Home Improvement

Those weed barriers work, but you'll need to replace it every few years. It's a fabric mesh.

They work really well, actually. But like 2 years of exposure and they're done.

Look at how to make really long lasting French drains, and do that for your rock garden

but layers of that mesh weed barrier works.

I would do sand, weed barrier, sand, weed barrier, a little more sand then rocks. Your general outdoor decomposed stuff will flow down into the rocks and then the weed barrier and create, essentially dirt and then allow top grown weeds and shit to grow - however most things don't like to grow in sand.

That's kind of what I was getting at. The weed barrier is obvious, but once dirt starts accumulating on top of it, you've got a place for weeds to grow. But sand under the rocks might be enough to dissuade weeds from growing since they won't be able to root well.

Just looked into french drains that is major overkill, I will build it see how it goes then add drainage as needed.

Well I didn't mean use French drains... I mostly meant about their layers and composition in terms of anti weeds/roots etc. - because once you dig a trench and make the damn drain - you don't want to have to redo that shit in a year or 2...

Also random question..

My AC duct work is all duct board - its actually very well done and has no leeks and has recently had all seams re-sealed. but- its HUGE and right in the middle of the damn attic - I am big and cannot get to anything up there because the duct work takes up the entire crawlspace.

Reading lots of A/C boards and contractors etc. they express equal hate to duct board and flex tube when it comes to making and AC system duct works... so what should I use? Rigid steel that is then insulated? I would like to gut the entire thing and then run rigid steel duct along the sides so I can personally get to everything. There are two reasons I would want to do this, 1 my main living room with big windows facing the sun (west) has a badly designed vent and no air gets into it... and 2 - I am converting my bonus room into something useful and I want to get AC into it. But I would hate to just tear everything out when I really don't need to... I suppose I need to get quotes to have an AC guy do those two things- however adding that room would +250sq ft and my tonnage is already at the end of its desired capacity...so I really would need to buy a new outside unit and handler.... I don't want to do that now lol. I am thinking a new window unit that has a real thermostat should be able to regulate that new room in the same general fashion the main house is done... that is until I get a bigger main unit and then would add it in with vents etc.

The landscape stuff they sell at HD and Lowes only lasts so long, go to a farm or garden specialty store and look for industrial strength farm fabric. You can get stuff that is good for the job, lasts 5 years or so, and is "safe" to biodegrade into the earth. By the time it rots away, you don't need to worry about weeds coming up from under it.

Another way that we use on our plots, is cover the area you want to seed with black plastic for a few weeks prior to working it. It will force every seed under it to germinate, and when they come up, the black plastic blocks light and they die.

Hatorade said:

Some weather delays so I have been working on landscaping ideas and come up with something like this:
View attachment 113361
The idea is a rock garden with little to no maintence.

The concern is when it rains do you think blocking the path all the way to my back house patio will cause issue? Backyard has never flooded but with all these added obstacles I worry about it.

Picture of current landscape for reference:
View attachment 113362

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French drains is what we used in our house in California

Shack is complete, we start painting this weekend. More pics to come.

We bought the paint that has primer in it, should we still prime the walls?

Soygen said:

I thought a toilet was a French drain, because that's where you oui oui.

View attachment 113625

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So looks like kitchen sink p trap developed a small leak. It's all new plumbing (only a couple years old) so my thought is probably someone hit it hard putting the trash can back in or something?

What's the best way to test for the source? Was thinking of wrapping paper towels around each compression nut and seeing which one leaks, but it's pretty slow so it's hard to tell where it's coming from. Guessing it needs a realignment or new o-ring maybe?

So the house I'm buying has insulation in the attic installed with the paper side up. Would you guys bother going in and flipping it all?

I'm siding toward not really giving a shit and doing nothing.

Picasso3 said:

Fill the sink up and let it all go at once

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That provided enough back pressure so finally found it. Loosened all the nuts and re-tightened and it seems good to go now, seems just like it got jostled around one too many times.

Now another switchplate has 120v to the screws. I know they didn't ground switches according to more recent NEC standards but these switches have to be complete dogshit to be breaking after minimal use. Looks like they were installed only maybe 3-4 years ago and they are already failing.

So in my kitchen we have recessed pot lights. Eight of them, 75 watts each. That's 600 watts. They were on a dimmer rated for 500 watts. There are four switches for these lights, two of them don't work, the wiring is screwed up. I've tried desperately to correct it, but a professional electrician friend of mine came and couldn't figure it out, either.

Today I replaces all the light bulbs with Osram Lightify LEDs and created a gateway network for them with a cube. Then I installed four switches also from the Lightify family. They install right over the existing switches, both decorative and traditional. In 30 minutes I switched from a screwed system to perfectly functioning, dimmable, lights and I have the ability to alter their colour from cool to warm. Running only 96 watts. Wiring/switches/dimmers totally adequate, no rewiring or guess work required.

I'm pretty impressed. Can also control it from my phone, which isn't an essential thing, but I can put these things in all the rooms of the house and create separate switches so I can control the whole house. Now I can turn off the bloody lights in my kids rooms from wherever...

I approve of these lighting systems. Helped fix a fairly big pain in the butt in my kitchen.

Yeah, I installed some LED recessed lights last year and I'm a huge fan. Didn't get them permitted (ppsted about it here), but they're actually up to code unlike most of the electrical in my house.

We have a fluorescent soffit thingy in our kitchen and I eventually want to replace it with more recessed lights.

Added more pics to the album and gave them some progression, more pics will be added as we move stuff in, setup shelving, and the like. I just need to finish edging the accent wall and fix the spots I hit the roof with the roller.
Removed imgur link because it was broken.