got questions? lets hash it out.

i got one.

which is the better course...paying for a home warranty from american home shield or whatever...lets say...$44 a month.

OR.

waiting til shit breaks...then paying to replace or service it?

i have a old house. things break all the time. if the home warranty was iron clad & i knew for a fact it covered everything they said it did...i'd be paying that $44 no problem.

but what normally happens is something breaks. i call the home warranty. they send someone out who charges his $75-125 fee...then tells me what is wrong ISNT covered by the warranty...and will cost me $500 or $1000 or whatever outrageous amount of money it is.

i will say home warranty saved my ass 2 summers in a row when the condenser in my AC blew out. TWICE. 2 summers in a row. if i had to pay out of pocket for that...2k easily. as is, it was the lil $75 fee, and thats it.

so yeah. what do yall think?

or whatever else you wanna discuss on the subject.


does it really matter?

wonder what bin's doing?
http://i.imgur.com/phECCMp.jpg

For every 1 person that gets there money's worth from a warranty, there's gonna be 9 that don't.

You have to figure out if you are in a position to afford to cover the stuff as it goes. If you can't, then the warranty may provide less risk for you. But you gotta take the time in the 1st place to see what exactly they cover before you sign up, which can be very tedious.

-The Knicks’ coaching search still includes a lone frontrunner, Kurt Rambis, whose qualifications for the position include a strong relationship with Jackson and a willingness to take the job.

it was included as part of the sale but the coverage it afforded was so minimal it was of no practical benefit.

>i will say home warranty saved my ass 2 summers in a row when
>the condenser in my AC blew out. TWICE. 2 summers in a row. if
>i had to pay out of pocket for that...2k easily. as is, it was
>the lil $75 fee, and thats it.

One thing you can try as a less expensive alternative is to see if your home insurance carrier offers equipment breakdown coverage. It'll typically cost a little bit extra but less than a warranty, and can be useful. Just note that equipment breakdown coverage is for *sudden & accidental* failure, not wear & tear. So if your condenser makes a pop and starts smoking, you're covered... if your system has a small leak and runs out of freon, no go.

-------
so I'm in a band now:
album ---> http://greenwoodburns.bandcamp.com/releases
Soundcloud ---> http://soundcloud.com/greenwood-burns

my own stuff -->http://soundcloud.com/lonesomedstringband

avy by buckshot_defunct

We have the Appliance Protection Plan but other than that we pay out of pocket.

I am dreading the amount we are about to shell out for the new roof and bathroom. But it needs to be done *cries*


*****************************************
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de6VnExhelQ

Presenting Collective Peace.

https://www.facebook.com/CollectivePeace

Always feels like a scam but people on my block been getting new roofs.

I think I have a year or 2 left before I need it. They always say "due to hail/storm damage it can be replaced for minimal cost"

but I feel like insurance would hit me over the head if I used one of those dudes.

We've got a 1960 split level, family room exits right onto a patio and the family room is at ground level (actually lower than some of the yard). No step down.

6 years ago or so we had the broken original concrete slab patio taken out and I laid a brick patio... 6 inches of gravel, two inches of sand, graded away from the house, everything was hunky dory. It wasn't perfectly smooth or anything and would buckle a bit in winter, but worked fine for our needs & aesthetic.

This winter though... with the constant thawing and re-freezing going in on February we wound up with 5 or 6 inches of ice on most of the patio and meltwater freezing among & under the bricks causing much worse buckling than ever before. Of course the 18" or so closest to the house had no ice - between the second story overhang and the fact that we have a heating pipe in the slab right in front of the door, there was just no accumulation there.

All of which is well and fine until we got that 38 degree and heavy rain day earlier this month. Lots of new water, but not warm enough to melt the ice pack even a little. So even though the patio was graded away from the house, the grading of the ice caused all the rain water to flow toward the house and ultimately into it.

