Summer Yard Care Secrets: Keep Your Lawn Green & Gorgeous!

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Foreign.

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The House with Eric G.

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Your go to source for everything home improvement.

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Whether you're a DIY enthusiast or just looking to make your space shine, Eric G.

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Is here to guide you through the latest tips, tricks and trends.

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So grab your toolbox, put on your thinking cap and let's get to work right here on around the House with.

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Eric G.

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Welcome to the around the House show, the next generation of home improvement.

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I'm Eric G.

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Thanks for me today.

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This hour is brought to you by our friends at Monument Grill.

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If you're looking for that barbecue for dear old dad for Father's Day coming up, check them out@monument grills.com I have the new Omniseries grill.

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This thing, it's a 405 smaller, which is exactly what I needed for the small patio.

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This is perfect grill for barbecuing.

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You've got all the high end features like the illuminated knobs.

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You've got the temperature inside where it's got a digital thermometer that tells you what the temperature inside the grill is.

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You it's a great way to cook.

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Check them out@montymcgrills.com today we've got a lot to talk about.

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Let's jump right in.

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Had a message come in about how to build the right fence.

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If you're building a wood fence or a metal fence, what's the best fence to build outside your home?

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A lot of times it really depends on where you're living to be able to do that correctly.

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In the Pacific Northwest where I live, cedar fences are huge.

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You get in the south, cedar or pine.

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Now there's a lot of different ways to build fences.

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Now my favorite way, if I'm going to build a fence that I want to last, that I don't want to be out there staining every few years.

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The best one is a metal fence and I have used on my house Durabond fencing.

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It is a metal fencing that was designed out of Australia.

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They have distribution here in the US And I tell you what, when it comes to fencing, this is tough as nails and the only maintenance you have to do is a couple times a year get out there and just spray it down.

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Get any dirt, grime off of it depending on your location.

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But this stuff is super tough.

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I have had tree branches and ice storms break off and land on the top rail of it and bounce off and break the branch.

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Now my cedar fence, unfortunately it crumbled like a stack of matchsticks and I had to replace a few sections because it just got Beat up.

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So as I work on this house and get ready for, I've been making sure to add metal fence where I can because it just ends up being more durable.

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The thing I like about the Durabond modern steel fencing and there's a few other brands out there, but this stuff is great.

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Their distribution is close to my house, which I like.

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But the thing I like about with their steel fencing is it's really easy to do.

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What I do is I lay out my holes, get those basically drilled or dug into the ground.

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And then what I do is I take the fence posts which are made out of stamp steel and they're powder coated with a great tough coating on them.

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And then what I do is I take and bolt together the top and bottom rails real quick so I have at least, or at least clamp them together so I know the spacing is correct.

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And once you've done that, the cool thing is you can literally stand them up, get all those pieces put together, pour your concrete and they're in the perfect place for it.

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And then you let that cure and then you're just going to slide in the fence panels.

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So you have these pieces and you have a steel big thick metal tubing that you run on ends, corners, gates to really hold up.

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But boy, I tell you what, the stuff is super durable.

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If it gets dirty, you wash it down.

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It's super easy to maintain.

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And once you go up the nice thing, it's also fire rated.

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So you don't have to worry about, you know, that fence line burning up to the edge of your house.

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That's the cool thing with that.

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So this is basically the color bond metal fence supply in the United States and I've done a lot with them.

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You can see the website if you go over to Durabond fencing.

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This isn't a paid segment.

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They're not paying me for this.

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They've got three colors here in the U.S.

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dune, Woodland, Gray and Monument.

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I used Monument at my house.

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I love it.

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It's got both sides of the fence are beautiful.

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It is great for wildfire season and it is just if you've got a fire there or a potential fire, it's not going to go through it.

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It might go around it, it's not going to go through it.

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That's the cool thing with this.

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So it can take mother Nature's beating.

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So that is a great way to do a weather tested fire rated fence.

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So you can do it once and forget about it.

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Now if you're gonna, if you're like, nah, metal's not for me.

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I've got to do wood.

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If that's the case, here's the answer for that.

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I like using a product called Post Protector because the weakness of a fence is, especially a wood one, is that it's really just where that rots off or breaks off at ground level.

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So Post Protector is a great product.

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You can find that@postprotector.com Again, not paying me to do this, but this is a great product.

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And so what it is, it's a waterproof sleeve that goes over your post and it goes into the ground and it seals up and protects the moisture and the bugs from getting into it.

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So that way you don't have ground contact and you can maximize that post life.

