The Benefits of Home Ownership?

[gmillerdrake]

Little Back Yard Landscaping update. Extended the planting area on the back wall and added another little 'planter' made from rock:

Pre-extension



Added a small border wall:



I then removed the grass (sucked...took 4 hours to scalp off and transplant) then laid the under fabric...then mulched...





$200 Budget...came in at $170...got to planting...



Finished...notice the small additional 'planer' on the front edge..














Some of the other foliage I have going around the house. These Rose Bushes were planted last spring so it's about a years growth. They were like $5 at Menard's...just stems really when they went in.














I didn't realize how addicting (or expensive) this landscaping/yard work deal would become.

[Cool Chris]

I didn't realize how addicting (or expensive) this landscaping/yard work deal would become.

Truth, brother. It's always like "well, I could do a little bit here and that would be good..." then you think "If I do that, I really should change this up..." and then "if I do that some plants would go well right next to it..." and then you spent $200 on three trips to Home Depot over the course of a weekend.

[gmillerdrake]

I didn't realize how addicting (or expensive) this landscaping/yard work deal would become.

Truth, brother. It's always like "well, I could do a little bit here and that would be good..." then you think "If I do that, I really should change this up..." and then "if I do that some plants would go well right next to it..." and then you spent $200 on three trips to Home Depot over the course of a weekend.

Yep. And that’s how it usually goes. I’ve come home with plants merely because they were marked down. Bought one two weeks ago for $23 that was normally $60.    can’t pass those deals up.

[jingle.boy]

Bought one two weeks ago for $23 that was normally $60.    can’t pass those deals up.

Gezuz, you sound like Mrs.jingle.

But seriously, that looks freakin awesome.  Teach you kids how to weed.  That's the part I hate most.  We don't have a lot of landscaping to do here (previous owners had a pretty good setup), just some touching up to do.  It's the weeding that I'm not fond of.

[Stadler]

Bought one two weeks ago for $23 that was normally $60.    can’t pass those deals up.

Gezuz, you sound like Mrs.jingle.

But seriously, that looks freakin awesome.  Teach you kids how to weed.  That's the part I hate most.  We don't have a lot of landscaping to do here (previous owners had a pretty good setup), just some touching up to do.  It's the weeding that I'm not fond of.

I have had that conversation with both wives.  "Honey, look!  It's marked $110 and I only paid $45!"    Yeah, but you paid $45, not $0.   . 

I love that look, and Gary you did a fine job.  For me the problem is the maintenance.  If that was my yard, I'd hate to see what it looked like in one or two seasons.    (And that's purely my fault; I understand that for some that maintenance work is easy and maybe even therapeutic).

[Podaar]

Love it, Gary. I'm a big fan of your use of perennials. Give it a few years and that hillside planter will look like and English garden. One thing I don't envy you is keeping all those climbing roses tame.    I trimmed the hell out mine just a few months ago and it already looks wild again. Of course, now it's in full bloom so I don't have the heart to cut it back.

Everything looks great. I'm especially happy to see grown up tools being used by fellow DTFers!

[gmillerdrake]

Love it, Gary. I'm a big fan of your use of perennials. Give it a few years and that hillside planter will look like and English garden. One thing I don't envy you is keeping all those climbing roses tame.    I trimmed the hell out mine just a few months ago and it already looks wild again. Of course, now it's in full bloom so I don't have the heart to cut it back.

Everything looks great. I'm especially happy to see grown up tools being used by fellow DTFers!

I’m looking forward to how it’ll all grow and ‘fill’ the space. I was inspired by an area my mother in law has on her property. I’m hoping for something similar. Those rose plants are my first experience with roses so I’m trying to learn how to maintain them.

Bill....the maintenance is something I actually enjoy. I just like being outside and keeping it all kept up.

[cramx3]

Very nice Gary, but man I can't imagine myself doing all that yard work  unlike you guys, I have zero desire to make my yard look nice and plant fresh plants or anything. 

I cut down a few small trees growing around the edge of my property and did some trimming of the bushes and small trees in front of my house a few weeks ago and that wasn't fun at all.  I actually need to spend time doing weeding myself real soon which is not a fun task either. 

I actually live right next to a home depot though so that's convenient, good thing I don't have that green thumb otherwise I'd be bankrupt.

[Podaar]

Those rose plants are my first experience with roses so I’m trying to learn how to maintain them.