I got the patio cleared, carpet dried out & replaced, the threshold of the door torn out, foamed caulked & replaced... andd chance of this kind of weather occurring again soon is pretty slim, but I want to make sure this shit doesn't happen again. So as soon as the thaw is complete I'm planning to take the whole patio up, put some drainage in, regrade the sand before putting the bricks back down.

So... PVC drainage pipes? Going which way? Diameter? Etc. Was also looking at this smart drain micro-iphon stuff http://www.smartdrain.com/products.asp but have no idea how much it costs etc.

I'm tempted to run a pipe parallel to the house just in front of it all the way out to the driveway, where it would theoretically drain. Or I could tie the one parallel to the house to ones running perpendicular, then tie those into a really long one all the way out the walkway.

Anybody done a similar project, let me know how you tackled it, whether it worked, thoughts & advice etc.

-------
so I'm in a band now:
album ---> http://greenwoodburns.bandcamp.com/releases
Soundcloud ---> http://soundcloud.com/greenwood-burns

my own stuff -->http://soundcloud.com/lonesomedstringband

avy by buckshot_defunct

have a similar issue...good luck


does it really matter?

wonder what bin's doing?
http://i.imgur.com/phECCMp.jpg

-The Knicks’ coaching search still includes a lone frontrunner, Kurt Rambis, whose qualifications for the position include a strong relationship with Jackson and a willingness to take the job.

>So... PVC drainage pipes? Going which way? Diameter? Etc. Was
>also looking at this smart drain micro-iphon stuff
>http://www.smartdrain.com/products.asp but have no idea how
>much it costs etc.

You're going to have to run some calcs based on the hard surface area, anticipated water accumulation and wet event duration... Basically...how much water you need to drain and how fast you need to drain it /.

PVC pipes indeed...parallel to the house (at LEAST the width of the doorway) FILTER FABRIC (if the drains aren't already sleeved. The good ones are)

That smartdrain looks intriguing...but ultimately the regular stuff is tried and tested and works if installed properly..

>I'm tempted to run a pipe parallel to the house just in front
>of it all the way out to the driveway, where it would
>theoretically drain. Or I could tie the one parallel to the
>house to ones running perpendicular, then tie those into a
>really long one all the way out the walkway.

That would def. work...the key is having a deep enough gravel bed BENEATH the pipe for the water to dissipate into.

>Anybody done a similar project, let me know how you tackled
>it, whether it worked, thoughts & advice etc.

Exactly the way you're thinking. You are pretty much spot on the right track! Keep at it...just source the right materials and figure out the proper depths.

>You're going to have to run some calcs based on the hard
>surface area, anticipated water accumulation and wet event
>duration... Basically...how much water you need to drain and
>how fast you need to drain it /.

Hmm... patio's around 150 square feet. It's part of a larger walkway system that goes from the back porch to the patio, then from the patio out to the driveway. I designed it as a constant grade so water would pool at the L in the walkway walkway where it turns to meet the driveway; I put a simple french drain in under the L and through the flowerbed at the end of the walk, then any excess that can't handle will flow into the driveway and out into the street. It's worked perfectly since I put it in, but the excessive ice this year caused a big dam all along the whole thing, not just on the patio.

>PVC pipes indeed...parallel to the house (at LEAST the width
>of the doorway) FILTER FABRIC (if the drains aren't already
>sleeved. The good ones are)

Noted. Youtube videos on the subject seemed to be of mixed opinions on the fabric.
Goood to have confirmation on the placement.

>That smartdrain looks intriguing...but ultimately the regular
>stuff is tried and tested and works if installed properly..

I was tempted to call for pricing. You still need PVC with the smart siphon stuff, though.

>>I'm tempted to run a pipe parallel to the house just in
>front
>>of it all the way out to the driveway, where it would
>>theoretically drain. Or I could tie the one parallel to the
>>house to ones running perpendicular, then tie those into a
>>really long one all the way out the walkway.
>
>That would def. work...the key is having a deep enough gravel
>bed BENEATH the pipe for the water to dissipate into.

