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bdeuce22

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As long as there's no digging, it's relatively inexpensive.
 

Ataturk

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Sprinkler systems are enough of a nuisance that you might as well learn to do it yourself. Do you really want to pay someone every time you have a leak or a failed head?

Sprinkler heads usually just literally screw onto a pipe, or maybe they even have slip-on fittings. They're sold online and in big box stores. Valves aren't that much harder.
 
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brokencycle

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I was out mowing the lawn last night and a giant limb off a 50' ash tree started cracking and came down. The base hung on, so at least it fall completely and take out the power lines. I was initially standing about 3' away from where it landed.
 

jgold47

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Sprinkler systems are enough of a nuisance that you might as well learn to do it yourself. Do you really want to pay someone every time you have a leak or a failed head?

Sprinkler heads usually just literally screw onto a pipe, or maybe they even have slip-on fittings. They're sold online and in big box stores. Valves aren't that much harder.


this - its pretty simple and can be DIY'd unless you have some crazy elaborate system. They are all made of cheap PVC that seems to deteriorate over time. I wonder if PEX is ground burial rated?
 

Ataturk

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I always advocate DIY, but I've never really been a normal person. I just spent an hour repairing a $5 mouse that I've had since the early 2000s (it was, itself, an identical replacement for an even older mouse).

It was freezing randomly and it got progressively worse without any apparent software cause. I took it apart and decided the cord had kinked where it goes into the mouse body. Wiggling it a lot caused total failure, but I stripped the insulation away and couldn't see any apparent problems. I cut away a couple inches of each wire and respliced it in succession until the mouse started working again on wire #4 out of 5. Good as new!
 

Joffrey

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I didn't know your time was worth $5 an hour. Good to know..
 

Ataturk

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I was going to buy another one on Amazon, but one click shopping doesn't work so well when your mouse doesn't work.
 

VLSI

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tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, enter, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, enter, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, enter, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, enter

See? It's not that hard.
 

jgold47

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tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, enter, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, enter, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, enter, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, tab, enter

See? It's not that hard.


haha, I got the email with this last night and couldnt figure it out. Makes much more sense.

Cracks me up.

I'm in my early 30's, but I started with DOS back in the 80's. I still love me some command line interfaces. I dont think I even had a computer with a mouse until 1994.
 

jbarwick

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Had my deck boards replaced over the weekend as the old ones were not properly taken care of by the previous owner. Turned out great and felt like I got a good deal on the labor so someone else did it. The supports under should be good until after we move in the next 2 years but my fiancee feared she would fall through...women. I could have done it myself but I would have needed to buy a different saw then ***** my way through replacing my first deck. The only issue came up when removing the grill which is connected to the gas line through the deck. Where the gas line connects to the grill was stuck so they had to cut the line and we have to get someone out to resplice the pipe so we are only overbudget by $175 which is not bad at all!

I've never understood why some of the townhouse units have different places for the shut off valves for the grills. Some are in garages which is the wise move but ours is OUTSIDE the garage door so anyone can come by and turn on the gas. Very strange.

As for buying a mouse on Amazon....buy from your phone?
 

texas_jack

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I replaced the sprinkler head, it was very easy. Adjusting it was harder.

Anyone heard of John Watson landscape lighting? The previous owners put in a system except 4 of the mercury bulbs are out and they're about 40ft up a tree.
 

Ataturk

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Get some spurs and a climbing harness and do it yourself, you sissy.
 

upthewazzu

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this - its pretty simple and can be DIY'd unless you have some crazy elaborate system. They are all made of cheap PVC that seems to deteriorate over time. I wonder if PEX is ground burial rated?

Depends on where you live. They haven't used PVC in the northwest for 20+ years.

Around here, flexible 1" black pipe is used (not sure of the composition) and all the heads are attached to the main line via 1/2" flex pipe (also called funny pipe). Fittings connect it all together. To replace a head, just dig up the sod around the head and unscrew it...screw on the new one and align it (all sprink heads have a fixed starting point to the left, and adjust to the right). Valves are a little more tricky, mostly because they're a pain ********** to get to since they're inside a small box about 6" below ground.

A good rotor head from Rain Bird will set you back $12-15 (spray heads are less) and the valves will be about $20 (i think, it's been a long time since I priced a valve).
 
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Douglas

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So I went out and bought two LED floodlights to try in my recessed lighting for a comparison test.

A Philips 13W 730 Lumens nominal from Home Depot vs. a GE Energy Smart 12W 750W nominal from Sam's Club. Both supposedly dimmable, both supposedly 65W equivalents. I compared these to the Philips incandescent bulbs I have currently in place, nominally 680 or so lumens (I can't recall exactly but it was in the 600s.) I can't remember exactly what I paid but they were close in price, I think the Philips was like $34 and the GE about $31. Sam's also has a nominal 10W GE bulb with lower light output at $25.

Both being powered by Lutron Diva series dimmers. Both bulbs rated at 2700K "soft white."

400

the contenders

There is a clear winner, and really for one reason: The GE hums. One of them is not terrible, but I have 10 recessed fixtures in my kitchen and if I had 10 of these bulbs it would sound like a beehive in here.

Both dimmed successfully. The GE was definitely a bit brighter. I like the way it lights better too; the Philips lights up in the middle but there is a dark ring around the edges of the flood that is sort of annoying. But the hum is simply not acceptable. I moved the bulb into a bathroom where there is no dimmer and a fan is rigged on the same circuit. It's possible the thing is humming in there, but you can't tell with the fan on.

Both bulbs' color temp is perfectly equivalent to incandescent at full bore.

400

philips led left, Philips incandescent right

You can tell the led is slightly brighter, and color temps identical at full bright.

At this point, I removed the GE bulb and moved it to the bathroom, so the rest of this applies only to the Philips. I didn't really test the GE much once the noise issue became obvious.

One thing I do note is that as I dim the lights, the incs get very orange and the LED remains a pretty constant temp. Not sure if it's just me as the adjacent inc goes orange, but the LED seems almost greenish in comparison.

It's also obvious the incs dim farther and better. The LED dims to about half intensity and no further. For really romantic mood lighting, I'd stick with incs.

400

led left, incandescent right

See what I mean? Full dim here.

It's a considerable investment to convert the rest of the kitchen (9 more bulbs @ $35 each = ouch) so before I do I'm going to live with this one bulb as-is for a few weeks.
 
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