Quote :

"i have a 4' tall chain link fence around my yard. my neighbor's 3 jack russells are driving me batshit crazy. one of them barks at my dogs and/or cat, the 2nd barks at us, & the 3rd barks at the 2nd one while she runs around barking. it's deafening & makes it miserable outside. any ideas on what i can put up on the fence to block their view? i've got a span of about 40' or so to cover. those little strips you weave thru the fence would be a giant pain & wouldn't block their vision enough."

We saw a house when house hunting where they had an obnoxious dog in the yard next to them. Their solution was to put a sprinkler right next to the fence line and turn it on whenever the dog started barking lol.

3/22/2012 9:56:27 AM

Instead of the slats, how about the screens they use for tennis courts and construction sites and whatnot?

Found a link: http://www.fencescreen.com/?gclid=CJPv2rjW-q4CFUZN4Aod3ETWxA

[Edited on March 22, 2012 at 10:06 AM. Reason : link]

3/22/2012 10:06:26 AM

^i've looked through that same website. would it not look kinda tacky? or maybe there's not a way to do this w/o it looking tacky. idk

3/22/2012 10:16:13 AM

I think it's tacky your neighbors let their dogs bark non-stop so who cares if it looks tacky Have you talked to your neighbors about the issues their dogs are causing?

Another option would be to plant a bunch of evergreen shrubs along the fence line. Something like star anise perhaps.

3/22/2012 10:19:40 AM

yeah i've talked to them. they're kinda in a hard place right now. husband had a liver transplant a while back & is still very sick. wife is the only one who works & she works the night shift as a nurse. grown (37yrs) son moved back in after dui/legal problems. grown daughter moved back home after accidentally getting pregnant, now there's a 10 mo old in the house. they used to keep the dogs in a lot more, but there's probably just not room in the house. they agreed to keep them in at night if possible & not leave them out in the yard before 9am on weekends (bc they stand at the fence right next to my bedroom & bark otherwise). idk what they were thinking getting all those dogs in the first place but whatever.

a coworker suggested planting crossvine since it grows quickly. i might put some of that out but will need something else to kinda supplement for this spring/summer. i'll check out the anise. does that grow/spread quickly (w/o being invasive)? oh, and the area around the fence is mostly shade. it may get a tiny bit of late afternoon sun in warm months.

ideally we'll move in a couple-few years out to the country somewhere, but that all depends on the market. when i bought the house in 2006 my plan then was to be out by last year but that didn't happen. so i don't want to plant a bunch of stuff i won't get the benefit from until years later.

[Edited on March 22, 2012 at 10:48 AM. Reason : ]

3/22/2012 10:46:25 AM

Be careful with vines only because if they start to grow over onto your neighbor's side of the fence that could cause issues.

Star anise will grow well in shade. It's an understory shrub. We've planted some in our wooded area to block out our neighbor's view of our bedroom. It's not invasive though it can get up to 6-7 feet tall if not pruned. You probably wouldn't mind it being that tall in this situation. Last time I was at Kiefer Landscaping in Durham they had a lot of them for sale as well as other shade friendly evergreens.

3/22/2012 11:51:44 AM

unfortunately my yard is full of fast growing invasive plants, just not in the right spots. the original home owner was a master gardener & there's all kinds of crazy things. we eradicated the english ivy that took up the entire front yard, the periwinkle growing up the front of the house, & the confederate jasmine on the back of the house. there's still a GIANT conf jasmine on the clothes line, the world's largest rose bush, world's largest crepe myrtle, shit tons of irises in every color there is, and stuff i don't even know the name of.

and judging by their yard...i don't think they'd care if the vine grew over there lol. i'll keep an eye on it though. their dogs run up & down the fence so they've kinda dug a trench.

3/22/2012 12:06:50 PM

Quote :

"would it not look kinda tacky?"

I would think it wouldn't be any more tacky than those green slats. Another thing to consider is whether or not the visual barrier will be sufficient. I'm sure you'd hate to invest in a man made or natural barrier, only to have them continue to bark due to sound or lights coming on/off, etc. Maybe it would be a good idea to experiment with a cheap/makeshift visual barrier like a tarp or some plywood and make sure it has the desired effect before investing time and money into a more permanent and attractive solution.