It's not as hard as some folks make it out to be. Often, climbing roses look best if you keep them contained to one or two canes like you've done in your pictures. You'll get more canes coming up out of the ground that you can just cut off at ground level. After the current canes mature and get thick, you'll start to get nobs where young canes will want to branch out. You can either encourage that or cut them back. It's usually best to to do your trimming early spring just as the leafs are starting to bud. Don't be afraid to really give them a trimming either. You'll get some of your thicker foliage and bigger blooms when you do.

Enjoy.

[Podaar]

Gary,

Here are my climbing roses.



In early spring, before there was foliage, I cut this sucker way back and removed a pickup truck bed of dead wood and younger canes until looked it like a skeleton of a bush. I left two of the oldest canes per side that had climbed to the top of the arbor and about four one-year-old canes per side to fill in the sides of the arbor. Because of an unusually cool and rainy spring here (2nd wettest spring in Utah history) this monster really grew. The big unruly canes sticking out the front are shoots from one of the younger canes I mentioned before.

I gave it a little trim this morning and now it looks like this.



On the left, notice the brand new canes from this year sprouting up the fence. I'd normally just cut them off at the ground, but Mrs. P wants them to fill in that void where we used to have wild grape vines climbing up the side of the garage.

[Stadler]

Holy crap; that is fucking BEAUTIFUL.  Those are real? (Not asking to be a dick, but they look SO good.)

[gmillerdrake]

Gregg.....those are Beautiful! Man....they’re really full and tons of flowering.

[Podaar]

  Stads. Of course they're real...notice all the fallen pedals at the base?!

Gary, yours will look like that too after your canes mature, unless yours are a variety I'm not familiar with.

[ReaperKK]

This morning I came home from the dog park and went into my yard and discovered thousands of japanese beetles. I put a few of those traps out and they are all swarming now.

[gmillerdrake]

Exact opposite of a 'benefit' of home ownership. Directly under the boys bathroom tub. Thinking the P-Trap/overflow seal is faulty. It's stopped dripping now so at least I know it isn't a busted pipe. Still most likely gonna have to open the ceiling. I gotta guy though....this is the part where I don't mind just paying someone who knows what they're doing to do it.

[TAC]

Thank God. A leaky bathroom , and a break from all the pictures of flowers.

I was beginning to thing this was the DTF Wives' thread.

[gmillerdrake]

Thank God. A leaky bathroom , and a break from all the pictures of flowers.

I was beginning to thing this was the DTF Wives' thread.

 

[Stadler]

Gary, get someone to do it.  I'll keep this quick (but I swear it's a true story): I'm in my house in GA, by myself.  House is empty, moving trucks gone, wife/kid gone, and I have one quick meeting the next day and I fly to CT to our new house.  So I have ONLY things I can take on a plane left.   I have some food, couple-a beers and a book, and I'm set.  I do one last walk around, and I see a blue tribute candle in our walk-in attic. I say "eh, I'll grab that" and walk across the rafters in my dress shoes to get it.  I get it, I'm walking back and my dress shoes slip, I go down, two feet through the ceiling into the room below and I'm straddling the rafter.  You've got to be kidding me.   I have to fix this.

I've done sheetrock before (and a lot of it, professionally) but I'm stubborn and over-confident, and I have it in my head that I have to only use tools I can carry with me on a plane.  So I get a Dirt Devil (for the insulation and dust), a piece of dry wall, hammer, nails, putty and a trowel.  I'm working off boxes and a milk crate, and I finally, hours later, get it patched, but I know in my heart there's WAY more putty than there should be, and I didn't let the boards settle before I taped them.   Next day, I get a call from our agent, and in this deep Southern drawl he goes "Stadler, what the hell happened in that guest bedroom?"  I knew this when I left in the morning, but it sagged, and it looked like a cocoon had formed on the ceiling.   "I'll have someone come in and do it right this afternoon."

Not my finest hour. 

[cramx3]

 

[jingle.boy]

When it comes to plumbing, hire a plumber.

[Stadler]

When it comes to plumbing, hire a plumber.

I'll do it!  I have a Dirt Devil!   

[Chino]

Fuck. I had that same issue in my house. I have a hole in my office ceiling from the shower upstairs. I brought a plumber in and he said "Call someone else, that's too much of a pain in the ass and I really hate doing that work". That was 18 months ago and I just haven't used the upstairs shower since 

[gmillerdrake]

When it comes to plumbing, hire a plumber.

Yep. Learned my lesson at our first home. What started as a 'small' issue with a shower handle that wouldn't shut the water off all the way ended up with me flooding the kitchen below us.

Plumbing is one thing I don't mind paying people who know what they're doing to do. I have a guy coming over at 4:00 today to take a look and let me know what's going on. 