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So it slides over the outside of the post, goes right in, boom, you're good to go.

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And so with that you can do it.

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For fences, they've got a skirt board protector for like pole buildings.

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They've got a lot of different stuff here, whether you're building a pole building or a fence or anything else.

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And so really it's a simple slide on decay protection for building a fence.

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So if you're tired of having to replace those pressure treated posts every once in a while when they get rotted and they blow over or whatever or break off at ground level, this is the way to do it.

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Now they do have a Post Protector product as well.

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It's a preservative.

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If you've ever watched, and this is the cool thing, if you've ever watched going through and the utility companies maintain their power poles out there.

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People call them telephone poles, but there's not really any telephones on there anymore, are they?

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But these power poles, they drill in and put a preservative into them.

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So they have a kit for that for your diy, for your old posts.

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So if you've got a pole building or if you've got old fence posts there and you want to treat them, just drill into those posts and you're good to go.

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You'll find out how well those conditions, you're basically re adding the preservative back into them and then you put a little plug in them and it keeps that from falling into decay and rotting.

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So check it out.

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You can find out more information at that@postprotector.com now when I build my fences, there's people out there that like to use staples, like to use nails.

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I am a screw person.

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I like to use rated screws that are fence Building grade at least, so they've got a protectant over the outside.

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I don't like using galvanized because I use cedar and the galvanized ends up showing streaks when it comes down.

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So I like using the, the deck screws, for instance, that are rated for that.

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Now you can get them the color of your fencing if you're staying.

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If you're doing a cedar fence, you can get the cedar stained colors, you can get the stuff that is.

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And I like to do it that way because it's easy to repair it down the road.

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And when you're using those ceramic coated fasteners, it's just not gonna go anywhere.

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Those are not gonna pull out.

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You don't have to go back and fix it again.

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If somebody bumps up against it, you're gonna break the board and not pull the little staples out.

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So that's how I like to do it.

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I like to do that.

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I like to build up templates.

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If you build a template where the top board is going to be riding along, basically when you go to put it on there, you can make it so it fits over the top rail or the fence post itself.

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And if you build a template, then you just have to shove them up to that template and off you go.

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And you can hang fence boards really quickly.

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So something to consider when you're looking at doing that for your fence templates, mixing the concrete up quickly.

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If you drill all your holes and then rent one of those mud mixers and you got bagged concrete, man, you can go through.

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Just take that right down the fence line and all you need is a water hose and a plug in and you can premix that stuff in that concrete mixer and just go right down that.

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It'll put it right in the hole with the auger and you're good to go.

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And you'll have a fence up in a day.

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You can go through and get that.

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Once that starts to set up, I like to let it set probably overnight on the concrete.

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If you can get the fast stuff, it goes quick, but it's.

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To me it's not as strong.

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So I like to just mix up the concrete, let it cure for 24 hours and then I could put the fence up.

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If there's going to be high winds, you might want to let it go another day or two because it will be soft.

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But really mixing up that way is a good way to go.

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So doing that, making sure that you know where your property line is, confirm it with survey stakes.

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If you've got to get a survey to get it dialed in, do that.

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It's a great way to go as far as getting a fence right where you want it built correctly.

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I tell you what.

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And I've tried some different fence stuff down the road.

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I tried what was the early trek stuff we tried at my parents house.

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I wasn't sold on using it, but they went with it.

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And I tell you what, it did not hold up because it didn't take the heat in the Pacific Northwest in the eastern side of the state.

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That's a high desert.

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And I tell you what, the heat just turned that stuff into jello.

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So it looks like a wobbly fence system that we need to replace one of these days.

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All right.

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We come back, we got so much more.

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When we come back, we're going to be talking about outdoor power equipment, keeping that in shape and getting the right stuff.

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We'll do that just as soon as around the house return.

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But kids these days will never understand what it's like to play an instrument, to be in a band.

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What's up?

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This is Stix it in YA and Satchel from Steel Panther and you are listening to around the House with Eric G.

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Yeah, we love Eric G.

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And you should too.

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1987.

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Welcome back to the around the House show, the next generation of home improvement.

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I'm Eric G.

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Thanks for joining me today.

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If you want to find out more about us at the show here, whether you're listening on the Talk Media Network on the radio nationwide or if you're listening on the podcast or on one of the streaming services that carry this radio show and podcast, you can find us@aroundthehouse online.com and of course, this hour is brought to you by our friends at Money McGrills for that new barbecue for Father's Day.

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Check them out.

