What have you done to your house today

[5.0 Probie]

Closing on our first house on Monday. Need to shop for a riding mower to maintain our 2.7 acres! Open to any advice or recommendations!

It's been a long and trying process, but I'm dreaming thrilled. For any future homeowners, we went through Costco for our mortgage and it's been awesome. Went with First Choice Loan Services and they've been amazing to work with.

For that kind of acreage I only have one piece of advice. Purchase a "Garden" tractor not a "Lawn" tractor. New or used does not matter. The transmissions in the lawn tractor will not hold up. So even if you have to spend a few extra $$'s it is worth it.

And "Stamped" steel decks seem to not hold up as well as "Rolled" do.

Good luck and congrats on the new home!

 

[Kenaizer]

The landscapers finally finished our backyard last week. My wife insists on keeping our patio furniture out of the rain, so they are always stacked up against the house. Hopefully she gets past that soon.

 

[i am ryan]

For that kind of acreage I only have one piece of advice. Purchase a "Garden" tractor not a "Lawn" tractor. New or used does not matter. The transmissions in the lawn tractor will not hold up. So even if you have to spend a few extra $$'s it is worth it.



And "Stamped" steel decks seem to not hold up as well as "Rolled" do.



Good luck and congrats on the new home!

Thanks! I had the read the same about the stamped v. rolled decks. Is there a defining factor that separates garden from lawn tractors?

 

[Gabe]

Bought a used 1,000-horsepower lawn mower.
It has a 98.4% driveline loss, but hey, age and inefficient design is what it is.

Found it on craiglist, the thing came with the mulching blades/kit installed and a bagger set-up, all for $400 .... we couldn't pass it up so we quickly went home, emptied and grabbed the trailer, went back and snagged it, then went home and mowed the back yard

 

[skwerl]

Got the 150+ lb tub out of the master bathroom today, by myself. It's a Kohler cast iron tub and the manufacture date was 2002 but it was stained beyond repair and I don't want a tub anyway. Instead of throwing it on my growing trash pile I rolled it out to the end of the driveway and put it by the curb. figured I would give it 2 days then pick it up. No need, it was gone in less than 10 minutes.

 

[5.0 Probie]

Thanks! I had the read the same about the stamped v. rolled decks. Is there a defining factor that separates garden from lawn tractors?

Yes. A few things. The Manufacturer actually calls them that. So that folks know what they are looking at price wise.

Here is what I mean... "Lawn" tractors run $999 to about $2600 depending on "Asking" price and "Sale" price.

Garden Tractor, for the most part, start around $1800 and can go from there.

A "Lawn" tractor is designed to mow. Same companies like to "Claim" they can tow and do other odd jobs, but not for any real length of time or strength.

A "Garden" tractor is designed to tow, push a blade for snow and so on for the "Homeowner" that needs it.

Keep in mind of course this is not to be confused with a small farm tractor.

And what ever you do, do not listen to the TV adds. GO look at them in person, get to know what transmission is a good one, and you will quickly identify the "Wannabees" vs. "Work horses"...

 

[Taxman]

Bought a used 1,000-horsepower lawn mower.
It has a 98.4% driveline loss, but hey, age and inefficient design is what it is.

 

[weather man]

Farmer who rents my field getting ready for pumpkins. We have had a lot of rain and one end of field is low. He had the triples on for that. He rents all the small fields in the area that the regular row crop farmers don't want to mess with and alternates pumpkins and soybeans.

 

[JEWC_Motorsports]

Ryan, like Probie said get a garden tractor. Craftsman make nice ones. Stay away from B&S engines, get a Kohler. I have a GT6000 Craftsman, 46" deck, sleeve hitch, 25hp Kohler. I built a box blade for it, have a lawn rake, and soon will have a bucket on the front.

 

[i am ryan]

Ryan, like Probie said get a garden tractor. Craftsman make nice ones. Stay away from B&S engines, get a Kohler. I have a GT6000 Craftsman, 46" deck, sleeve hitch, 25hp Kohler. I built a box blade for it, have a lawn rake, and soon will have a bucket on the front.

Thanks for the advice! I had heard to stay away from the B&S powertrains. I may find a decent setup on Craigslist for now and work toward a zero turn next year once I can actually get some time out there and figure out what kind of features I'll really need.

 

[Shotokan1509]

Ryan, like Probie said get a garden tractor. Craftsman make nice ones. Stay away from B&S engines, get a Kohler. I have a GT6000 Craftsman, 46" deck, sleeve hitch, 25hp Kohler. I built a box blade for it, have a lawn rake, and soon will have a bucket on the front.

