Lawn and Landscape

Not the guy at Greenresource.

The guy who owns the grading and landscaping company...dumbass
 
Ron said:
In Charlotte I buy from Green Resource.
Its about $45/ 50 lb bag. Certainly not half price of regular Pennington but much higher quality seed. So the pros tell me.

I suspect what @RobMcBee is talking about is the expensive ass patch repair stuff that is $40 for a 20/lb bag and is mostly shredded newspaper.
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Yep it was a commercial for the patch and repair crap....

I've been buying from Green Resource since you told me about them. It is a better price and a better quality seed than most anything you can buy at the local box home store, where its 40-60 dollars for a 20 lb bag. I was at Greens just the other day to buy a 25 lb bag of fescue and 50lbs of starter..... 53.00 out the door. Their prices are the best I've found around here.
 
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We recently just bought a house then was stripped to the base and rebuilt. In the process destroyed the lawn that the neighbors tell me was nonexistent anyway. Back in Oct they tilled, put down new soil and seeded. Cause of the warm Dec it grew in pretty well but they also put down straw which also took and prevented the grass from growing. In January when we closed I did some research to figure out where to start. Did the lime, gypsum etc. Beginning of March I raked up all the straw that was left and the grass has grown in decent since. My one issue is on the side of the house it gets soaked during the rain. Our driveway slopes down into our house so all that water gets pushed on the side as well as the gutters exit there from the front. I'm planned on doing a french drain but any ideas for drainage from the driveway? Or instead of growing grass there, since it's a high traffic area to get to backyard what else could I put there to help runoff? I was thinking maybe to dig up half foot of area where the lawn driveway meets, then digging down another half foot or so and put in some rock so the water goes under and drains naturally but not sure that'll work. Our soil is mostly clay that doesn't hold water anyway so it's an uphill battle for sure. The rest of the lawn is ok, it has its thin spots but I'll address them in the fall with aeration and over seeding.

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The other thing I do plan on building a garage at some point but that may a yr or two. This area water stands and also drains the backyard which creates spots where grass won't go either. What do you guys think?

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99JeepXJ said:
We recently just bought a house then was stripped to the base and rebuilt. In the process destroyed the lawn that the neighbors tell me was nonexistent anyway. Back in Oct they tilled, put down new soil and seeded. Cause of the warm Dec it grew in pretty well but they also put down straw which also took and prevented the grass from growing. In January when we closed I did some research to figure out where to start. Did the lime, gypsum etc. Beginning of March I raked up all the straw that was left and the grass has grown in decent since. My one issue is on the side of the house it gets soaked during the rain. Our driveway slopes down into our house so all that water gets pushed on the side as well as the gutters exit there from the front. I'm planned on doing a french drain but any ideas for drainage from the driveway? Or instead of growing grass there, since it's a high traffic area to get to backyard what else could I put there to help runoff? I was thinking maybe to dig up half foot of area where the lawn driveway meets, then digging down another half foot or so and put in some rock so the water goes under and drains naturally but not sure that'll work. Our soil is mostly clay that doesn't hold water anyway so it's an uphill battle for sure. The rest of the lawn is ok, it has its thin spots but I'll address them in the fall with aeration and over seeding.

View attachment 215188
View attachment 215189

The other thing I do plan on building a garage at some point but that may a yr or two. This area water stands and also drains the backyard which creates spots where grass won't go either. What do you guys think?

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It looks like all the water runs toward where your hose is in the pictures. (Hard to tell from the pics) but if that's the case you definitely wanna stop that water from running up to your foundation. I would look into doing a channel drain across the front. You could run the downspout into the same pipe and then put a dry well somewhere away from the area.
 
Water does sit there while it slowly drains to the side. When we had the inspection done he said just what you're saying about running up to the foundation and into the crawl space but it was dry underneath for now. So you're saying run a drain right in front of the foundation and then feed the gutter into that same drain? My neighbor is the one who redid the house, we discussed digging up the driveway right here and extending the floorbed over to help keep moisture from the foundation.., Ill get some more pics of the whole area here shortly
 
Yep, like what's pictured below. You would only have ti cut a trench wide enough to fit the drain in and the fill in around it with concrete. You could then either tie your downspout in with the drain line or just direct it into the channel drain itself. I've seen a 4" channel drain take on a huge amount of water.

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Another, cheaper alternative is to form a curb of some sorts to direct the water away from the foundation. It won't work nearly as well as a drain and you'd still have the issue of water in your side yard... So I'd skip this option unless funds were tight and you were just worried bout water on the foundation
 
Needs to be mowed (no purty stripes) but it's definitely the healthiest it's been since I've lived here.... And the neighbors all say it's the first time this house has ever had grass lol....
image.jpeg
 
shawn said:
Allegedly, shredded cypress mulch is supposed to last 3 yrs.

After 6mos, double shred and triple shred hardwood mulch need to be top dressed to keep the weeds down (and keep the beds from looking like shit).