3/22/2012 12:08:10 PM

the slats were never actually an option, that's just what everybody i've asked suggests first. they're hideous & cheap looking imo. testing is a good idea. they can bark with lights & whatnot, i understand that, i'm just tired of them barking AT US when we're in the yard.

3/22/2012 1:58:27 PM

Offer to help them pay for some electric bark collars. If they object, start reporting them to animal control.

3/22/2012 2:01:16 PM

they have them & don't use them. i've called animal control before. they actually have 1 more dog than they're allowed within city limits, but the city just told them to make sure they had dog houses for each & that was it. i have an outdoor cat, which is also not allowed in city limits. i'm not trying to be an asshole & i wouldn't want my pets taken from me either. i just want ideas on what i can put on the fence so the dogs can't see through.

3/22/2012 2:14:50 PM

Ugly situations call for ugly tactics.

When we were looking for houses we saw a sprinkler that was setup to spray through the fence and onto the barking dogs. It seemed to be pretty effective.

3/22/2012 4:44:41 PM

i haven't found a sound activated sprinkler online. there are lots of motion ones but i don't want to be spraying the neighbors if they walked to their storage building.

3/22/2012 5:27:20 PM

Eh, if they get sprayed whatever. Comes with the territory of owning dogs you don't control.

But the sprinkler we saw set up the people manually turned it on whenever they wanted to be out in their backyard. As you can imagine, we didn't think twice about passing up that house.

3/22/2012 7:28:21 PM

I have a pile of about 20 yards of dirt in my side yard remaining from a project I did last summer. I just build a new retaining wall and had hoped that all the dirt would be used for the wall, but only about half got used. Now I'm stuck with 10 yards of dirt and nowhere to put it.

The guy that built my wall offered to use it (along with 5 yards of additional top soil) to grade my front yard, which sounds like a great idea to me. However, he wants $850 to do it. I really want the giant pile of dirt gone, and grading the front yard would be nice, but I don't know if $850 is paying way too much. Renting a walk behind back hoe is $250, a bobcat rental is $500, and both options would make for a long weekend. I have gone through Angie's List to find a landscaper to get another quote, but all are too busy (either don't return my call or tell me it would be several months before they could get to my job). After stressing about paying the extra money, I finally broke down and agreed to the $850. It feels good to not have to worry about it any more. Finding a contractor and comparing quotes is a bitch.

3/23/2012 10:49:06 AM

I pulled up about 10 scraggly, overgrown bushes with my truck and a tow strap yesterday.


My wife kept calling landscapers and getting crazy bids, it took like 2.5 hours and they are out including the root balls. Now you can actually see there is a house here.

3/23/2012 10:51:19 AM

what kind of bushes?...I might take em off your hands

3/23/2012 11:04:57 AM

Had my 14 new downstairs windows installed yesterday... they are AWESOME. The installation was great, and the people who did the work were awesome... I even offered them each a $20.00 tip and they refused it.

3/23/2012 11:17:09 AM

^cost?

3/23/2012 11:53:58 AM

$5400.00 total... they replaced the 14 downstairs windows, replaced a lot of rotting wood, repaired and capped a window frame upstairs (we didn't replace our upstairs windows this time... already have "replacement" windows upstairs)

good chunk of change, but the ratings on the windows were pretty good from everything I found online... there were more expensive options, but for the price difference, the ratings weren't THAT much better.

we went with the soft-lite barrington low-e... the house already feels cooler because they block out so much heat.

[Edited on March 23, 2012 at 12:07 PM. Reason : ]

3/23/2012 12:06:26 PM

So we are planning on extending our carport to a decent sized patio pretty soon and we called and got some estimates on pouring just a basic 18x14 concrete slab. It should be a pretty easy job given the location and current landscaping and I looked into doing it myself, but decided I don't really want the hassle right now.