So far my Craftsman GT5500 (28861X) 24hp B&S with 54" deck is awesome. Helps that I got it for less than half even the sales prices, was the demo unit they trained salesman with.. had all of 5 hours on it

 

[i am ryan]

After actively trying to purchase a mower on Craigslist from three different people with little or no response I've decided I'm just going to purchase one new tomorrow. My great uncle, grandfather, and a few others have told me about their John Deere tractors that lived in excess of 20 years, and then my grandfather gave me a self propelled JD push mower that he's had since (no shit-- have the receipt) 1989 that started up on the first pull. No idea when it was used last. Looking at a 18.5HP Kawasaki powered 48". Also looking at a similar 42" model, but an extra 6" can't hurt when I have a push mower for tighter spaces can it?

 

[i am ryan]

Rain and an early closing time meant that I wasn't able to get a mower today. Hoping that I can get there on Monday after work before they close at 6.

 

[Premium08]

Installed an attic fan. It was so hot i Couldn't be up there any longer than 10 mins at a time.

 

[Renesis07]

Figured I'd share my first real homeowner issue in life... lol

Discovered that water was getting behind the siding in the front of the house. Its in such an inconspicuous spot that Im glad I found it early. Turns out when the roof was replaced in 05 they didnt bring the flashing far enough out, which created a tiny gap allowing water to get behind the siding. Fast forward 10 years later and heres the carnage.

Those are the pictures I got from my contactor today, that's all new wood, I'll post a picture before with all the rot. I'm just about the luckiest SOB ever because all of the wood beams that were rotted were NOT structural. This has been a constant weight on my shoulders waiting for this issue to get fixed, I feel this was best case scenario for such a massive issue. It's in such an inconspicuous spot that no one really noticed it. I found it over the winter while putting up xmas decorations, and there was a small dried water stain on the inside ledge of the drywall inside about 10 feet up that no one would ever see. Must have been really easy for the previous owners to hide that from us....

 

[Renesis07]

This was the first picture I got this morning (all that plywood is rotted, you could literally push the side of the house and it felt spongy)

This picture shows the drywall stain that I saw from the inside. Behind that wall is a ledge above the main entrance thats not accessible unless you use a latter to go up there and dust or change the decor.

 

[weather man]

All because a worker said "good enough".

 

[Marble]

I put my house on the market today...made an offer on another...

I hate moving.

 

[GreenTerror]

Figured I'd share my first real homeowner issue in life... lol

Discovered that water was getting behind the siding in the front of the house. Its in such an inconspicuous spot that Im glad I found it early. Turns out when the roof was replaced in 05 they didnt bring the flashing far enough out, which created a tiny gap allowing water to get behind the siding. Fast forward 10 years later and heres the carnage.

Those are the pictures I got from my contactor today, that's all new wood, I'll post a picture before with all the rot. I'm just about the luckiest SOB ever because all of the wood beams that were rotted were NOT structural. This has been a constant weight on my shoulders waiting for this issue to get fixed, I feel this was best case scenario for such a massive issue. It's in such an inconspicuous spot that no one really noticed it. I found it over the winter while putting up xmas decorations, and there was a small dried water stain on the inside ledge of the drywall inside about 10 feet up that no one would ever see. Must have been really easy for the previous owners to hide that from us....

What tipped you off that there was an issue?

 

[Renesis07]

What tipped you off that there was an issue?

2 things actually. On the front of the house there was wood trim that appeared to be rotting. This seemed like a mild 'cosmetic' issue and figured we'd just replace the rotted trim as we went along (neighbors even mentioned that the trim rots over years and they just replace it). This was the first clue and one that in all honesty was overlooked by me as I just wrote it off as necessary maintenance.

The second one is the one that exposed the problem. Over the holidays I went up on the ledge to put up xmas décor and noticed a 1/4 inch gap in the corner of the drywall and dried up water stains. This was in a spot that no one would ever notice unless they went up there and was conveniently hidden behind vines and pottery. This is the only photo I could find of the ledge, I pulled it from the original online listing of the house.

After seeing this water damage inside the house, we knew there was something going on. Once spring came (and the ice/snow melted) my contractor and I went outside and really started exploring and discovered how soft the side of the house was in the front and the rest is history.

If you saw the house when I bought it, it looked like a brand new house. Previous owners were elderly people that clearly took great care of the home (neighbors said they were always on point with the house). They threw that pottery on the ledge in for free with the house and I didn't think anything of it or think to check on that ledge, so obviously it was never noticed by myself or the inspector. Do I feel the previous owners knew there was a serious problem? Yea I do. However I'm not going to sit here and try to hound them down for it or blame anyone. The issue is fixed now and fixed correctly and hopefully the only gremlin I find in this house.