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Imani McGrills.com for that durable, tough, tech friendly barbecue that'll make your cooking so much easier.

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All right.

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We had some questions on outdoor power equipment come in and I wanted to just touch base on this one.

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And it's been something that we talked about in a midweek special earlier.

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But for you on the radio and the streaming, we didn't talk much about it.

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So I want to make sure that we cover it here a little bit because a lot of people catch us nationwide on the radio.

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So this is for you folks out there.

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So I've had a lot of debate with people on outdoor power equipment.

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Now it could be your string trimmers, your leaf blowers, your lawnmowers, any of that Stuff, chainsaws, that kind of thing.

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And to be honest, my favorite is the battery powered stuff these days.

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Now it depends on what platform you use.

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I switched over to all battery powered stuff here probably six years ago with Greenworks because they were one of the early ones out there.

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Nowadays, just about every tool company's got it.

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Milwaukee dewalt, everybody's got their own outdoor power equipment, which I think makes a lot of sense for a homeowner.

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All of these things will work well if you buy the right one.

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It's all about the batteries and how big a battery and how well it's going to work.

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And here's why.

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If you go out and buy like a Greenworks entry level, like 40 volt system, it will do your small yard.

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But if you're trying to get that to do an acre, it's going to get frustrating.

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You probably need to use an 80 volt with multiple batteries.

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You'll be great.

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Now if you've got power tools like Milwaukee for instance, sometimes they take one or two batteries, but you can change the amp hours on those, but you've got enough batteries, you can swap them out.

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It's not that big a deal.

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So for me you can get a Greenworks lawnmower that'll cut three and a half acres on a single charge of grass.

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So depending on that's a zero turn radius and yeah, they're a little bit more.

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But not having to buy gas, not having to take it in for the tune up, not having to deal with that stuff where you're just plug and go, you're good to go.

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Now the only thing you need to do is keep these things clean, keep blades or chains sharp and just maintain it as far as cleanliness and you'll be good to go.

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For me, not having to have that oil and gas mixture of my two cycle in different mixes, sometimes maybe it's different for the chainsaws, a string trimmer or whatever, not having to have that mess is awesome.

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Not.

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And being able to store the lawnmower where I could put it up on edge because it'll fold up and take half.

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The space is golden as well.

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So these are all things that are super handy when you're talking about outdoor power equipment.

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Now I've got a insaw here that is a Milwaukee.

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And if I put one of their big batteries in it, that thing will keep right up with a good chain, good bar, something sharp that'll keep right up with a gas powered because that electric puts out so much torque, just like when it Comes to electric vehicles now I'm starting to see the pros start to switch over.

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I'm seeing more and more pros out there that are switching over to battery.

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Battery stuff.

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Now I get it.

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If you're logging out there all day long, I totally get why you would have a steel gas powered chainsaw.

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Totally get it.

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But for homeowners out there, I think battery's the way to go.

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Now here's the thing.

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I'm seeing tree trimmers now take up their, take up a the tree trimming blades.

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You know, when they're up on the ropes or they're up in a boom, they can get up there with a couple batteries and there's no starting and stopping that thing.

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It's just pull a trigger like you do your drill or your impact wrench, same kind of thing.

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Go, nothing hot, nothing to worry about.

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And when the battery gets low, you can swap it out for another one.

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So there's great things you can do with these battery powers and if you've already got the battery, you're good to go.

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But yeah, the secret to this, and this is what I do to keep my stuff in running order.

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Like the lawnmowers, I always have a second set of blades that are sharp, ready to go, whether or not.

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Sometimes it's cheaper to jump online and buy a new set of blades than it is to take it down to your local hardware store or local farm supply place that does the work and have them balance it and sharpen it.

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Yeah, you can get on your grinder, but with the electric stuff especially, they have special blades, special cuts.

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They've tried to optimize that power correctly.

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And more importantly, what they're trying to do is to make sure that everything's balanced.

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It's like a tire.

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You want that blade to not be out of weight.

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So you have one side that's just going to be hard on equipment.

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So you want to make sure everything is balanced correctly.

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So if you're going to sharpen it, either have a balancer or go through and just take it down to a pro shop and have them do it real quick and get it done.

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Like I said though, it's kind of like working brakes on your vehicle.

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You should always sit there on those discs on disc brakes and get them turned.

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Sometimes there's not enough material there to have them turned or it's more, more cost effective to sit there and have them turned.

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You can actually get the rotors for a better price online.

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So make sure you do your research and see what's better fit for you.

