Home Buyin/Maintenance Thread - Where most of us are 30ish but act 47. Oh, and fuck home inspectors

Where did you buy it

 

We install them weekly. I'll be happy to help you out if you want to do it yourself. Our average install is about $5k, and that's about 40% profit.

And definitely go with the Rachio 3. It is fantastic. It's all we install.

 

How hard is it to extend a zone. I have a couple sprinklers on my landscaping which is tied to a sprinkler head on the side of my yard. I would like to add a sprinkler further back on the same side.

I am assuming it would simply be digging the lines cutting the sprinkler and adding a T to connect the new line and sprinkler head?

 

Basically that's it. You have to add a valve too.
You can add a T and a valve, and run your line.

 

Not too sure I want to do it solo, probably a bitch to go under the driveway and dig trenches.

My lot is tiny, probably less than a quarter acre

 

Call around and get quotes. If you know where to find labor, get someone to trench and run the lines. Wiring it is easy. Landscape prices are through the roof right now. Covid-19 has us slammed.

 

Probably a year or so out. Just googling an surprised how cheap it was.

Thought it be 10+ grand

 

I paid 2k for one but that was 10 years ago. It’s mostly the labor which is costly. It’s just pvc and the control system.

 

http://www.madisongregoryfineart.com/

 

Just saw a slickdeal for that fancy sprinkle set if anyone's in the market

https://slickdeals.net/f/14075231-r...ntroller-12-zone-169-99?src=SiteSearchV2Algo1

 

Yeah, also assumed they were super high end for some reason.

 

Dumb question. Zones= the amount of different areas you have right? My sprinklers cycle through 3 areas each time they go off. So a 12 zone Rachio is unnecessary overkill?

 

Yep, K-4, with a 5 year old that will be going to kindergarten this fall.

 

How do I get mortar spots off flagstone. Going to try to pressure wash. I’ve purchased muriatic acid but now I’m worried about killing the plants around the patio

 

Buehler?

 

Pretty sure rachio has a 6 or 7 zone model

 

So I’m right. No reason for 12 zones when I have 3

 

Rachio has an 8 zone and 16 zone model.

 

What kind of massive lawn has 16 damn zones.

 

I have 28 mainly because the people who installed it were idiots but it’s an acre lot

 

Homes with low water pressure would require a higher number of zones.

 

There is a neighborhood being built that is just outside of city limits near me. The sewer would be on septic or aeration? Aerobic? system. I know nothing about either since I have always had city water/trash/sewer.

should I have any concerns?

 

Aerobic ties in sprinklers to your bleached sewage. Neighbor has one and has struggled with issues. Requires adding bleach from time to time. I wouldn’t go with that.

if given the option go with a septic tank. Especially if the sewer option requires a grinder pump.

 

Patio Complete.

 

Nicely done.

 

Did you put one of those clear plastic coverings over your pergola, or just leave it open? Hard to tell from the picture.

 

left it open for now, we will see what we decide in the future.

 

When I was building houses we used Aerobic systems if the soil contained too much clay. They come out and dig a hole in the ground and pour in some water and see how quickly it gets absorbed. The reason is regular systems have lateral lines which the waste water is ejected through. The soil in most cases absorbs the water and its never seen.

If there is too much clay, the water pools under the surface, can't be evaporated or can not be absorbed fast enough to use lateral lines, so they use a sprinkler to eject the water. In those systems the water coming out must be cleaned further than normal systems. Due to this the aerobic systems were more expensive.

The sales guys used to drink the water straight from an active tank and talk about how clean they were at the trade shows. It is funny though as the sprinklers run year round so in the winter, we could come out and find ice circles in the backyards of some homes.

 

I’ve heard stories of seeing kids playing in the poop sprinklers because the owners didn’t reset the timer after a power outage so they were going off in the afternoon

 

We do 12+ zones all the time. When there's multiple flower beds. I bid a remodel last week that will have 16 zones because it has terrible city water pressure and they have a lot of beds with around 8k sf of lawn.

 

I'm on a quarter acre and have 3 zones.

 

Going to see a perfect house today. But it's tip top of our budget. Has separate rental space we could Air BnB but wouldn't count on that (especially right now) and could afford without it.

I'm either going to miss out on the first house that's checked all the boxes for the fiancee and I, or I'm going to be dirt poor. Pray for me.

 

I bought a similar home two years ago. Figured worse case we could AirBnB the apartment if we needed to.

Something we didn't think about is renting it to friends. My SIL lived there for about a year and a friend of ours from college moved in a few months ago.

So over the two years, it's been rented for ~18 months of that time.

 

I really wanted a place that I could airbnb. Wife didn't like that idea.

 

Yeah, this place is a closed off basement with a separate entrance. It's a beautiful space but only a mini-fridge and sink, so I'd be worried about attractiveness as a longer-term rental. Air BnB you can live with that if we add a microwave.

Then again, if we could lease it to someone long term for what we get out of it 3 weekends a month on AirBnB, I think we'd take that all day and I think that would be a steal for whoever is renting it.

 

My yard cannot hold any measurable amount of water without the ground getting soggy, and becomes a muddy mess if the ground is wet.

Any tips to improve drainage?

 

Probably hard to improve your soil of your entire yard. Bad spots, you can install a french drain. Lots of manual labor

 

I've considered that because I have that in front. The previous owners just let the eaves spill onto the sidewalk which flood in the summer and turn into an ice rink in the winter. Just doesn't seem very feasible to do in back.

 

I’ve got a similar issue in front and back yards. Having a few landscape contractors come out to quote burying my gutters and running them out to the side yard to pop up spouts. Also looking at adding a French drain where neighbor water runoff is getting into my backyard. Gutter drain lines will have to cross numerous sprinkler lines so I’m likely just going to have somebody do it all.

 

Well, just signed with a realtor

 

I think a french drain is your best answer. Last I checked the costs in Dallas were around $10 a foot installed.

Another idea which would be more complicated actually but might work without the digging would be to bring in some topsoil. We have a local company which will deliver a truckload for under $50. Then you would need to spread the soil in the areas which are holding the water to raise that area up to improve drainage. If the area is holding water its because the water isn't running off the yard quickly enough and its holding the water. I have a couple areas which are doing this myself. I am putting down some topsoil and in some cases, sand, which will allow the grass to grow quickly through it and raise the soil level.

 

Staying true to the irrigation part of this thread.

At the point of ripping hair from my scalp. Old pump was drawing from the lake and worked well but stopped working. Been at least two years of not replacing it because of reasons but I've basically replaced everything now...new pump, new timer, new pump start relay. Timer and pump both work separately but I can't get the timer to communicate with the pump. Changing the valve today also because I'm suspecting there's a connection issue there since the valve has been buried.

I see why irrigation specialists get paid well for their service.

 

We listed our house on Saturday. We have had 9 showings so far with 2 more today, 1 more scheduled tomorrow. They typically schedule them rightbefore.

It's quite nerve-wrecking. We don't have an offer yet but the feedback has been positive overall. We are also under contract for another house (contingent) that is in our ideal location and is $70K under my max budget. so we are sweating this one out for sure.

 

You're moving OTP?

 

i live in Birmingham, AL. i was only in Atlanta from 2013-2016

 

Maybe there was another Bam ITT talking about moving to the Atlanta Burbs. Buying in some new construction

 

Thank you for clarifying which state Birmingham is in.

 

There is a Birmingham, MI which is actually quite nice.

 

And in England.