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Home improvement - where to start?
- Thread starter Random Guy
- Start date
The one on the left (Wacker) is for inside the ditch, on the right (sled) is for final surfacing. Any job worth doing…
I need to reevaluate my shovel quiver.
I did the reverse. Story of my life I guess, always swimming against the tide.
We have 5 that I can think of offhand. The older I get, the less any of them fit in my hands.
Actually, I used 5 [and a mattock (aka 'pick-axe' and sometimes mistakenly a 'pulaski' which is what firefighters use to get through a roof/door/wall)] because the deep down, the very dense clay started transitioning into the chert.
A. Sharp shooter
B. Long handle spade
C. Pointed digging (shorter with handle)
D Camp shovel (great when kneeling and and leveling the trench run)
E. Garden hand trowel (for the fine work by the nearby 100 yr old clay pipe)
Also used a bucket and quart-sized yogurt container to move soil out of the holes/trench....yogurt container deformed nicely to fit the 5 inch wide trench.
But work is done, now time to take some snaps prior to inspection tomorrow (will be taking day off to witness and get a jump on back-filling). After last home improvement/maintenance project, documenting everything.
The concrete guy (Friday) has assured me he will use a compactor, El Ogro. We need the new sections to tie into existing concrete and that means drilling and my drills/bits are too wimpy.
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You had me going until E. on your shovel quiver. A garden trowel isn’t a shovel bro.
How many of your neighbors have gone through the same thing?
It’s a given that the more home improvement you do the more you learn and you’ve been doing a bunch. What’s next on the agenda for la casa Doof?
1) The garden trowel may not be not a "true' shovel, but a subspecies, which is why I included it in the list. See the parentage per the garden store menu below?
2) The homes in this neighborhood were all put in roughly within 5 yrs of each other. Lots of homes have done similar work or going to in the next decade or so. One home about 10 homes away from me and on a different street, the parents died about 8 yrs ago, the son moved in (and suddenly there was a $125K car parked on the street) just recently sold it to a flipper. First thing the flipper did is tear out the plumbing, going through the slab and everything. Anyway, when we did the front stairs a few years back, other homes had been doing the same for a while...we went with a monolithic poured concrete job instead of brick and mortar because I had seen those brick redos start to fail in under a decade...the shrink/expansion nature of clay soils can be a bitch. A few of the neighbors have come by to discuss things already. I am happy to discuss it all. The Texas guy who works for YouTube right next to us (with wife and two under the age of 5 kids) is mildly manic about house things.....so when I talk about subtle creep of land due to proximity of faults, soils, slope, precip, etc, he starts to wig out a little. I try to remind him that fires and lack of maintenance (preventive too) is the bigger concern......and good home owner's insurance. Now, if I can only get him to turn off the water in the kiddy pool out back on the hot days so the fence doesn't get undermined and my lime tree doesn't get yellowed leaves (from overwatering).
3) Next up will be replacing the front window. The double pane seal broke and there is condensation in it. Sigh, it was $10K to replace it about 20 yrs ago, but then we had to do the whole thing, keeping true to the original millwork. Good thing I am made of money
PS
Inspection at 10:30 today.
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I hope you pass with flying colors!1) The garden trowel may not be not a "true' shovel, but a subspecies, which is why I included it in the list. See the parentage per the garden store menu below?
View attachment 154488
2) The homes in this neighborhood were all put in roughly within 5 yrs of each other. Lots of homes have done similar work or going to in the next decade or so. One home about 10 homes away from me and on a different street, the parents died about 8 yrs ago, the son moved in (and suddenly there was a $125K car parked on the street) just recently sold it to a flipper. First thing the flipper did is tear out the plumbing, going through the slab and everything. Anyway, when we did the front stairs a few years back, other homes had been doing the same for a while...we went with a monolithic poured concrete job instead of brick and mortar because I had seen those brick redos start to fail in under a decade...the shrink/expansion nature of clay soils can be a bitch. A few of the neighbors have come by to discuss things already. I am happy to discuss it all. The Texas guy who works for YouTube right next to us (with wife and two under the age of 5 kids) is mildly manic about house things.....so when I talk about subtle creep of land due to proximity of faults, soils, slope, precip, etc, he starts to wig out a little. I try to remind him that fires and lack of maintenance (preventive too) is the bigger concern......and good home owner's insurance. Now, if I can only get him to turn off the water in the kiddy pool out back on the hot days so the fence doesn't get undermined and my lime tree doesn't get yellowed leaves (from overwatering).
3) Next up will be replacing the front window. The double pane seal broke and there is condensation in it. Sigh, it was $10K to replace it about 20 yrs ago, but then we had to do the whole thing, keeping true to the original millwork. Good thing I am made of money
PS
Inspection at 10:30 today.
That is what I think a Pulaski is.
I used a mattock at the chert layer:
5 minute inspection ends with a signature on the permit indicating a "pass". Woo!
Drop at the end is over the gas line.
Back filled it myself yesterday and my manly thews are a bit on the sore side today.
Now for some concrete work.....
No.
Offhand, anyone wanna guess what I paid for the non-digging, non-filling, test-included plumbing?
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Probably $6,500 - $8,500.
Are you not allowed to use ABS for your own sewer lateral? Would have saved you a lot of time and $$$$. The City needs to update their material standards.
managed to finally get ahead of all the weeds in the front and side yards (pull a few every time you walk past) but the grass/weeds growing through my ice plants are driving me nuts.
any tricks aside from just pulling them as they pop up? i feel like I’m pulling everything I see only to come home the next day and half of it’s grown back.
any tricks aside from just pulling them as they pop up? i feel like I’m pulling everything I see only to come home the next day and half of it’s grown back.
Pull the big ones and hit everything else with Round-Up.
That, and work on physical barriers afterwards. Landscaping cloth and mulch or gravel. It won't stop them completely but they are easier to pull.
From what is pictured you used
Well you used 92 stainless hoseclamps on what you had pictured. At $3.28 thats $92 bucks not including tax. Do city inspectors have to pressure test drain pipe? Why did you have to go cast again? Why not ABS?Cast pipe isnt too bad but I havent calculated that i my estimate. Unbelievable how construction materials have gone up in the last 10 years. Previously it was a total deal to do home improvement stuff on your own. Now its often cheaper to contract out since they can get wholesale prices. Same thing with car repair since the mechanics get the shop price on parts. Cant win!
Is roundup ok to get on the surrounding ice plant?
is there a “guy” I can get for this who won’t just kill everything?