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Of course, if you can give your local farm store or anybody that's doing the work on lawnmowers in your area, small engine repair, if they can do that balancing for you and get that dialed in, of course give them the business.

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But keep an extra set of blades there so that way you're good to go.

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And since you don't have to worry about air filters, you don't have to worry about oil, you don't have to worry about gasoline storage, it's nice because as long as you're charged up, you're good to go.

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And that's the great thing with outdoor power equipment.

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Now, a lot of areas they're banning the gas powered leaf blowers and they're banning the string trimmers and some of that other stuff.

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As far as the handheld stuff, and I get that it's noisy and the batteries are working really well.

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I now have some areas here where I'm driving around.

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And a couple of the commercial lawn care companies are running all battery powered because as they're driving in their trucks around, they're just keeping them charged up.

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They've got a battery system on there so they can just keep charging that.

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And so when they're driving around, it's recharging it up and by the end of the day they're good to go so they can add that charge to it.

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And it's pretty cool how they can do that with these systems.

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So pretty amazing how you can do that.

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I've seen guys driving around, top of their trailer has has some solar panels on it.

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I've seen guys just running battery power back, so when they're driving around and they've got a battery charger, they can just keep going and set their trailer up accordingly.

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So something to consider with outdoor power equipment.

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So just keep things sharp, keep it maintained, and if you've got gas, just keep it tuned up, keep it running right.

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Get those parts.

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Sometimes the Amazon stuff doesn't work well for replacement parts, but I've been shocked before.

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I bought a carburetor online for a TV segment I did last year for my around the House Northwest TV show.

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And I ordered like a $35 carburetor for that Briggs and Stratton off Amaz.

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And it worked beautifully.

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Started right up, didn't need much tuning.

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Super simple and it worked.

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And it was cheaper than the rebuild kit was to buy the original one.

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So for that it worked well.

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And for something I use a couple times a year for cleaning, it seemed to be good.

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Would I do that for probably something I was using as a professional.

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Now I'd have done it right.

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But for a 10 year old, 15 year old probably pressure washer, it wasn't worth the hassle for that.

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All right, guys, we come back, we're going to be talking about factory built housing and how that's becoming the answer for a lot of places around and what we can do with that, something we talked about earlier this year on.

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But I tell you what, it is something that is really changing how we can look at housing affordability.

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And I had some comments on that from people that I wanted wanted me to expand on some questions and we're going to do that when we come back.

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If you want to find out more about us, head over to around the House online dot com.

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We'll be right back after these important messages.

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Don't change that dial.

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Hey, this is Ron Keel, the metal cowboy from Keel, the Ron Keel Band and Steeler.

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We are rocking around the House with Eric Garrett.

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Raise your fears.

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Welcome back to the around the House show, the next generation of home improvement.

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I'm Eric G.

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Thanks for joining me.

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This hour is brought to you by our friends at Monument Grills.

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Check them out@moneymc grills.com we've been talking about all these different subjects today.

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Each segment has a different subject on it because we had so much housekeeping with questions and more information.

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We wanted to get out to you guys as well and respond back to some of the listener questions we get in every week.

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You can send your question in@aroundthehouse online.com and the new website's over there and we've got some new stuff that'll be coming up here shortly.

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With that this hour, I wanted it this segment at least wanted to talk about factory built housing and we've had some debates.

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I've been going back with people on it and it's interesting from my around the house Northwest television show that I've been doing for about two and a half years now on Fox 12, Fox 12 plus here in the Portland, Oregon market that can be streamed across the country.

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This is our last month of the show and probably not supposed to be talking about it.

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Probably get my hand slapped for that.

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But like all tv, we're not supposed to talk about those things.

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But there will be a new life of that show.

Speaker A: 00:23:52

Been talking to people and getting that back together.

Speaker A: 00:23:54

So we will have a new version of a TV show coming out soon and gonna make it even easier for you to consume.

Speaker A: 00:24:00

That is our goal.

Speaker A: 00:24:01

We're working through those details right now.

Speaker A: 00:24:03

But you know our A block which we start the house out with, we start out with some beautiful homes in our area.

Speaker A: 00:24:10

Now that first segment is really highlighting this.

Speaker A: 00:24:14

And what I've learned with factory built housing is I've gone out and seen every week I go see a house that's probably 750,000 to what 10 million dollar home.

Speaker A: 00:24:25

And I noticed this when I walked through And Skyline Homes is one of the sponsors of the show.

Speaker A: 00:24:32

Friends of mine, they're not paying me to say this, they do not sponsor this show.

