Lawn Mower and lawn care

Cherokeekid88

Cherokeekid88

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2007
Location
High Point, NC
So, We will be moving into our first house at the end of this month. The couple that we bought it from, the husband was a professional landscaper and I know nothing about keep grass green and clean.
I want to keep it up since it looks so great now. Just cut and water?
I also am going to have to buy a mower...don't want to spend alot, maybe a couple hundred or so, any reccomended brands to get or stay away from?
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
So, We will be moving into our first house at the end of this month. The couple that we bought it from, the husband was a professional landscaper and I know nothing about keep grass green and clean.
I want to keep it up since it looks so great now. Just cut and water?
I also am going to have to buy a mower...don't want to spend alot, maybe a couple hundred or so, any reccomended brands to get or stay away from?
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My brother-in-law sells Kubota stuff at a large farm supply shop and I'll give you the same advice he gave me in terms of brand. Since the biggest players (at least those you would be buying at a big box home improvement store) - MTD, Yard Man, Cub Cadet, Troybilt, Bolens and a bunch of others - are all owned by MTD, you can pretty much compare them by features and benefits instead of brand name quality. When my 10 year old Bolens quit, we bought a Cub Cadet at Home Depot. It was substantially bigger of a machine then the old one, but due to the wider deck and tighter turning radius, we can mow our yard in almost half the time now. My wife usually starts mowing at the same time I weed-eat around the edges and areas you can't reach with the mower and with the old mower, I'd take over after finishing weed-eating and finish mowing the back yard. Now, we are done at about the same time.

For a couple hundred, you are either looking used or at push mower. How big is your yard?
 
oh def a push mower. House is only on .41 acres of land. so not big at all.
The guy selling it had a mower he was going to give us but for some reason decided not to. it wasn't in the contract, so I guess he has the right. He then said he would sell it for $200, but don't know what kind it is, but he did say that it does push itself, since the back yard is on a hill....
again, I know nothing about lawn mowers. I grew up in a nieghborhood that had an HOA, so never need to mow anything.
 
I've mowed alot of grass w pushmowers and I prefer the unpropelled ones w the big back wheels 12" or so. They are much easier to push and to turn around by pushing the handebar down, lifting the front wheels to spin it around quickly. The big back wheels also are better if you have to mow a ditch or rough areas etc.
 
mommucked said:
I've mowed alot of grass w pushmowers and I prefer the unpropelled ones w the big back wheels 12" or so. They are much easier to push and to turn around by pushing the handebar down, lifting the front wheels to spin it around quickly. The big back wheels also are better if you have to mow a ditch or rough areas etc.
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this^^^
.4 acres isn't tiny, try and get a wider mower like 22" versus a 20", or even 18" (if they go that low).
keep it mowed regularly, that's one trick to keeping it nice. Once it gets too long, it will leave clippings and/or make bagging much harder. Plus for healthy grass, they say not to cut more than 1/3 of the height at once. Mow it tall in the summer when its hot. When it gets really hot, my deck will be all the way up.

Aerate/overseed/starter fetiziler/water should be done in Sept., winterizer fertilizer Nov., then the crabgrass pre-emergent in the early spring, weed/feed before it gets hot...cutting the grass is the tip of the iceberg, welcome to the homeowner club ;)
 
Does the guy own a landscaping/yardwork business?
I know this sounds crazy but if so, you might consider just asking the guy what he'd charge to finish out the year for you.
You're gonna have a lot of other expenses and other projects come up in the next few months, that would get you some time to wait and find a good deal on a mower - they are always at the end of season - and learn a bit about what to do. Watch him etc. It's only a few months at this point.
Just a thought.

Meanwhile - don't discount the used market. Always deals to be had on mowers, but be ready to have to work on it too. I picked up a great 40" Simplicity mower from a guy for $150 b/c one of the deck mounts cracked and was dragging... an evening w/ a welder and grinder fixed it.
X2 on giant rear wheels and the widest deck to can find, it seems minor - 22" is only 4" more than 18, but it's 20% more - that's 20% fewer passes you have to make (sort of).
 
Check and see if your local lowes or Home Depot sells "refurbished returned" mowers. My local lowes has them once a week first come first serve. I got a self propelled mower that was returned because it wasn't what he wanted after all..... He hadn't put oil or gas in it yet much less mowed with it and I got it for about a third of the price.
 
If it is fescue and more than likely it is. Don't mow it lower than 3 inches. I prefer 4 for my own yard. As someone said fall time plug/fertilize/seed. I only fertilize the one time for fall, use something like triple 17. For spring fertilizer, I do it by March and use something like 16-4-8 slow release.
 
RatLabGuy said:
Meanwhile - don't discount the used market. Always deals to be had on mowers, but be ready to have to work on it too. I picked up a great 40" Simplicity mower from a guy for $150 b/c one of the deck mounts cracked and was dragging... an evening w/ a welder and grinder fixed it.
X2 on giant rear wheels and the widest deck to can find, it seems minor - 22" is only 4" more than 18, but it's 20% more - that's 20% fewer passes you have to make (sort of).
Click to expand...
There are always deals on my old buddy Craig's list.