I got a few estimates. One company quoted me $2000-2500 depending on the size I wanted (at the time I hadn't decided on size) and another company quoted $950. The second company (seems to be a 2-3 man deal) is insured and has some positive reviews online, but I have to admit I am a bit skeptical that he can come in under half the price of the first company. Is there something I am missing that would make one company charge twice what the other one does? Or is this a basic enough job that I should be asking why the hell the first company is charging so much?

[Edited on March 27, 2012 at 10:52 PM. Reason : d]

3/27/2012 10:45:59 PM

I can't imagine why it would cost 2K+ just to pour a slab. I think my 10X10 one was $500 iirc.

3/27/2012 10:50:10 PM

cool, that helps. Wanted to make sure we weren't going a sketchy route by going with the cheap company.

3/27/2012 11:01:50 PM

Quote :

" but I have to admit I am a bit skeptical that he can come in under half the price of the first company. "

Get more than two quotes...instead of basing it on the highest quote out of two.


I did a slab for my hot tub with a buddy and it cost next to nothing...it's been a few years so I don't remember the exact #, but the mixer wasn't even $100, and the concrete didn't cost that much.

Quote :

"Or is this a basic enough job that I should be asking why the hell the first company is charging so much?"

That. Get more quotes.

3/27/2012 11:02:24 PM

Figure $3-$6/sf for concrete (depends on current material prices, how much prep and earthwork need to be performed, thickness of pad, finish type, sealing, etc, size of company (e.g. overhead). You'll probably end up in the $4.50-$6.00 range these days, but hey, you might find a deal.

You need to find some examples of his work. Hopefully he's done commercial jobs that you can go check out (I doubt he'll give out private addresses). You want to see his work in person, not just pictures. They'll take pictures during curing before any staining, cracking, etc. You want to make sure the concrete isn't full of cracks 3-5 years down the road.

Make sure they have a good base course down, otherwise, you'll be paying to redo this. Also, make sure they don't take a hose the concrete once it's poured. A lot of small contractors will cut a lot of corners with a simple concrete job (easy money, little risk, the customer generally knows squat, and he's not required to test the concrete/make sure it's up to code/strength requirements). Thus, you'll want a good stone base that's level and sturdy, you don't want him to start adding water after it's poured (this adds too much water in the upper areas of the concrete, which will weaken it and will cause lots of cracking later on). Some good ol' boy contractors who been doin' this fer years will tell you they need to add water after pouring due to temperatures/not enough water in the mix, etc. Well, they aren't helping. While their complaints may be true, those items must be taken care of at the mix plant, not after pouring the concrete.

Alkatraz knows a shit ton more about this than I. Get his ass in here.

[Edited on March 28, 2012 at 8:53 AM. Reason : .]

3/28/2012 8:50:18 AM

When we got quotes for redoing our concrete driveway the prices were all over the map. We're talking one company said over $10k for the driveway and another company was less than half that, with a couple of quotes in between. It really did seem like guys were just pulling quotes out of their ass.

3/28/2012 9:41:50 AM

got the capacitor changed on the upstairs heat pump today. We couldn't find the leak to the downstairs unit though. The pressures actually looked pretty good today so the leak must be very small...I guess I'll keep monitoring it and see how it handles June and July. Maybe we'll be able to find the leak by then.

3/28/2012 4:44:10 PM

Quote :

"Is there something I am missing that would make one company charge twice what the other one does? Or is this a basic enough job that I should be asking why the hell the first company is charging so much? "

my concrete guy is turn key for $3.5/ft so number 2 is right on.

3/28/2012 7:05:56 PM

Am I the only one with hundreds of inchworms on my porch/siding/deck?

3/28/2012 8:31:05 PM

haha we have a ton too. Stupid pecan trees.

3/29/2012 10:03:32 AM

^^
[link]http://www.news-record.com/content/2012/03/28/article/triangle_plagued_by_earthworms
http://ecoipm.wordpress.com/2012/03/23/cankerworms-gone-crazy/[/link]

[Edited on March 29, 2012 at 10:54 AM. Reason : ]

3/29/2012 10:54:06 AM

And the underwriter's request for never-ending information has begun!