Speaker A: 00:24:37

But I'll tell you this, their finish work in their factory built homes is very much equal to some of the one and a half and two and a half million dollar homes that we go see now.

Speaker A: 00:24:52

Why do I like factory built homes?

Speaker A: 00:24:53

I think it's the perfect option for people that are trying to build affordable housing.

Speaker A: 00:24:59

It is so much cleaner with so much waste.

Speaker A: 00:25:02

I have been watching, they're building a probably a $4 million home down the street from me.

Speaker A: 00:25:06

They took a waterfront home that was $1 million.

Speaker A: 00:25:10

It was ugly.

Speaker A: 00:25:11

It was a bad 70s mid century type northwest contemporary that was just ugly.

Speaker A: 00:25:19

It had a lot of work, it had asbestos everywhere.

Speaker A: 00:25:22

They had to go in and clean it up, haul it off.

Speaker A: 00:25:24

And now they're building a new two story home in its place.

Speaker A: 00:25:26

I get it.

Speaker A: 00:25:27

The market is ripe for that in my neighborhood.

Speaker A: 00:25:29

But here's the thing, what I'm seeing though is how they build that home compared to how they build a home over here that is built in the factory.

Speaker A: 00:25:40

It's built better.

Speaker A: 00:25:42

They are building these homes ins and where the difference is over there when they were framing, they were having dumpsters hauled off of of plywood or actually no plywood in that place.

Speaker A: 00:25:52

OSB Lumber cut dumpsters.

Speaker A: 00:25:57

These guys are building homes with lumber that is pre cut Sheetrock that is the size of the room.

Speaker A: 00:26:05

They can order this stuff because they're buying in such bulk and they're not building it in the rain or the snow or the wind.

Speaker A: 00:26:14

So they're inside.

Speaker A: 00:26:15

And what's gorgeous about that is that everything can stay true, it's safer and you don't have the mold issues you have with so many of these homes in my area that are built in the rain.

Speaker A: 00:26:27

These homes that are framed up in November through March.

Speaker A: 00:26:31

I wouldn't want to buy one of those homes.

Speaker A: 00:26:34

I'm watching these things get sheathed and house wrapped and the two by fours and the plywood or OSB has got black coatings on it from mold and mildew.

Speaker A: 00:26:43

And they're encapsulating that inside the house.

Speaker A: 00:26:46

Could that have air quality issues down the road?

Speaker A: 00:26:48

I'd almost bet on it.

Speaker A: 00:26:50

So those are the issues we see and the roofing materials put on in a safe manner.

Speaker A: 00:26:57

They're not doing the wind, they don't have to worry about water damage because it's raining.

Speaker A: 00:27:02

They can go through and do this stuff correctly.

Speaker A: 00:27:04

And quite frankly, the houses are built stronger because they got to haul these things down the road.

Speaker A: 00:27:09

So they've got to be able to take that.

Speaker A: 00:27:12

So this is not your grandmother's double wide.

Speaker A: 00:27:14

This is something that is affordable.

Speaker A: 00:27:17

It is fast.

Speaker A: 00:27:18

You can go in and put a community in together that I promise you, when you drove through it, you wouldn't know that was a manufactured, factory built home.

Speaker A: 00:27:28

And here's why.

Speaker A: 00:27:30

You could go in, put all the roads, utilities, foundations, garage floors poured, everything's ready to rock and you can order your brand new home.

Speaker A: 00:27:43

And the cool thing with that is you order for the whole neighborhood.

Speaker A: 00:27:46

They roll in, they come in, they set them on the foundations, they're prepped for a garage.

Speaker A: 00:27:52

Yes.

Speaker A: 00:27:53

So they've got them pre framed ready to go.

Speaker A: 00:27:56

So inside the house they've got or on another pallet showing up.

Speaker A: 00:28:00

They've got the matching roofing, they've got the matching siding.

Speaker A: 00:28:03

They know what has to go on there.

Speaker A: 00:28:04

They frame up the garage walls, throw the roof trusses up on it ties in and it looks like a ranch house with an attached garage out the front.

Speaker A: 00:28:12

And nobody knows any different, but they can get that built up in a week, two weeks, then you're dealing with landscaping and in a month you've got a community turned over from site development to concrete to everything else.

Speaker A: 00:28:26

It's amazing how fast you can go through and do this if you want denser housing.

Speaker A: 00:28:30

Now they're building duplexes.

Speaker A: 00:28:32

So you've got duplexes you can roll in and set up.

