figuring out what you want your approach to be. For example: Ticks (it's a multi-step guide, so make sure you click through to the "Treat" and "Prevent" stages). They have a combo kit that includes an insecticide and an IGR. You mentioned wanting to find something less "toxic", so I am guessing that picking up a sprayer and putting on some gloves and boots might be outside your comfort zone. If so, totally understandable. However, one cool thing about using an Insect Growth Regulator (IGR) is that they operate by interrupting a specific stage of the insect's lifecycle rather than just poisoning them outright. This lets them be much more specific in what creatures they affect, and thus have very low environmental toxicity. So in the long run using an IGR to control the population, while more hands-on, would probably be more environmentally friendly than something like the broadcast lawn granules. 2.) Where are you located? Or more to the point, do you have a "warm season" (Bermuda, St. Augustine, Zoysia) or "cool season" (Rye, Fescue, Bluegrass) lawn? This will inform the best fertilization and weed treatment cycle for you. The most important thing to pay attention to is overall good cultural practices regarding mowing height/frequency, watering, and fertilization. This will vary based on location and grass type, but grass is a pretty good competitor and can make it hard for weeds to become established. Meanwhile, all the herbicides in the world aren't going to improve the lawn if you don't have healthy grass to grow in over it. If it's getting taken over with weeds, you have two complementary options: Preventative preventative pre-emergent herbicides and selective post-emergent herbicides. The pre-emergents are put down before the optimal growing seasons (late-winter and late-summer to stop spring-sprouting and fall-sprouting weeds, respectively) basically prevent weeds seeds from establishing themselves in the first place, reducing the need to resort to post-emergents. Selective post-emergents can then be used to knock down whatever comes through without harming the grass around it. Then you can let the grass grow and fill in, or possibly overseed it in the appropriate season. The specific herbicides you will want to use will vary with the weeds you are seeing, but 2-4,D and Triclopyr should cover a huge amount of your common problems. Tenacity is also a really cool-and-good option, but it can be trickier to apply properly. Anyways, follow up with some details about what you've got and I will see if I can provide any advice.
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May 12, 2020 06:55
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mutata posted:I'm my experience, the bigger side attaches to the door and the smaller side attaches to the frame fora few reasons. One is swinging the edges of the door so they clear the frame, the other is you want a lower footprint on the frame so hinges can sit side by side etc. I thought the same
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May 12, 2020 13:16
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Hubis posted:Welcome, fellow lawn-owner! Amazing stuff thanks! I'm going to go out and take pictures this afternoon so I can provide some better info. For now I'm in central Mississippi and, embarrassingly, I don't know what grass I have. Well not embarrassingly I guess since the whole point of this is me trying to learn this stuff. I dont do anything other than now the front lawn and I'm pretty sure I do it too short. For the back yard, it was over shaded and almost all dirt when I moved in. I cut down 5 trees in the back yard and seeded it lightly (can't remember the grass type... I'll check my Lowe's acct) and the grass has grown fairly well in the last two years. It's weedy as well but honestly we were trying to get any cover we could as it was straight dirt. As far as toxicity, I'm mostly just nervous because I have kids 11 month and 6 years old. With the pandemic we're in the yard a lot so I just want to make sure I dont harm them (environment too). I'm probably being over reactive there and can be talked off that ledge easily.
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May 12, 2020 18:20
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BonoMan posted:Amazing stuff thanks! I'm going to go out and take pictures this afternoon so I can provide some better info. Listen to Felder Rushing on the Gestalt Gardener on MS public radio. Also available as a podcast. He's funny and a huge font of knowledge, and very responsive to emails and has a masters degree in turf grass management from MS State or something ridiculous. For this summer, fertilize with a high nitrogen fertilizer now, and set your mower to mow at it's highest height and mow every week during the summer. You probably don't need to water unless it really gets dry, but that depends on your soil. You can use a weed and feed fertilizer, but I'd wait until next year- spend this year getting the grass good and healthy so when you do do battle with the weeds, the grass is ready to take over. Getting the grass healthier may be enough to deal with the weeds on its own. You want to make sure your grass is good and healthy first so you don't kill all the weeds and find out that 75% of the green stuff in your yard was actually weeds and now you have a sad brown yard. My neighbor just did this to himself, lol. What kind of grass you have makes a big difference as to what kind of chemicals you can use for weeds-St. Augustine in particular is pretty sensitive to 2-4, D, and it can do as much damage to the grass as it does the weeds. After years fighting with creeping charlie, I finally went chemical and used scott's weed and feed with atrazine and it has worked wonders in my little test patch.