Yeah, I'm clearly going to have to do some extra excavation. Still shouldn't be that big a deal, figure I'll spend most of a weekend working on it.

>>Anybody done a similar project, let me know how you tackled
>>it, whether it worked, thoughts & advice etc.
>
>Exactly the way you're thinking. You are pretty much spot on
>the right track! Keep at it...just source the right materials
>and figure out the proper depths.

Thanks boss... the depth issue will be tricky. You ever use one of those pressure-release popup valves at the end? Or a dry well? (That looks like a lot of work for my needs, but I'd rather do the work upfront than deal with having screwed it up later.) And I'll still be nervous about what happens if it freezes...

-------
so I'm in a band now:
album ---> http://greenwoodburns.bandcamp.com/releases
Soundcloud ---> http://soundcloud.com/greenwood-burns

my own stuff -->http://soundcloud.com/lonesomedstringband

avy by buckshot_defunct

>Thanks boss... the depth issue will be tricky. You ever use
>one of those pressure-release popup valves at the end? Or a
>dry well? (That looks like a lot of work for my needs, but I'd
>rather do the work upfront than deal with having screwed it up
>later.) And I'll still be nervous about what happens if it
>freezes...

Yes...4 of them pressure valve things along one side of my house close to the fenceline. My downspouts connect into PVC to carry the water down beneath my flower beds and away from the foundation wall. I have mixed feelings about them...
1st: They only seem to pop up if there's a LOT of water flow. Otherwise, they just hold water in the pipe it seems..almost like a toilet trap. Maybe mine aren't installed right??
2nd: Due to them holding water like that....mosquitoes.
3rd: The grass grows really fast around them due to the constant moisture...and I always forget exactly where they are until it's too late...luckily haven't broken them yet...but I think it's inevitable.

The Bonus though....my basement wall has been dry in those areas ever since I put them in! That's worth it to me.

Waterproof the foundation, some sort of joint filler between the patio and the house, and flashinh to direct the water down and away from the door. Maybe a layer of polymeric sand to give the joints more run off, if possible drop the patio a bit below the door and grade it so that it drains off both the front and the side(s).

damn I had drainage issues in my front yard. There was a dried up river bed going from the top left corner of my yard diagonally to the bottom right corner. Causing the yard to be un even as shit. Nothing as bad as yours. What pissed me off was it was an easy fix. Like the front yard was separated with the big ass river bed. My son couldnt run in the front yard with out breaking an ankle. I noticed a drain at the top where the river bed started but it was tiny 4" diameter grate. So instead of water draining it would pool up there and run through the river bed. Every house here has a long pvc pipe running from the back yard to the front and draining at the curb. So I just dug out the 4 inch grate and t connection and replaced it with a 9" grate. When we planted seed we leveled out the yard as best as we could and its held up grate through the rain we had this year.

November 8th, 2005 The greatest night in the history of GD!

i swear I want to turn my yard into a rock garden.
I don't want to do this shit at all!!!

next week may be the mulch weekend.

I got a good life man

we live on a hill & basically the third of the yard closest to the street is mud & weeds now

runoff washes away any grass seed i can get down, and the soil is too poor for it to grow quickly anyway

its annoying


does it really matter?

wonder what bin's doing?
http://i.imgur.com/phECCMp.jpg

periwinkle
red creeping thyme
creeping jenny
epimedium
primroses... some varieties will spread very quickly
irises
throw some bulbs in there - daffodils, snowdrops, hyacinths, grape hyacinths, anemones will all come back year after year

you want some big stuff, try some joe pye weed, great for butterflies and can live anywhere. Same for milkweeds and goldenrod.

Basically, some mulch* will help the plants take root, and once the plants get set they help prevent the soil washing away further. You should be able to landscape that slope for a hundred bucks or two and a weekend's work and have it be relatively low maintenance as it gets better and better established.



*mulch - I still like wood chips though they've lost favor in some gardening circles; some communities have them available for free, but if not most arborists will dump a truckload of chips in your yard or driveway for $20 or so. Much cheaper and imho more attractive than the pre-bagged stuff you get at the Depot.