Speaker A: 00:28:36

So the cool thing with that is if you're trying to come in, like great example here in my area, we've got beach communities that have huge affordable housing for worker problems.

Speaker A: 00:28:47

The houses have gone up that people can't afford to live there.

Speaker A: 00:28:50

But if you had a piece of land that you wanted to put some duplexes on, you could order these things up and have that quickly turned.

Speaker A: 00:28:56

Because as you're doing the site work of leveling and running utilities and putting a foundation in and getting the road dialed in and the sidewalks, they're building the house so you're saving so much time and energy right there and you're building something that can be energy star rated, something that is going to be way cleaner and way greener.

Speaker A: 00:29:15

And the thing that I noticed about factory built housing that I'm waving the flag on is that they have accountability because these people work together and do this every single day.

Speaker A: 00:29:26

So the drywall team is a drywall team.

Speaker A: 00:29:29

The finishers are the finishers.

Speaker A: 00:29:31

All these things happen that way.

Speaker A: 00:29:34

And you get people that are QCing and looking at it.

Speaker A: 00:29:38

I tell you what, some of these major house builders out there, doesn't matter out where you're in the country.

Speaker A: 00:29:46

Some of them are doing a horrible job.

Speaker A: 00:29:49

I have seen nightmares in Arizona.

Speaker A: 00:29:53

Nightmares, absolute nightmares in Florida.

Speaker A: 00:29:57

I saw one house that they built out of concrete block to meet the code.

Speaker A: 00:30:01

I don't know if it was a windy day or what, but that bathroom wall exterior was so bowed out of the concrete block that if you hung a mirror on it, you couldn't put a flat mirror in the wall because you'd break it.

Speaker A: 00:30:12

There was a radius to it.

Speaker A: 00:30:14

Accidental.

Speaker A: 00:30:15

That's a hot mess and no excuse for that.

Speaker A: 00:30:19

There's not.

Speaker A: 00:30:20

So to me, building a home that's going to be durable, that wastes so much less product, and you think about it, if you're hauling away three full dumpsters of building materials that were overcuts, that they paid for and now have to pay hundreds of dollars a ton probably to get it out of there at some of the rates that you see in metropolitan areas, that gets insane.

Speaker A: 00:30:44

There's thousands of dollars just in waste.

Speaker A: 00:30:47

Could be tens of thousands of dollars in waste that just isn't existing in a factory built home.

Speaker A: 00:30:56

So I think, I'm not talking tiny homes.

Speaker A: 00:30:58

You can do 80 years tiny homes, all that stuff, I get it, but that's not the overall solution.

Speaker A: 00:31:04

I think putting these in and a lot of people.

Speaker A: 00:31:07

I don't want a mobile home next to my house.

Speaker A: 00:31:08

This isn't a mobile home.

Speaker A: 00:31:09

This is something that's going to be on a foundation.

Speaker A: 00:31:13

Pull the axles out.

Speaker A: 00:31:14

Sitting on a foundation, it's just going to be a heavy duty home sitting next to your house.

Speaker A: 00:31:18

For most residential things you'd never know that's what it was.

Speaker A: 00:31:22

You walk inside, it's got a ten foot island with quartz countertops on it.

Speaker A: 00:31:26

Probably nicer than your home.

Speaker A: 00:31:28

It is absolutely amazing to see what you can do with these homes and the climate control conditions.

Speaker A: 00:31:36

So I think it's really smart to look at what some of these people are doing.

Speaker A: 00:31:41

There's a lot of cool things when it comes to building these new homes that can save a lot of money for the people that are buying them and for the developer that's building them.

Speaker A: 00:31:52

All right, guys, we come back, segment four.

Speaker A: 00:31:55

This is going to be a lot of fun here.

Speaker A: 00:31:57

We're going to talk about my yard care tips for summertime.

Speaker A: 00:31:59

Some of the tricks that I do to make sure that we're looking good in the yard and to get your yard under control so you can enjoy the sunshine out there, playing with the kids, grandkids or just having to look good for the pets and keeping everybody healthy.

Speaker A: 00:32:14

We'll do that just as soon as around the House returns.

Speaker A: 00:32:16

Don't go anywhere.

Speaker A: 00:33:28

All right.

Speaker A: 00:33:35

Welcome back to the around the House show, the next generation of home improvement.

Speaker A: 00:33:39

I'm Eric G.

Speaker A: 00:33:40

Thanks for joining me today.

Speaker A: 00:33:41

If you want to find out more about us, head to our website, aroundthehouse online.com and of course, this hour is brought to you by our free friends at Monty McGrills.