90 days from closing

[Edited on March 29, 2012 at 6:18 PM. Reason : .]

3/29/2012 6:17:59 PM

LOL, you're 90 days from closing and you're worried?

3/29/2012 7:03:05 PM

worried? no, just a long time to go.

3/29/2012 9:16:01 PM

yea, why does it take that long to close? it's usually around 30 days.

3/30/2012 12:12:14 AM

new construction, gotta have most of a house before you can start the process and a whole house to close

[Edited on March 30, 2012 at 8:54 AM. Reason : .]

3/30/2012 8:54:04 AM

my pile of papers thus far:



my travel folder thingy (professional folder?) is about full

[Edited on March 30, 2012 at 4:44 PM. Reason : .]

3/30/2012 4:42:57 PM

I just turned on the A/C unit in the garage, and its not cooling worth a damn. BAH

4/4/2012 7:15:23 PM

wish the HOA would come take care of this tree I called about a month ago

4/11/2012 7:13:34 PM

Lol poor neighbor just came by to get some stupid hoa forms signed by us to make modifications to his deck. Apparently he has to get seven neighbors to sign it since he's adjacent to some green space. Gonna be a long night for him

4/11/2012 7:23:04 PM

yeah we are trying to get approval for a fence modification and we have to get our neighbors to sign.

4/12/2012 10:35:42 AM

Got my a/c fixed, $200 later.

Guess it could have been worse.

4/12/2012 10:40:27 AM

not too bad. could have been a whole replacement.

4/12/2012 10:51:31 AM

Quote :

"yeah we are trying to get approval for a fence modification and we have to get our neighbors to sign."

Glad I don't have to deal with an HOA and I fortunate enough to live in a neighborhood where people keep their properties in good shape.

4/12/2012 12:04:49 PM

well it's not that big of a deal... we only pay 35 bucks a month and that includes free golf, pool, tennis, etc

And my understanding is that the neighbor doesn't actually have to approve it... he just has to be informed.

4/12/2012 12:06:47 PM

Quote :

"well it's not that big of a deal... we only pay 35 bucks a month and that includes free golf, pool, tennis, etc And my understanding is that the neighbor doesn't actually have to approve it... he just has to be informed. "

That's actually is a pretty sweet deal, I could take or leave the pool but the tennis and golf would kick ass, especially if it had a driving range (I don't actually play golf but the DR look fun)

4/12/2012 2:53:12 PM

i can walk about 100 yards to the driving range, although the range is still 5 bucks for a big bucket.

4/12/2012 4:24:34 PM

^ We should go play sometime. I get unlimited free range balls with my membership.

Do you also have privileges at Riverwood and Eagle Ridge?

4/12/2012 5:12:28 PM

i would love too... once I learn how to play

I'm embarrassingly bad right now... sticking to the range to get a consistent drive and then i'll move on the learn the rest of the game!

4/12/2012 7:48:23 PM

So, even though we both definitely prefer solid hardwood over laminates, I think we have decided that cost-wise it is not really worth it based on the price of our house and our neighborhood. Because of this we are going to consider doing laminate wood planks instead.

Right now we are kind of weighing the cost of upgrading the kitchen (counters and backsplash) or the floors on most of the first floor (about 900ft2). We'll probably try and get free estimates from a few different contractors on both jobs and weigh the options.

Any suggestions on a laminate plank brand are welcome. The laminate wood planks do need to be durable, but it is also just my wife and I and one 15 lb pug so it doesn't need to be some super commercial quality, but something relatively scratch-resistant and preferably not super high-gloss if possible. It seems like a lot of the laminates are "high-gloss" and I think that would just end up showing a lot of footprints and such. (any experiences with this aspect are welcome as well).

Anyway, TLDR version: Can anyone recommend any specific brand or series of laminate hardwood planks to look at? Based on just in-store experiences, I was impressed with the Pergo XP series. It seemed very durable and actually carried a thickness and weight to it that seemed closer to an engineered wood plank than laminate.

[Edited on April 15, 2012 at 11:45 AM. Reason : ]

4/15/2012 11:39:08 AM