-------
so I'm in a band now:
album ---> http://greenwoodburns.bandcamp.com/releases
Soundcloud ---> http://soundcloud.com/greenwood-burns

my own stuff -->http://soundcloud.com/lonesomedstringband

avy by buckshot_defunct

im gonna try to set the scene so you can fully get what im saying & lemme know if you need pics, ill take it offline or whatever

so again...the house is on a hill. the front is a good...i'd say 45 degree angle hillside, roughly 30-50 feet across, goes up 15-20 feet...levels off into an actual "yard" for about another 20 ft by 20 ft...then the house

one side of the hill is mulched to hell...prolly needs more but its ok for now

the other tho...is ALL mud. its disgusting.

if i understood you correctly. you say is should mulch that side AND plant ground cover plants.

right?

*in* the mulch? or put like a load of more dirt down, then plant THEN put mulch down?

im considering biting the bullet & just having a landscaping company come in, tell them what i want & just have them do it but...if its something i could do in a weekend...im in


does it really matter?

wonder what bin's doing?
http://i.imgur.com/phECCMp.jpg

feel free to inbox

>so again...the house is on a hill. the front is a good...i'd
>say 45 degree angle hillside, roughly 30-50 feet across, goes
>up 15-20 feet...levels off into an actual "yard" for about
>another 20 ft by 20 ft...then the house

45 degrees is pretty tough, I'll admit, especially with that kind of depth to it.

>if i understood you correctly. you say is should mulch that
>side AND plant ground cover plants.
>right?
>*in* the mulch? or put like a load of more dirt down, then
>plant THEN put mulch down?

If you have a hill, adding more dirt's just going to increase the angle of the hill or cause more runoff.
How's the quality of the dirt?
What I'd probably recommend is to put the plants in first (best time to plant bulbs is late summer or fall, but everything else should be fine as soon as the frosts stop), and then mulch around and between them.
Give the plants that will spread room to spread - don't plant several plugs of carpet thyme an inch from each other, but maybe a foot from each other.
Group them - you don't want little patches, but big patches.
When planting, if your dirt is terrible quality (heavy orange clay), mix a little compost or good topsoil in to the hole as you plant it.
Plant them a little higher then flush with the ground so you can mulch without burying them.
Then once they're in, mulch around them. Mulch does a few things - protects the roots from overheating, protects the dirt around the roots from drying out, gives a good surface for creeping plants to grow over/through, ultimately enriches the soil as it breaks down. Mulch should be at least 2" thick w/o covering the plants.

It's important to keep in mind that it's impossible to plant a garden and have it look PERFECT right away. Plants grow and change and that shoul be taken into account when designing what you want.

Couple of the plants I referenced - assuming you know what the bulbs look like:
Red carpet thyme: http://i.parkseed.com/images/xxl/48940.jpg - now that's in bloom; most of the year it's a dark reddish green
Creeping Jenny: http://www.wilsonbroslandscape.com/Creeping_Jenny_3x4.jpg
Periwinkle: http://perennials-made-easy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/periwinkle.jpg
Epimediums: https://davisla2.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/epimedium-pubigerum.jpg

There are of course plenty of varieties of these things, so what's going to do well is going to rely to some extent on how much sun you have etc.

>im considering biting the bullet & just having a landscaping
>company come in, tell them what i want & just have them do it
>but...if its something i could do in a weekend...im in

I think you can do it, but it'll probably take some study and effort.

Good luck, let me know if you have any other questions.

-------
so I'm in a band now:
album ---> http://greenwoodburns.bandcamp.com/releases
Soundcloud ---> http://soundcloud.com/greenwood-burns

my own stuff -->http://soundcloud.com/lonesomedstringband

avy by buckshot_defunct

terrible for the local watershed among other things

>i swear I want to turn my yard into a rock garden.