Speaker A: 00:33:49

Check out your latest new barbecue, save some serious money@montymcrills.com that's a lot of barbecue with a lot of value.

Speaker A: 00:33:57

Today.

Speaker A: 00:33:57

We've been just talking about all this different kind of smorgasbord of stuff with a different topic each segment.

Speaker A: 00:34:04

Not our deep dive show.

Speaker A: 00:34:05

We've been talking about different subjects, trying to play a little catch up here on stuff.

Speaker A: 00:34:09

And I had a lot of questions come in for summer yard care tips.

Speaker A: 00:34:13

So I thought let's just put it into one segment so we can address these.

Speaker A: 00:34:16

I didn't want to do a whole show on it, but there are a lot of tricks of the trade out there.

Speaker A: 00:34:21

So when it comes to yard care, many times when you're talking about keeping that grass green, healthy, looking good, and if you're doing that, it's going to use a little less water and you can save probably on a little water out there.

Speaker A: 00:34:35

But here are my tricks.

Speaker A: 00:34:38

First up, what I like to do is I use a service to get my fertilizer through.

Speaker A: 00:34:44

Yes.

Speaker A: 00:34:44

I can go down to the grocery store, home improvement store, whatever, farm and garden store and get fertilizer.

Speaker A: 00:34:50

I can go buy the best Scott's Turf Builder.

Speaker A: 00:34:53

Nothing wrong with those guys.

Speaker A: 00:34:54

Use them for years and I can just blindly throw it on and say, I hope that works.

Speaker A: 00:34:59

What I did here two years ago and it's made a huge difference is I went with Lawn Bright.

Speaker A: 00:35:05

They're not paying me to do this.

Speaker A: 00:35:06

I work with these guys because I Love what they do, their service where they send you hose end products to put on your grass.

Speaker A: 00:35:14

So what you do is you sign up, I'll send you a box.

Speaker A: 00:35:17

It's got a bunch of different stuff in it.

Speaker A: 00:35:18

But here's the cool thing with this.

Speaker A: 00:35:21

It's got all the different stuff in it.

Speaker A: 00:35:22

And you're going to take also samples of your soil.

Speaker A: 00:35:25

You can go in your front yard and get a soil sample.

Speaker A: 00:35:27

You can go to your backyard, whatever you got going on, mail it back and they do the lab results for you to tell you what your lawn needs.

Speaker A: 00:35:35

Now mine, because I'm in the Pacific Northwest, I've got these huge fir trees out there.

Speaker A: 00:35:40

Those her huge fir trees drop a lot of debris down on my grass that does break down, but it's very acidic.

Speaker A: 00:35:49

So many times we're putting in, I have to put in a pelletized lime or something like that on the ground to help balance that out.

Speaker A: 00:35:57

It is a constant battle and I'll be doing that for years.

Speaker A: 00:36:00

I'm going to be putting my house up for sale here.

Speaker A: 00:36:02

So if you're in the Pacific Northwest and you're looking to buy a house in that in a beautiful neighborhood, it'll still be one of the lesser expensive houses here.

Speaker A: 00:36:11

It's going to have all the nice features and a pretty darn good looking lawn as well.

Speaker A: 00:36:15

That'll be in another episode.

Speaker A: 00:36:16

But I tell you what, this lawn care system works great and it's easy because I just put it on the hose, go out, spray it down and it will take care of things for me.

Speaker A: 00:36:25

So it does a great job of keeping your grass healthy, clean and being where it's organic type materials.

Speaker A: 00:36:32

I'm not putting a ton of chemicals on the ground to really hurt pats and things like that.

Speaker A: 00:36:38

And I'm not worried about it running off and getting down into streams, watersheds, things like that.

Speaker A: 00:36:42

So there's a lot of balance.

Speaker A: 00:36:44

So check out lawn Bright, super affordable.

Speaker A: 00:36:47

It's nice.

Speaker A: 00:36:47

Heck of a lot cheaper than those companies that come by and spray it on your lawn that you don't know what you're getting or if you're even getting the right stuff.

Speaker A: 00:36:54

This is science based off a lab test and they look at your area and they tell you when to put it on and all that stuff.

Speaker A: 00:37:01

So it's really helpful.

Speaker A: 00:37:03

Now there is a new technology out there.

Speaker A: 00:37:05

If you're putting in a new lawn or you're going to replace your sprinkler system.

Speaker A: 00:37:08

If you have to use an irrigation system now, maybe you're using it on a city water or municipal water.

