Post by sstwinklinglites on Apr 3, 2017 7:05:35 GMT -5
I'm up early today. Woke up having to pee, and was hit with such bad reflux I had to take a Zantac and sit up in bed instead of lay back down and try to keep sleeping.
What's on everyone's agenda today?
We have speech; I have to ship my work laptop to NY; and do groceries.
Does anyone know about correcting a reverse grade? We have one, not too large, on the side of the house, and I'd really like to take care of it before it becomes a serious issue. I'm reading it can be as easy as filling with soil, but I'd really like to do it right and prevent any possible water from ever getting in the basement.
We looked into this because it was an issue on the first house we almost bought. We were planning to have it done professionally, because the amount of dirt we would have needed would require us to rent a truck and stuff. And then we would have had to plant grass on the new dirt. It just seemed like more than we could handle ourselves. We never got as far as getting a quote, but our home inspector told us to plan for $1000-1500 to have it done.
We looked into this because it was an issue on the first house we almost bought. We were planning to have it done professionally, because the amount of dirt we would have needed would require us to rent a truck and stuff. And then we would have had to plant grass on the new dirt. It just seemed like more than we could handle ourselves. We never got as far as getting a quote, but our home inspector told us to plan for $1000-1500 to have it done.
Ok, this sounds like what I want to do to get it done right. Do you know how large yours was? I have a picture of ours I can post and it's not huge, but I'm wondering if I'd have to till a lot of soil to correct the issue and thus, more fill soil needed. And who do you hire for this? A landscaper?
We looked into this because it was an issue on the first house we almost bought. We were planning to have it done professionally, because the amount of dirt we would have needed would require us to rent a truck and stuff. And then we would have had to plant grass on the new dirt. It just seemed like more than we could handle ourselves. We never got as far as getting a quote, but our home inspector told us to plan for $1000-1500 to have it done.
We did this ourselves on one side of the house. It's just piling up dirt in a slant so that water rolls away from the house and towards any drain or slope. Then we planted new grass seed which is really easy. The grass took really well in that area and was pretty quick since we did it in the spring when there was lots of available water. The dirt part, it just depends. We never used a truck. H just bought many bags of dirt from the hardware store and hauled them in the car and that was enough to fix the slope. We then also planted water thirsty plants and bushes on that side of the house and got an extender for the drain pipe so that the gutter water was pushed further away.
We looked into this because it was an issue on the first house we almost bought. We were planning to have it done professionally, because the amount of dirt we would have needed would require us to rent a truck and stuff. And then we would have had to plant grass on the new dirt. It just seemed like more than we could handle ourselves. We never got as far as getting a quote, but our home inspector told us to plan for $1000-1500 to have it done.
We did this ourselves on one side of the house. It's just piling up dirt in a slant so that water rolls away from the house and towards any drain or slope. Then we planted new grass seed which is really easy. The grass took really well in that area and was pretty quick since we did it in the spring when there was lots of available water. The dirt part, it just depends. We never used a truck. H just bought many bags of dirt from the hardware store and hauled them in the car and that was enough to fix the slope. We then also planted water thirsty plants and bushes on that side of the house and got an extender for the drain pipe so that the gutter water was pushed further away.
Since ours isn't huge, this is what I'm hoping to do. But scared that it's not that easy. Because that sounds too easy. Lol. This was the one thing I was going to ask the homeowners to correct, but when we found out we needed a radon mitigation system, I was like, that's more expensive and I'd rather them pay for that, and didn't want to ask for other things and risk them saying no to the mitigation.
sstwinklinglites , ours was a really large space. The whole yard was sloping toward the house, so we would have had to spread the dirt way out in the back yard in order to not create a trench in the middle of the yard where the new dirt stopped. Does that make sense? Plus there were a lot of existing flower beds that would have to be re-done. It was daunting. But it really just amounts to dumping a bunch of dirt. And if it's a manageable amount for you, fill dirt is super cheap. And becole had a really good point about planting stuff that will help. I would go to a local garden center (not Lowes or THD) and they should be able to give suggestions for what to plant.
ETA and yes, we would have called a landscaping company.
Our backyard is one giant hill sloping toward our house. Do you know if drainage is an issue? Ours was fine when we moved in, never had to do anything with it.