Why don't you? I keep chipping away at my yard (.9 acre) by expanding flower, shurb and edible plantings, figure I've cut the mowable amount of grass by about 1/3 or more and will be putting in a few more vegetable garden beds this spring, hopefully expanding a few ornamental beds too.

>next week may be the mulch weekend.

ah, I need to get some. Got a badass new chipper this winter but don't have enough wood to chip to make as much mulch as I need.

-------
so I'm in a band now:
album ---> http://greenwoodburns.bandcamp.com/releases
Soundcloud ---> http://soundcloud.com/greenwood-burns

my own stuff -->http://soundcloud.com/lonesomedstringband

avy by buckshot_defunct

I have bamboo in the back and that shit is a BITCH!!!

It's good because it blocks our house from the park, shade and we get a ton of different birds flying out back.

But that shit runs like Jesse Owens.

yes, it's got good screening capacity but you'll wear yourself out trying to keep it contained.

Or you'll be like my folks' neighbor and not give a shit that your planting is invading and ruining their garden.

It's possible to plant it in a way that works, but that takes a lot of preparation and foresight. And concrete.

*shrug*

-------
so I'm in a band now:
album ---> http://greenwoodburns.bandcamp.com/releases
Soundcloud ---> http://soundcloud.com/greenwood-burns

my own stuff -->http://soundcloud.com/lonesomedstringband

avy by buckshot_defunct

my wife loves it but I do not.

I NEVER wanted a yard...
she did I lose i work
so again weed and feed this weekend.

I got a good life man

.

when I was out in Arizona cleaning up my dad's house, the weeding guy came by. He charges $35 to come around once a month and spray weed killer around the property on any weeds he sees. My dad's property does not have one blade of grass on it.

*Jews you*

"this is okp tho, reading is completely optional" (c) desus

Proceed with caution. I am overtly racist.

<-- In Pigpen we trust

For the same exact reasons.

Main issue I had when I moved in was my microwave would spin, but give no heat. I paid a good $70 for their visit, and two days later, it stopped working again. They came back and fixed it for free, but....cuzz I was hungry as SHIT that night and just wanted to heat up some soup without using the stove.

I had a plumbing issue twice that year, and realized it woulda been cheaper to call that same company directly. So noooope.

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but when it ran out I didn't renew because I heard too many stories about it being a scam.

Had a guy tell me his water heater went out and it took 2 or 3 weeks to get it replaced because they kept giving him the run around.

I live next do a woman who's brother is an HVAC who went independent because the company he worked for was scamming people.

Also have a BIL who is a plumber.

had a home warranty a few years ago and had to use it once for my dishwasher that broke. they came out and fixed it with the $50 service fee.

Then a few months later had an electrical short in one of the bedrooms and called them. Contacted the contractor that they told me to call and he came out and fixed it. But 2 days later he calls me up complaining to me that my warranty company didn't pay him. He wanted me to call them and make them pay him. That experience turned me off and never went with one after that.

I eventually found a neighborhood handy man, who was also an old family friend. Sometimes its hard track down but he does good work.

Damned if u do, damned if u dont.

Still a pain in the ass to unpack.

Still miss trash days sometimes cause I forget the schedule.

Have a gutter I need to have fixed, but it should be a small fix. It's just hanging down and sagging. But I don't want the wind to blow it off and hit someone or their property and then have to deal with that crap.

Then it seems I'm not getting any heating/cooling through the vents on my second floor. For that I'm going to deal with the home warranty. My realtor said between the home warranty and the home inspection home warranty, I should have very little out of pocket costs. We'll see. I'll be making the call soon.
______________________________________________________________________________

cscpov.blogspot.com

"There's a fine line between persistence and foolishness..."
-unknown

"To Each His Reach"

and some silicone sealant, and a level....
and handle that!


.

I don't even own a ladder that goes up that high. And as high as it is, I'll let a pro handle it. I got three stories above ground. That shit is for the pros.
______________________________________________________________________________

cscpov.blogspot.com

"There's a fine line between persistence and foolishness..."
-unknown

"To Each His Reach"