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May 12, 2020 18:39
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:Listen to Felder Rushing on the Gestalt Gardener on MS public radio. Also available as a podcast. He's funny and a huge font of knowledge, and very responsive to emails and has a masters degree in turf grass management from MS State or something ridiculous. Thanks for the advice. I f'ing love Felder. Listen to him all the time. My wife and I were actually thinking about writing him as well so good idea. Man he has that Bob Ross level of "makes you feel good positivity."
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May 12, 2020 18:42
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BonoMan posted:Thanks for the advice. I f'ing love Felder. Listen to him all the time. My wife and I were actually thinking about writing him as well so good idea. I was just listening to him and he was talking about his ‘yard of the month’ sign that he has in his yard.....that he stole from some neighborhood.
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May 12, 2020 19:40
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Good stuff on the lawn care, I learned some things! ...but gently caress keeping track of all that noise, I’ll just pay someone. $450/yr for lawn treatment service is well worth not dealing with it. devmd01 fucked around with this message at 20:24 on May 12, 2020 |
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May 12, 2020 20:22
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But taking care of your lawn is satisfying 
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May 12, 2020 21:13
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I need to replace my old and hideous fridge, but the space for it is so weird. Basically you can fit a 33 inch wide fridge in just fine, but the counter depth is only just over 25 inches. So there's no real fridge that fits well. The best one I found is this: https://www.warnersstellian.com/product/10008/samsung-rf18hfenbsr depth is 28 without handles, 30.5 with. However this is still a big improvement over my current one, which is 31 without, 33.75 with. edit: the wall on the other side of the fridge comes out to 30 inches. isn't that weird that it comes out much further than the counter? actionjackson fucked around with this message at 21:42 on May 12, 2020 |
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May 12, 2020 21:19
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here's a picture. that wall to the left is coming out five inches more than the counter to the right. also my fridge is warped or something, notice how it's bending?
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May 12, 2020 21:51
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Put a level on all of those things and see which is whack.
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May 12, 2020 21:59
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falz posted:Put a level on all of those things and see which is whack. I double checked and thankfully it's the fridge  about a mm of the bubble is beyond the black line on the level
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May 12, 2020 22:11
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actionjackson posted:edit: the wall on the other side of the fridge comes out to 30 inches. isn't that weird that it comes out much further than the counter? Not really, because it's probably meant to hide the fridge from the hallway.
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May 12, 2020 22:11
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socketwrencher posted:Not really, because it's probably meant to hide the fridge from the hallway. I guess then I don't get why the counter doesn't come out more. The oven next to it comes out about 27 inches. There's no real advantage to saving that two inches on the counter when everything else on that side juts out at least that far.
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May 12, 2020 22:18
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actionjackson posted:I guess then I don't get why the counter doesn't come out more. The oven next to it comes out about 27 inches. There's no real advantage to saving that two inches on the counter when everything else on that side juts out at least that far. Yeah I'm with you, 24"-25" counter depth is standard but appliances don't line up, which isn't a big deal if it's only an inch or so but more than that looks off. Maybe appliances nowadays are bigger than in the ancient era?
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May 12, 2020 22:28
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My 1960 or 1970 counters are 22" deep and gently caress it sucks. Nothing lines up, nothing fits. Not even modern sinks.
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May 12, 2020 22:40
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actionjackson posted:I guess then I don't get why the counter doesn't come out more. The oven next to it comes out about 27 inches. There's no real advantage to saving that two inches on the counter when everything else on that side juts out at least that far. It's because things were done with the cheapest materials the builder could find. No, really. This is why that happens.
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May 12, 2020 22:59
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Yeah I understand. And this place was built in like 2007 so hardly ancient.
