New England B.S. Thread

I'd use rubber mulch instead. My parents had termites after less than 10 years because they used wood mulch right up to the house. Just like inviting ants to a picnic.

 

I'd use stone. I learned about this crap called artillery fungus on one of my projects. It lives in wood mulch and other rotting wood scenarios. But it shoots this black, tar-like shit into the air, it sticks to everything, stains easily and is difficult to remove. We had all these little black dots all over the building, it came up on a punch list, the owner thought it was paint splatter. Thankfully, we didn't do the landscaping as it was an existing building so we weren't on the hook for it. We figured out what it was and, the next day, the owner pulled out all of the wood mulch. Shit made a horrid mess. We started noticing the dots on cars that frequently parked next to the mulch beds also.

 

i was looking at stone yard for the rental and i heard it's very labor intensive, and hard to undo if you change your mind.

i think our sill is about 20" off the ground though. they had to raise the house to avoid ledge

 

River rocks sounds nice but it’s not the uh, what’s the word, aesthetic, that my girlfriend wants so it’s not what we put out

we did put a marble chip border along the house to keep the mulch away a bit

 

You are right they do but the picture you posted has the length of the stem circled.

 

maybe I DO need my eyes checked. That's awesome.





Anyway - my vote is stone. Son of a bitch to lay down, but this was dropped around this time/a bit earlier in 2020. Weeding is the only thing we do, no more stone has been added

 

True but our sill was off the ground about 18 inches as well. House was new construction in 1982 and before 1992 had the damn things.

The rubber mulch is the same as far as shovel and spread (might be a little lighter but not really heavier)..made out of recycled tires and such. Supposedly retains water a little better, though I don't care about that part. Been using it a while and I don't have to refill that often, certainly no worse than wood mulch.

 

It IS lack of pride and carelessness.

But, it isn't their fault. It is the fault of industry.

Average pay around here for a tech is less than $30/hr.
I was making over 20 back in the 90s as a mech.

Costs have gone up, and pay.... not so much.
Then, they'll have 1 or 2 REAL techs, and a bunch of parts changers.

Funny part is, all those that screamed 30 years ago, "go to school, you can't have a good life without a degree, even if it is just in basket weaving", are the same ones saying, no one wants to work. No one is entering the trades/skilled labor, etc, WHILE bitching that "no one MADE you get a loan for an education".

So, in short, these shops employ a bunch of young and/or inexperienced people, just so they can make a little more money, and only "care" when it backfires.

ANYWAY....

So, caved and picked up a gantry today. Gonna build it, hopefully pick up my replacement rear axle tomorrow or Monday when it comes in, and get THAT dealt with, and maybe, you know, finish building out my flatbed.

And to all of ya'll like @deanosaurus that can do epic woodwork.... I'm genuinely jealous.

 

Flatbed?? I really want to build one

 

Ford Stupid Duty but still cool

 

Not as cool but any flatbed is pretty cool

 

Granulated garlic will help keep rabbits away...sensitive noses. You don't need much, I buy one of those jugs of it at Costco

 

i did that horrible smelling deer and rabbit shit and didn't work

 

That stuff is basically rotten eggs, look at the label. I can't smell the garlic a day later

Edit: that deer stuff is expensive too. You can throw a couple egg, some water, a little garlic and some cayenne pepper in a blender, let it sit for a day and then use a cheap spray bottle

 

My lawn guy put down Bluestone chips some years ago. When we discussed it asked about weed blocking sheets and he said he never used it because it caused more problems than it fixes. I have grass and weeds growing, so have to spray herbicide every years.

A friend uses mulch and has to replace it every year because it rots. If it were me, I'd just use he rubber stuff.

Termites can build mud tunnels to get to wood, or so I've been told.

 

I will agree that the automotive industry is failing itself and others as a whole. You basically need to be at least part electrical engineer to fix new cars.

 

Not even just automotive.
My industry is suffering a similar issue, just not on that scale.
We only got 2 apprentices this year between the 2 shops up here.
People retiring early to get away from it, etc.

We as a society, have been getting primed for epic failure for better 40 years. Nail in the coffin came in 1978.

Oh well... Golden Rule right?

 

True. Or sometimes the business as a whole is run in a piss poor manner. My pool deck started sagging a few years after it was built. I called in some people for estimates and fortunately was able to save it but...the guy who built it was a licensed contractor and didn't do shit right, just the fkn basics. Didn't use metal footers on the 4x4s, didn't use joist brackets, shot one nail into each floor joist from the side..

Termites can also eat pool liners. Learned that one.

 

How do dogs fare do you know? I could do well with keeping rabbits out - although so far pepper is 2 for 2 against rabbits

 

So is mine. It's ridiculous how they justify pay as we get so much overtime every week to make up for it. I don't want to have to work at least 50 hours a week to make what I make. I'm just waiting for the next 10 years when everyone retires and there's an even bigger gap