Dunno if the thing about cypress mulch is true, but for the small bump in price/yd, I'm going to find out.
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Be careful and inspect the bags if you buy some at Lowes or Home Depot. I needed a few bags (so I thought, turned out to be about 25) and did not want to deal with getting it scooped into the truck and spreading with a wheel barrel. After putting it down I immediately started to notice millipedes everywhere. With-in 2 days there were so many it looked like the sidewalk was painted black, and they were everywhere INSIDE the home (yuck)... Once the chemicals arrived I sprayed the yard 6-8 times over the next 2 weeks, and again monthly for the next several months. They finally went away, but thousands of dead crunching bugs under feet were not what I had hoped for.

Moral--- I will continue buying mulch from the landfill or landscape supply where its not full of bugs, and let those not in the know support the home improvement stores :)
 
They sell mulch in bags??? :eek:




:flipoff2:
 
RobMcBee said:
Yep, like what's pictured below. You would only have ti cut a trench wide enough to fit the drain in and the fill in around it with concrete. You could then either tie your downspout in with the drain line or just direct it into the channel drain itself. I've seen a 4" channel drain take on a huge amount of water.

View attachment 215206

Another, cheaper alternative is to form a curb of some sorts to direct the water away from the foundation. It won't work nearly as well as a drain and you'd still have the issue of water in your side yard... So I'd skip this option unless funds were tight and you were just worried bout water on the foundation
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Great info, thanks for tips. Here's some pics of said flower bed if you wanna call it that. Won't get to that til after the wedding in August...
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I was thinking maybe of extending that flower bed, not straight out cause it'd look weird but maybe cause a few ft from the foundation. And maybe that would look dumb too but tearing up the concert and putting soil down, do you think that would help absorb the water run off from the driveway? I don't like how the driveway look up agindt the house so that's the other reason I'd consider this.

Back on lawn, what do you guys suggest I do next as far as fertilizer? I've done Lesco fert/weed control but wondering what would be good for summer.

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Channel drain is kind of expensive, but it will do what you're describing. If you want to build a planter along the base of the house, then I would bury a perf pipe (with a liner sock) in the planter either near the edge of the driveway or along the face of the house, then run both the perf pipe and the roof drain leader out away from the house to daylight.

Figure a decent storm can generate a LOT of water. For example, a "100 year" design storm (3.5 inches in Raleigh) drops about 5,000 gallons of water on the roof of a 2,500 SF ranch house. You want to provide a mechanical means of getting that water out and away from the house so that it doesn't end up in the crawl space or basement.
 
99JeepXJ said:
Back on lawn, what do you guys suggest I do next as far as fertilizer? I've done Lesco fert/weed control but wondering what would be good for summer.

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I don't know what the specs are on the Lesco but if it was a weed and feed then you've probably done all the fertilizer you need until the fall. The bareness in that area looks to be because of compacted soil. Guessing it's a traffic area because of the gate right there. If you can hold out, I would just wait until this fall. Then you could do a good aeration and seed. I had a couple spots like this in my yard. I aerated seeded and spread some sandy topsoil.

Also,do a soil test, it's cheap and will tell you what you need to be doing. You could have acidic soil and need to neutralize it.

If you're absolutely determined to put somethings down(fertilizer) use something that has phosphorus, middle ingredient, or a good starter. Build your roots before the summer heat sets ins.



By the way...... I am no expert, just what I've learned from here and other interwebs
 
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99JeepXJ, I would wait until you decide or do something about the drainage before spending much time or effort on the lawn in that area. You can fertilize again with the Lesco with pre-emergent if you want to and you can run your mower one notch higher. Without seeing it in person, I can't say for sure the best way to correct the drainage. The water has to be able to go somewhere. A dry well is not practical with our soil, it will just be a hole in the ground with rock and water in it.
You don't want the water going toward your foundation, that HAS to be fixed first. What part of town do you live in?
 
Thanks for all the responses. I'll probably do the channel drain to be honest and then tie the spout into that, extended it away from the house. That seems the most logical thing to do instead of tearing up all that concrete. Neighbor has a concrete cutter that'll make easy work of it.

As far as the Lesco it was the premergent. Im not worried about building any areas right now as it'll die when it gets hot but it won't matter until that drainage sitch gets done.
What do you guys with dogs do about their piss killing spots?!

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99JeepXJ said:
What do you guys with dogs do about their piss killing spots?!

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Lol I gave up..... Luckily my back yard is split in two areas, one for the dogs and one for hanging out. I try my best to keep their yard up, but they tear it all to hell.
 
RobMcBee said:
Yep, like what's pictured below. You would only have ti cut a trench wide enough to fit the drain in and the fill in around it with concrete. You could then either tie your downspout in with the drain line or just direct it into the channel drain itself. I've seen a 4" channel drain take on a huge amount of water.

Another, cheaper alternative is to form a curb of some sorts to direct the water away from the foundation. It won't work nearly as well as a drain and you'd still have the issue of water in your side yard... So I'd skip this option unless funds were tight and you were just worried bout water on the foundation
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Any idea how difficult a project like this is for a dude with no experience in concrete anything? I get some water in the carport. Not really much to worry about, but it pisses me off to stand in a puddle to get in my car when it's covered.