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May 13, 2020 01:21
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BonoMan posted:Amazing stuff thanks! I'm going to go out and take pictures this afternoon so I can provide some better info. I'm phone posting so I'll try and follow up more when I have a real keyboard, but: I personally really like The Lawn Care Nut on YouTube. He is a good balance between "good cultural practices are fundamental" and also "chemical treatments are a powerful tool that should be used if needed, but if you need to do so in the most effective manner". He's got a big catalog of videos at this point, but I'd look at his channel and flip over to "playlists" to pick something that interests you, or just start scanning through the 2020 Lawn Season Tips Playlist. Sounds like you are definitely in "warm season" grass territory then. That's out of my own personal expertise (I'm used to northern cool season lawns which are practically a different animal) but there are some universal things I'm happy to advise on if I can. As far as toxicity, I am in the same boat and I totally respect the hesitancy. For the most part there's not going to be anything majorly dangerous, provided you are good about reading the labels to understand what the maximum single/annual application rates are, you wear proper PPE (long pants/sleeves, gloves, boots you can rinse) and don't track wet chemical around the house, and that you respect the "reentry interval" for what you are applying. For many applications they are considered "safe" once they are dry to the touch, or after some number of hours. For granular applications it's also important that you water it in properly (and then wait for that to dry). I'm going to go ahead and say you probably can't go wrong at this exact stage by tracking down Milorganite (they should have it at HD/Lowe's) and applying it at a pretty heavy rate. It might not be what you want to do every season in the long run, but it will add some organic fertilizer to your soil and start revitalizing the soil microbiome, and give you that nice blue-green color with a solid dose of N and Fe. Since it's broken down organically it's hard to over-apply (unlike a urea or ammonium based fertilizer) and it'll lay a good foundation for whatever renovation you might want to do down the road. Seaweed extract and humic acid are also good things to look at adding. For seeds, I really like seed super store. They have a zip code based tool for finding an optional blend for your location/light level, and they have access to some nice cultivars you might not otherwise find at the big box stores. I'm not sure if this is as applicable to warm season lawns though -- as I understand it they are much harder to grow from seed and overseeding isn't really a thing there (you'd use plugs or sod instead). Oh BTW, I was doing some unrelated research today and came across the fact that I guess Cedarwood mulch will help somewhat to suppress ticks and mosquitos, so if you have bedding in your yard you might look into investing in some of that to complement your efforts.
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May 13, 2020 03:58
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Hey let's say you have a fairly small kitchen space. Then let's say you're gutting the kitchen because it sucks. Like down to the studs, all plumbing and cabinets finito. What would you add or do differently in a modern small kitchen if you were building from zero?
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May 13, 2020 04:52
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Manager Hoyden posted:Hey let's say you have a fairly small kitchen space. Then let's say you're gutting the kitchen because it sucks. Like down to the studs, all plumbing and cabinets finito. I remodeled my kitchen a year or two ago using the Ikea kitchen event.    For various reasons I couldn't do all of these things, but here are things I would've liked to have: For the purpose of making the counter top easier to clean: in-counter stove and a wall mounted kitchen faucet. Water and soap residue splashs up on the counter, behind my faucet and is tedious to keep clean. A wall mounted model would at least make the counter easier to wipe down. Similarly, with the stove, you don't have a crack running the entire depth of the counter that food and stuff can fall or seep into. As a consequence you'll have to have a space to mount an in-wall oven; I think many of these can be mounted in the cabinet below the in-counter stoves. I didn't want to run a 220V circuit for an oven and rather like how quickly my gas oven comes up to temp, and while I didn't look to hard, I did find a gas oven at the local big box stores. I like my drawer microwave, which mounts in a 24" or 30" cabinet. However, they're pretty expensive. I managed to get an open box model after trawling the local Best Buy open box section for a few months. Also, make sure you install some sort of range hood that exhausts to the outside. I also like having the 30" garbage/recycling bin cabinet. I like the pantry cabinet with drawers. I find it much more space efficient, easier to load/unload, etc. Lastly, I wish I had a second cabinet, like the pantry, to store things like a step stool, brooms, mops, etc. in. As of now, it either gets rested against a random wall, left in a corner in my garage, or as a tripping hazard in my very tiny laundry room which is on the other side of the wall from the pantry. MetaJew fucked around with this message at 05:40 on May 13, 2020 |
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May 13, 2020 05:38
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Your kitchen has four main elements: stove, sink, fridge, trash cans. Remember to make good space for the dang trash cans. Pull-out drawers below instead of cabinets. Magnetic surfaces are cool and good for adding hooks and stuff later. Then I'd share photos and proposed floorplans and let goons make clever and helpful suggestions.
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May 13, 2020 07:31
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Induction cookers are great, previously I would only have considered gas but particularly the Siemens induction hob is as good or better. Layout is super important. I have a home in the city and a holiday home, the kitchen in the holiday home is way smaller but actually better to cook in because everything is right at hand. And I can empty the dishwasher in like 2 minutes. All about the work triangle.
