The Home Ownership Thread

[Ataturk]

The trick is to get a house with two garages so you can park in the garage _and_ have one for a shop.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

Garages are the curse of contemporary house design.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

You prefer a carriage house?

 

[jbarwick]

This is the first house I have ever lived in with a garage. I do not miss cold cars and scraping windows. I will say I prefer a garage when you cannot see it from the front of the house. Ours is a side entrance which is drive in to other parts of the basement.

Oh! We got our kitchen island. It fits well in the space and we love it. The cherry top gives it enough color and wood difference that it does not clash with the lighter oak flooring.

 

[Numbernine]

Garages are the curse of contemporary house design.

You prefer a carriage house?

detatched

 

[FlyingMonkey]

I've just seen so many houses, especially in North America, where the double or triple, or even bigger, garage totally dominates the design so that it gives the impression that the point of life is cars. Maybe that's true, but it's pretty sad if it is.

 

[Ataturk]

In terms of space it's a lot more efficient to have the garage facing the road. I'm not sure cramming a side-facing garage into smaller lots is any better, either. You often see neighborhoods composed of little sub-2000-sq-ft houses that are tough to tell apart because they're all shaped like an "L."

 

[otc]



It's funny that Americans hate asphalt and thinks it will break on sight, but all Scandinavian roads are made of it and we get some harsh winters.

Concrete is only used on industrial eatate, with lots of heavy machinery.

Nah, all of our roads are asphalt surfaced, but they get resurfaced every few years.

My parents driveway in brokencycle's part of the country (which gets some similar weather to Denmark) is still in great shape 20+ years after they bought the house, and who knows how long before that it was poured. The street has been fully rebuilt at least once and resurfaced probably several times in that same period... And it only looks like a nice jet black strip of pavement for a little while before it ages.

 

[brokencycle]



Nah, all of our roads are asphalt surfaced, but they get resurfaced every few years.

My parents driveway in brokencycle's part of the country (which gets some similar weather to Denmark) is still in great shape 20+ years after they bought the house, and who knows how long before that it was poured. The street has been fully rebuilt at least once and resurfaced probably several times in that same period... And it only looks like a nice jet black strip of pavement for a little while before it ages.

Agreed. I don't know how old my driveway was, but it went from starting to crack to gravel in basically 5 years.

 

[archetypal_yuppie]

MosquitoNix ******* rules.

 

[Ataturk]

Misting System Components

MosquitoNix utilizes best in-class parts and technology, including:
....

55 Gallon Drum*

Nice!

In all seriousness, I like that idea. I have a device called a "fertigator" that I intend to install some day that pumps fertilizer (or pesticides) into your sprinkler system in an automated way. I was thinking I could install a reservoir for insecticide and spray my backyard and front shrubs with it for a (relatively) small cost. The insecticide itself only costs about $1 per gallon for the mixed solution at full strength. It only needs to be sprayed every couple weeks to be effective.

Installing a dedicated system for mosquitos seems like it would be a huge waste of time and money, at least to me. Maybe if your yard is very small.

 

[archetypal_yuppie]

version 2:

misting /= sprinkling

 

[Ataturk]

Misting and sprinkling are basically the same thing. If you use something that's intended to be sprayed like Bifenthren (sp?), it works by killing mosquitos when they land on shrubs or grass to rest or feed, either one is a perfectly fine way to distribute it. It only needs to be sprayed every couple weeks to be effective.

If you're trying to kill mosquitos with something that's intended to be fogged and you're using a mister or misting sprinkler head to distribute it, it's going to fall to the ground pretty fast. Misting is not the equivalent of fogging like you get with powered backpacks or the city spray truck that comes around once a month.

 

[archetypal_yuppie]

I wish I had gone with version 1. Making judgements before knowing what the **** your are talking about = ******* marsupial.

-wrong on product used
-wrong on what it does / how it works
-and "misting and sprinkling are basically the same thing" is ******* marsupialed on a stand-alone basis

Man I can't even post in the ******* homeownership thread, SF is like a stupid assholes magnet.

 

[Ataturk]

Can't argue with you about the last part.