On that same line of thought, what's the process to move concrete sections of a driveway or walkway back to level? I've got two pretty bad portions of the driveway and front walk that are both an inch or so below the rest of the walk. I've seen a few companies that can do it, one looks decent out of Greensboro I think...Tarheel Basements or something like that? I'm not sure they will come down this far, or if the leveling system is even that good though.
 
Macdaddy4738 said:
Any idea how difficult a project like this is for a dude with no experience in concrete anything? I get some water in the carport. Not really much to worry about, but it pisses me off to stand in a puddle to get in my car when it's covered.

On that same line of thought, what's the process to move concrete sections of a driveway or walkway back to level? I've got two pretty bad portions of the driveway and front walk that are both an inch or so below the rest of the walk. I've seen a few companies that can do it, one looks decent out of Greensboro I think...Tarheel Basements or something like that? I'm not sure they will come down this far, or if the leveling system is even that good though.
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Slab jacking does very well, but its expensive as hell and could sink again if you don't find out why it sank in the first place. As far as difficulty goes, I'd place it 3 out of 5. Hardest part is cutting the concrete and removing it. You need replace very little because the trench fills most of the hole.
 
Macdaddy4738 said:
Any idea how difficult a project like this is for a dude with no experience in concrete anything? I get some water in the carport. Not really much to worry about, but it pisses me off to stand in a puddle to get in my car when it's covered.

On that same line of thought, what's the process to move concrete sections of a driveway or walkway back to level? I've got two pretty bad portions of the driveway and front walk that are both an inch or so below the rest of the walk. I've seen a few companies that can do it, one looks decent out of Greensboro I think...Tarheel Basements or something like that? I'm not sure they will come down this far, or if the leveling system is even that good though.
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There is two methods. One is to pump foam under the low parts and pump it back up to level and the other is to grind off the high areas to match the low areas. I don't have any reliab;le people to recommend for either. I've called both to come out for bids and neither have followed up.
 
There are at least three easy fixes for the concrete:

1. Ignore it.
2. Pour a topping slab over it. The topping slab will spall off eventually, but it might take years.
2. Pay somebody to demo the sunken area, rebuild the subgrade, and repour. If it's not a big area, this can be done fairly inexpensively.

And yeah, there's the jacking people, but that's expensive, and usually only employed on foundations and things like that.

As for the trench drain, if you have the means of scoring the concrete (circ saw with abrasive blade works and is cheap) and an air chisel, you can make quick work of putting a trench in a slab.


cgm147 said:
View attachment 215419 THIS sprayer works like a champ! Glad I finally bought one.
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I think one of those is in my future.
 
RobMcBee said:
Slab jacking does very well, but its expensive as hell and could sink again if you don't find out why it sank in the first place. As far as difficulty goes, I'd place it 3 out of 5. Hardest part is cutting the concrete and removing it. You need replace very little because the trench fills most of the hole.
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R Q said:
There is two methods. One is to pump foam under the low parts and pump it back up to level and the other is to grind off the high areas to match the low areas. I don't have any reliab;le people to recommend for either. I've called both to come out for bids and neither have followed up.
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shawn said:
There are at least three easy fixes for the concrete:
1. Ignore it.
2. Pour a topping slab over it. The topping slab will spall off eventually, but it might take years.
2. Pay somebody to demo the sunken area, rebuild the subgrade, and repour. If it's not a big area, this can be done fairly inexpensively.
And yeah, there's the jacking people, but that's expensive, and usually only employed on foundations and things like that.
As for the trench drain, if you have the means of scoring the concrete (circ saw with abrasive blade works and is cheap) and an air chisel, you can make quick work of putting a trench in a slab.
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I was looking at the foam deal, but I didn't think that would really be a long term fix. My major issue is with the driveway. It's a significant drop, you can feel it in the car, but it's across the whole width of the driveway so fixing it correctly won't be cheap and I have other stuff to worry about. I think the front walkway could just be demoed and rebuilt. There isn't much to it really.
 
I picked up a sidewalk slab just yesterday and raised it an inch. Only took a minute.
 
shawn said:
There are at least three easy fixes for the concrete:

1. Ignore it.
2. Pour a topping slab over it. The topping slab will spall off eventually, but it might take years.
2. Pay somebody to demo the sunken area, rebuild the subgrade, and repour. If it's not a big area, this can be done fairly inexpensively.

And yeah, there's the jacking people, but that's expensive, and usually only employed on foundations and things like that.

As for the trench drain, if you have the means of scoring the concrete (circ saw with abrasive blade works and is cheap) and an air chisel, you can make quick work of putting a trench in a slab.




I think one of those is in my future.
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On a side note about the sprayer I bought the 21.5 gallon model and found out it runs out way quicker than I thought... I do have a large area I'm spraying and should of sprung for a larger unit. The 2.2 gal a min pump puts it down lol. I don't think I'll ever strap my backpack sprayer on again.

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