As far as width, every bit wider makes a BIG difference, because you overlap every pass. So 18" becomes 16" effectively, and 22" becomes 20", and 20" is 25% bigger than 16"...

With all that said, I'd keep an eye out for a commercial walk behind in the $500-700 range. They are out there, they will last you forever, and if you ever want to sell it, you WILL get your money back out of it.
 
.41 acre is too tiny. Take away the footprint of the house, driveway, shrub beds, etc., and you'll end up with maybe 8-9000 sq ft to mow.A push mower is fine. Toro makes a great Personal Pace mower but really any mower is fine.
I have a detailed program for lawn care on WORD. If you want it, PM me your email address and I'll send it to you.
 
thought about asking the guy but I think he is retired now and he almost took the house off the market because of our initial offer on the house...so I am not sure him and I are on that good of terms right now. He was the one who felt like sicne he was a profession landscaper, his house was worth 15k more than it appraised for......
all the info given is much appreciated. I might get someone to mow it for me till the winter....then buy a mower in the off season....really want a grill and other stuff for the house that I could use that money for I was gonna spend on the mower.
 
Grill or mower....................that's a no-brainer for me! I would get the grill, have a cookout and invite my new neighbors over for BBQ and beer and while relaxing casually mention how I could'nt afford a mower after buying the grill. Surely one or all of my new neighbors would offer to let me borrow theirs now and then till next year!!
 
stay away from any of the mowers from Lowes or HD or Walmart, etc.

Get a real mower from a mower/tractor shop and it will last forever and cutting grass will be a joy rather than an annoying chore. Its a tool just like your wrenches, don't buy junk. If you can only afford a couple hundred $, look for something used. You can usually find decent old rear engine Snapper mowers for pretty cheap to free depending on condition. I've seen them on Craigslist for $100 and with a new $200 engine, is good to go for another 15 years

If you can afford to spend a few more $, get something decent and you'll be happy.

Good rule of thumb for good versus junk, is the deck stamped or fabricated???
 
I run a scag zero turn and it is a wonderful mower built to last and worth every penny. A good commercial unit will last you forever if taken care of.

On the other side of the buying curve I've got a lowes self propelled troybuilt push mower that I picked up early last year for my small front yard . It grows faster than my back yard and not worth getting the big mower out. It lays down a nice cut/stripe like most push mowers. The self propelled is a wonderful thing. Very easy to use and half the work. It has been in the rain,beat to hell and never serviced for the last two mowing seasons and never hesitates to start on the first pull.

I'd go grab a cheap self propelled and get to mowing. If you decide to get into the landscape/nice yard hobby down the road then invest/upgrade into a nice commercial unit. They hold value and are hard to beat.
 
ok, had the home inspection this morning, so I snooped around and saw the mower...its a Toro Recycler. I googled it, it looks like its about a $400 mower brand new. not sure how much he wants for it, but at one time, I think he said like $200. The windows in the house have been painted shut and is something that we were gonna ask them to fix, so I might see if we can maybe work on something where he can give the mower or something if its worth that. The home inspector said that it isn't hard to get the windows unstuck, but you just have to be careful....
 
Windows are easy to get unstuck. Usually a razor blade will fix that (usually)

Recycler mowers are a PITA if you have thick grass and don't cut it all the time or don't have time to cut it. Once it gets too long, the recycler mowers suck ass

I'd save your $ and buy a decent non-recycler mower, push or riding
 
Dude would have to be a lazy idiot to give up $200 value instead of just breaking the paint seal on windows himself.
 
Just make him fix the seal on the windows without haggling about the lawnmower. I mean really, who the fawk paints their windows shut?

Is the house 2 story?
 
I don't know....when we looked at the house for the first time, we didn't even notice it. But, yes, its a 2 story house and all the windows are like that. even the one in the garage.
but see, the guy is a lazy dude, and doesn't really want to do anything, plus, I think they are trying to lighten their load on what they have to move (according to the wife) and might would be willing to give stuff instead of paying someone to have to fixed, because I know he ain't gonna do it himself.
 
With it being a 2 story, each bedroom on the 2nd level should be able to be opened as there is a IRC requirement to have an emergency egress window. You could bust out the glass to get out but its sometimes not practical.

He should fix this issue regardless because you essentially no longer have an emergency egress window. Size should be a minimum size but considering its not a new house, it likely met the code when it was built. But, you should still be able to open the window for emergency egress in the event of a fire.

IRC 2012 Section R310 discusses emergency egress openings, etc. Fixing of the windows should be a non issue.

http://publicecodes.cyberregs.com/icod/irc/2012/icod_irc_2012_3_sec010.htm

"Emergency escape and rescue openings shall be operational from the inside of the room without the use of keys, tools or special knowledge. "
Breaking the window to get out may be considered the use of tools or "special knowledge" as windows are generally made to be operational. Deviation from normal operation requires special knowledge.
 
As far as lawn care read this thread. Josh has really helped me with my lawn. I am in Kingsport, TN. and he is in Hendersonville, NC. Everything has been done over the phone. You will see in the pics how my lawn has changed in the last two years.

That areator was a freaken beast to work with for 8-9 hours!!

And don't expect overnight results.

Lawn Care
 
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