Also, sstwinklinglites, are there any signs that there has ever been water in the basement? You can have a more in-depth inspection done where they come in with special tools that can tell you if there has ever been a water problem. If it was me, I might do that, and wait a year or so, and if there are no signs of water problems, you might never need to do it. Remind me, is the basement finished?
sstwinklinglites , ours was a really large space. The whole yard was sloping toward the house, so we would have had to spread the dirt way out in the back yard in order to not create a trench in the middle of the yard where the new dirt stopped. Does that make sense? Plus there were a lot of existing flower beds that would have to be re-done. It was daunting. But it really just amounts to dumping a bunch of dirt. And if it's a manageable amount for you, fill dirt is super cheap. And becole had a really good point about planting stuff that will help. I would go to a local garden center (not Lowes or THD) and they should be able to give suggestions for what to plant.
ETA and yes, we would have called a landscaping company.
Ours is smallish, between the corner of the foundation and the deck. Plus the yard it small. The yard slopes down away from the house, except in this one area, is how the inspector explained it to me. It sounds like we can do what becole did.
Our backyard is one giant hill sloping toward our house. Do you know if drainage is an issue? Ours was fine when we moved in, never had to do anything with it.
Apparently the issue exists because water is eroding it... not draining properly? The inspector suggested we correct it to avoid water getting into the basement at that spot.
Also, sstwinklinglites, are there any signs that there has ever been water in the basement? You can have a more in-depth inspection done where they come in with special tools that can tell you if there has ever been a water problem. If it was me, I might do that, and wait a year or so, and if there are no signs of water problems, you might never need to do it. Remind me, is the basement finished?
There was no indication of water in the basement. The basement is partially finished. They have the insulation and most of the drywall done.
Our backyard is one giant hill sloping toward our house. Do you know if drainage is an issue? Ours was fine when we moved in, never had to do anything with it.
Apparently the issue exists because water is eroding it... not draining properly? The inspector suggested we correct it to avoid water getting into the basement at that spot.
This could just be a matter of putting those tube things on the end of your gutters, or adding rock to direct the water elsewhere. You can have a landscaper come and give you some advice about it. We did this with our last house when we moved in and the yard was eroding in the back (like falling into the woods in the back). It was like when we had the inspections done before we bought the house, I had a landscaper come out and look at it and I don't think he even charged us anything. In that case, we had to add downspouts and it was expensive, but if your gutters are adequate, just draining too close to the house, that could be a really easy fix.
Apparently the issue exists because water is eroding it... not draining properly? The inspector suggested we correct it to avoid water getting into the basement at that spot.
This could just be a matter of putting those tube things on the end of your gutters, or adding rock to direct the water elsewhere. You can have a landscaper come and give you some advice about it. We did this with our last house when we moved in and the yard was eroding in the back (like falling into the woods in the back). It was like when we had the inspections done before we bought the house, I had a landscaper come out and look at it and I don't think he even charged us anything. In that case, we had to add downspouts and it was expensive, but if your gutters are adequate, just draining too close to the house, that could be a really easy fix.
They did say the trays at the bottom of the gutters were too close and needed to be moved away from the house. But there's no gutter drainage in that corner.
This could just be a matter of putting those tube things on the end of your gutters, or adding rock to direct the water elsewhere. You can have a landscaper come and give you some advice about it. We did this with our last house when we moved in and the yard was eroding in the back (like falling into the woods in the back). It was like when we had the inspections done before we bought the house, I had a landscaper come out and look at it and I don't think he even charged us anything. In that case, we had to add downspouts and it was expensive, but if your gutters are adequate, just draining too close to the house, that could be a really easy fix.
They did say the trays at the bottom of the gutters were too close and needed to be moved away from the house. But there's no gutter drainage in that corner.
Ok that makes sense. It may be no big deal. I'd call a landscaping company (we've had pretty good luck with Home Advisor) and just say you need some advice about correcting a water drainage issue. It'll probably be free for them to come look at it. Then you can probably take their advice and do it yourself, or if it seems like too much, have them give you a quote.
sstwinklinglites , ours was a really large space. The whole yard was sloping toward the house, so we would have had to spread the dirt way out in the back yard in order to not create a trench in the middle of the yard where the new dirt stopped. Does that make sense? Plus there were a lot of existing flower beds that would have to be re-done. It was daunting. But it really just amounts to dumping a bunch of dirt. And if it's a manageable amount for you, fill dirt is super cheap. And becole had a really good point about planting stuff that will help. I would go to a local garden center (not Lowes or THD) and they should be able to give suggestions for what to plant.
ETA and yes, we would have called a landscaping company.
Ours is smallish, between the corner of the foundation and the deck. Plus the yard it small. The yard slopes down away from the house, except in this one area, is how the inspector explained it to me. It sounds like we can do what becole did.