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May 13, 2020 08:27
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peanut posted:Your kitchen has four main elements: stove, sink, fridge, trash cans. Remember to make good space for the dang trash cans. I would add "counter space", "larder", and "cabinets" to that. Manager Hoyden posted:Hey let's say you have a fairly small kitchen space. Then let's say you're gutting the kitchen because it sucks. Like down to the studs, all plumbing and cabinets finito. My philosophy with kitchens is that they're a workshop like any other, except because we eat so frequently they've hung around while others (like woodworking or metalworking shops) are largely gone. To that end, the kitchen (and associated stores) is a workshop dedicated to turning food ingredients into meals, and has similar needs to a typical workshop. Every area in a kitchen should be storage or workspace, but not both. Storage is needed for stock (ingredients), consumables (oil, spices, foil, bags), offcuts (leftovers), waste, and tools (knives, cutlery, plates, stovetop burners, pans). Workstations are things like prep counters, cookers, sinks, dishwashers. We tend to keep stocks of ingredients in larders, fridges, and freezers, consumables tend to be (ideally) stored close to their workstations, like in spice racks above the cooker, foil near prep, etc. Tools should be arranged as to their place and frequency of use, like kitchen knives near prep, plates near plate, ice cream maker in the garage. The (garbage) bins are also storage, and like all home storage is a local cache of something to speed up a task, i.e. it's there to make trips outside less frequent. Sorry it's early and I'm rambling. Split your kitchen into three categories: workspaces, tools, and stores. It's OK for things within each category to do double duty, e.g. one workspace for prep and plate, one knife for chopping and paring, one cabinet as larder and plate storage, but it's not OK for double-duty across category; the most common of which is using workspaces as storage (dishes left dirty in sink or clean in dishwasher, tools, ingredients, and consumables left on counters, etc. In a small kitchen you'll have a lot of things pulling double duty, so I would focus on keeping a clear separation between storage and workspace, which usually involves making sure you have the right amount of the right type of storage in the right location, and/or storing less stuff. It's OK to store some things outside the kitchen, or not have them at all, provided it's well thought through and not just using somewhere else as overflow.
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May 13, 2020 09:24
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/me googles 'larder': 'a room or large cupboard for storing food.' Is this different from a pantry in some way, or a regional term for the same thing?
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May 13, 2020 12:11
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falz posted:/me googles 'larder': 'a room or large cupboard for storing food.' Yeah probs regional difference, I think either would be fine here, though a larder is very much less-perishable food storage (cans, flour, dried whatever) while a pantry in my mind includes or focuses on crockery. Using victorian terms I think you're looking at: Kitchen: cooking Pantry: dry food storage Cellar: cold food storage Larder: cold meat prep & temp storage Scullery: running water, so washing up and wet food prep [Butler's] pantry: light washing up and post-washing up crockery maintenance I don't think many of these terms stayed that distinct when not implemented in a manor house. The dry food cupboard in my childhood home in the north of england was called the larder.
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May 13, 2020 12:20
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falz posted:/me googles 'larder': 'a room or large cupboard for storing food.' From what I understand a larder is generally meant to be passively cooler than the rest of the kitchen. In older houses they are typically found on the north facing or otherwise shady side and have a window that can be opened for ventilation with mesh to keep insects out. My parents have a proper one and it is definitely cooler in there than the rest of the kitchen even in the height of summer.
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May 13, 2020 12:34
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I think it's a "larder" because of curing fat on meat or something, so it would make sense for it to be kept cooler, yeah.
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May 13, 2020 12:45
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I...think this is the right thread for this. We have a raccoon living under our porch. It tore off some of the lattice that had been preventing access, and we've seen it come out a couple times around dawn and dusk. There's not really anything it can tear up under there, but we have a dog and we'd strongly prefer the critter doesn't make our home its home. I can buy a trap and stick it under there (or wait until we see it leave, then just board up the entrance again), but my concern is that its a momma raccoon. I don't want a raccoon under the porch, but I really don't want a litter of dead raccoon babies under there. What's the play here? Critter control is expensive. We can afford it, if its actually the best option, but this feels like something that might be do-able without professional help.
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May 13, 2020 15:50
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joepinetree posted:Found out the reason why the counter ceded a little bit. My hatred for the previous owners, the previous owners' handy man, and my inspectors, in that order, is pure. Just following up on this: Turns out the handyman for the previous owners was a colossal, massive imbecile. The "drop" in the counter made it level. The little pieces of wood were actually making it uneven, because the dumbass handyman had caulked the countertop unevenly. So instead of redoing the job, the dumbass propped up the counter in a minor incline. New handyman came in, looked real confused when I asked him to put the counter back up, as it was now level and flush with the cabinets. Before it was flush in the front and not in the back because of the stupidity of the previous handyman. Previous handyman who must not even realize how much of a dumbass he is, because he introduced himself to me as the person who got the unit ready for sale, and so he knew the unit pretty well, blahblahblah. edit: oh, and it turns out that he did that because the backsplash he installed was based on the crooked counter. God, if I ever buy a house again, I am taking a level with me to every property. joepinetree fucked around with this message at 16:36 on May 13, 2020 |
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May 13, 2020 16:05
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