Fuck. I had that same issue in my house. I have a hole in my office ceiling from the shower upstairs. I brought a plumber in and he said "Call someone else, that's too much of a pain in the ass and I really hate doing that work". That was 18 months ago and I just haven't used the upstairs shower since 

      I'm near certain it's the sealant for that overflow/drip tray for when bath water gets too high. My oldest son had just taken a bath and he fills the tub up nearly to the brim despite my repeated instruction not to. The water leaked for a bit but did stop....this morning it's near bone dry on the ceiling. So, I just need confirmation of my suspicion and a trained pro to seal that sucker back up.

[Chino]

Here's my office's ceiling hole    

The shitty part is, the shower that's causing it isn't even above the hole. It's actually about 12 feet further to the left, beyond my 3D printing rack. It's directly above the downstairs bathroom, which is the room next to this one. I'd possibly have to open up the ceiling in two different rooms to try and find the problem.

[Stadler]

Dude, I wish I could keep my workspace as tidy as that (said with admiration and respect, because I DO try.)

[Chino]

If you saw the shelving to the left not pictured here, you wouldn't be saying that 

[ReaperKK]

That's a nice office space Chino. I'm currently re-doing my office space it and looks like a complete mess.

[cramx3]

I should share a picture of my living room wall, but I may be a bit too embarrassed to even share that   

My brother had a 120 gallon fish tank, he insisted on taking over his friends tank when his friend moved and I do enjoy fish tanks (I have one in my basement, only 20 gallon) but I didn't want the responsibility that goes with such a large tank.  He promised it was his responsibility.  Pretty much held his side of the deal except now that he moved out.  The fish were huge and I still didn't want the responsibility.  He gave them to a local fish store, we decommissioned the tank, and removed it one day.  The problem, he never installed a back drop behind the tank so the water splashed along the wall in my living room forming some sort of "crust" lets call it from the chemicals in the water.  We scraped it all off which was kind of cool in a way, and now there's like a huge circle of where the paint is gone.  It needs to be sanded down and painted over.  My brother's responsibility, but he seems unresponsive to come over and take care of it and while it bothers me to have this in my home, I also do not want to just take care of it myself.  I'll see him next weekend to bring it back up.

[lordxizor]

So I'm trying to figure out if it makes sense to refinance our mortgage. The interest rate would actually go up, but we'd get rid of PMI which makes our monthly payment like $165 less, but less of the payment goes to principle versus the current mortgage. I literally have spreadsheets trying to figure where the break even points are in the several options I have for interest rates and closing costs. I still can't decide if it's worth it. I wish I had a crystal ball to know how long we'll want to stay in this house. Such confusing stuff.

[TAC]

So I'm trying to figure out if it makes sense to refinance our mortgage. The interest rate would actually go up, but we'd get rid of PMI which makes our monthly payment like $165 less, but less of the payment goes to principle versus the current mortgage. I literally have spreadsheets trying to figure where the break even points are in the several options I have for interest rates and closing costs. I still can't decide if it's worth it. I wish I had a crystal ball to know how long we'll want to stay in this house. Such confusing stuff.

How long is your mortgage? 30 years? How many years into it are you?

[gmillerdrake]

So I'm trying to figure out if it makes sense to refinance our mortgage. The interest rate would actually go up, but we'd get rid of PMI which makes our monthly payment like $165 less, but less of the payment goes to principle versus the current mortgage. I literally have spreadsheets trying to figure where the break even points are in the several options I have for interest rates and closing costs. I still can't decide if it's worth it. I wish I had a crystal ball to know how long we'll want to stay in this house. Such confusing stuff.

Ugh. Feel for ya. The pros and cons just go back and forth....and what would work for you may not work for me. It’s a tough decision.  Good luck!

[lordxizor]

I'm four years into a 30 year.

[Phoenix87x]

What's the total amount of the mortgage?

Then what's the current interest rate and then what will be the new interest rate?

[TAC]

I'm four years into a 30 year.

Are you trying to reduce your payment or simply get rid of PMI?

[lordxizor]

The issue is more that I can get a higher interest rate (3.875) and pay less in closing costs or get a lower interest rate (3.5) and pay more in closing costs. I've done the math to show I break even in 15 months at the higher interest rate and 36 months at the lower interest rate versus the current mortgage. The lower interest rate breaks even with the higher interest rate after like 7-8 years. If I knew we'd be here long term, I'd go with the lowest interest rate. Over 10+ years it's a way better deal, but the lowest closing cost is a better deal up through 7 years. Again... If only I could see the future...