I wouldn't hesitate to do a small area myself. I would watch some YouTube videos and read a few articles- call someone to get a quote and hear what they would do like JoBub said and then make the call.
sstwinklinglites, from those pictures it definitely looks like something you could do yourself really inexpensively. If I was the seller and you asked me to fix it, I would go buy maybe 2 bags of fill dirt for $1 each, and dump them there and call it a day. You might still want to plant something there to keep the new dirt from washing away, but it looks like it might be under the deck, so I don't know how easy it will be to grow something if there's no sun
Post by sstwinklinglites on Apr 3, 2017 9:35:26 GMT -5
Thanks everyone for the advise. Looks like it might not be super serious and I can do it myself and plant some nice water loving stuff back there. If it erodes after that, I'll hire a landscaper.
I'm on a conference call that is typically painful, but especially so without a computer.
The IT guy also just called me this morning to get my computer password, which I had emailed to him last Wednesday. WTH was he doing with it all day Thursday and Friday if he didn't even have my password. If he doesn't get it sent out today my boss is going to lose it and I'm going to be the target.
sstwinklinglites, from those pictures it definitely looks like something you could do yourself really inexpensively. If I was the seller and you asked me to fix it, I would go buy maybe 2 bags of fill dirt for $1 each, and dump them there and call it a day. You might still want to plant something there to keep the new dirt from washing away, but it looks like it might be under the deck, so I don't know how easy it will be to grow something if there's no sun
She might also want to creat a flower bed there with a little retaining wall to keep the dirt from washing away. And the rainspout just get an extended plastic tube thing.
I'm on a conference call that is typically painful, but especially so without a computer.
The IT guy also just called me this morning to get my computer password, which I had emailed to him last Wednesday. WTH was he doing with it all day Thursday and Friday if he didn't even have my password. If he doesn't get it sent out today my boss is going to lose it and I'm going to be the target.
I would cc my boss on an email to the it guy giving him the pw with a little agressive "I sent this to you on Wednesday but here it is again."
sstwinklinglites, from those pictures it definitely looks like something you could do yourself really inexpensively. If I was the seller and you asked me to fix it, I would go buy maybe 2 bags of fill dirt for $1 each, and dump them there and call it a day. You might still want to plant something there to keep the new dirt from washing away, but it looks like it might be under the deck, so I don't know how easy it will be to grow something if there's no sun
She might also want to creat a flower bed there with a little retaining wall to keep the dirt from washing away. And the rainspout just get an extended plastic tube thing.
Please to share pictures with ideas of this. H suggested a retaining wall but I have little confidence in his handy man skills. (We already had it out last night because he doesn't want to hire painters. Yeah, it's expensive. But it'll change the look of the whole house and save me soooo much time - because guess who will be doing all the painting if it doesn't get hired out?).
I'm on a conference call that is typically painful, but especially so without a computer.
The IT guy also just called me this morning to get my computer password, which I had emailed to him last Wednesday. WTH was he doing with it all day Thursday and Friday if he didn't even have my password. If he doesn't get it sent out today my boss is going to lose it and I'm going to be the target.
I would cc my boss on an email to the it guy giving him the pw with a little agressive "I sent this to you on Wednesday but here it is again."
Agreed. And I'm bothered your boss is placing his anger on you, like you can control the IT dept.
sstwinklinglites , from those pictures it definitely looks like something you could do yourself really inexpensively. If I was the seller and you asked me to fix it, I would go buy maybe 2 bags of fill dirt for $1 each, and dump them there and call it a day. You might still want to plant something there to keep the new dirt from washing away, but it looks like it might be under the deck, so I don't know how easy it will be to grow something if there's no sun
Ok I'm usually anti projects and those pictures look like our first house. We went to Lowes and bought the long gutter spout covers to make sure the water was properly going in the right direction, I'm trying to find a photo -- below is a link we bought on for each one and H got 4 bags of dirt and it was done. That was the only project we did alone lol
I'm on a conference call that is typically painful, but especially so without a computer.
The IT guy also just called me this morning to get my computer password, which I had emailed to him last Wednesday. WTH was he doing with it all day Thursday and Friday if he didn't even have my password. If he doesn't get it sent out today my boss is going to lose it and I'm going to be the target.
I would cc my boss on an email to the it guy giving him the pw with a little agressive "I sent this to you on Wednesday but here it is again."
Yes. Or go find the previous email in your sent folder and forward it saying "Here's the email I sent you last Wed with all the information you need to do your fucking job"
Also, when your computer is so crucial to your job, they need a better system. Our IT department can transfer everything to a loaner computer in like 5 minutes for me to use if mine has to be repaired. It wouldn't have anything I've downloaded, so like my test generators or calculator software, but it would have all the standard stuff, and the entire contents of "My documents" so it's enough to get by.
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