Speaker A: 00:37:14

Maybe you're using a system that needs to be filtered.

Speaker A: 00:37:17

That's a irrigation type system like we have on the west coast out here where we have ditches or open ditches in many areas.

Speaker A: 00:37:24

I grew up with that over on 610k on a country in the tri cities.

Speaker A: 00:37:29

My friends over there I had irrigation.

Speaker A: 00:37:31

So I had to really filter that because they were open pits running water down there.

Speaker A: 00:37:35

And whatever blew into it was now in your sprinkler heads.

Speaker A: 00:37:38

So you really had to make sure to keep that kind of dialed in.

Speaker A: 00:37:43

But there is a new sprinkler system out there that I love.

Speaker A: 00:37:46

I've had it for a couple of years in my backyard.

Speaker A: 00:37:48

It's called Ira Green.

Speaker A: 00:37:50

I R R I G R E N Ira Green.

Speaker A: 00:37:54

It is a smart sprinkler system.

Speaker A: 00:37:57

Now it's a little bit more money, but it saves you a ton of money on your lawn care.

Speaker A: 00:38:03

If you're paying for water, it makes a ton of sense.

Speaker A: 00:38:05

Think of each sprinkler head as a computer optimated printer.

Speaker A: 00:38:10

So you hook the system up, it's line.

Speaker A: 00:38:13

There's no solenoids that go to this.

Speaker A: 00:38:15

You put line pressure all the way out to the sprinkler head and then there's a computer inside it that turns it on.

Speaker A: 00:38:22

And you're basically printing water on your lawn from the spray head.

Speaker A: 00:38:26

So it's a single spray head with all these little droplets that come out of it.

Speaker A: 00:38:30

But you load up the app on your phone and you stand out there and adjust the distance and the spray pattern to where the points are.

Speaker A: 00:38:39

So you could have a star shaped lawn with 12 points on it.

Speaker A: 00:38:43

And that one sprinkler head goes in the middle and it will control and let put water right down the edge of that.

Speaker A: 00:38:50

And it will only water the grass area.

Speaker A: 00:38:53

So instead of needing in a backyard, my backyard would have needed probably six to 12 heads.

Speaker A: 00:39:00

I have two.

Speaker A: 00:39:01

And it waters the places I want and the places it doesn't works really well.

Speaker A: 00:39:06

So it's something that just works so good for taking care of that lawn.

Speaker A: 00:39:11

And it saves me a ton of water.

Speaker A: 00:39:12

It saved me on my water bill here.

Speaker A: 00:39:15

When I changed that system.

Speaker A: 00:39:16

It saved me a third versus having a sprinkler that I was towing around and doing the best that I could manage.

Speaker A: 00:39:22

I'm using that little of water.

Speaker A: 00:39:26

So it saved.

Speaker A: 00:39:26

It took a third of my water usage and got rid of it.

Speaker A: 00:39:30

And I wasn't even watering my lawn.

Speaker A: 00:39:31

Correctly, it was probably underwatered.

Speaker A: 00:39:33

So now I'm watering it perfectly and doing that.

Speaker A: 00:39:36

It's a little bit more money for the system when you sign up, but it pays for itself really quick.

Speaker A: 00:39:41

And you now you don't have the wet sidewalk, you don't have the street getting wet, you know, the neighbors, cars getting wet or anything else.

Speaker A: 00:39:47

You can control where you put the water, which makes a ton of sense.

Speaker A: 00:39:52

Now here's the other thing when it comes to we talked a little bit about it here.

Speaker A: 00:39:55

But with yard care tips, one of the biggest things is of course controlling the weeds so you get those looking good.

Speaker A: 00:40:02

And I know it's not the best for the environment, but I tell you what, having a weed free lawn looks awesome.

Speaker A: 00:40:07

Now the other thing is make sure you're mowing it at the right height, depending on the grass you have, and keep that blade super sharp.

Speaker A: 00:40:16

The sharper the blade, the more balanced that grass.

Speaker A: 00:40:19

It cuts it even it looks better.

Speaker A: 00:40:22

And you're not gonna have this ragged edge that looks badly on it and it's better for the lawn itself.

Speaker A: 00:40:28

So doing that, controlling the amount of thatch that you have that's built up underneath it, sometimes you gotta go through.

Speaker A: 00:40:35

If you've been letting it grow and you're mowing it long and you're just putting too much material down, sometimes you need to go through and thatch that lawn.

Speaker A: 00:40:43

Now I haven't had to do it because they have a liquid detacher that you put down in the fall that helps break that stuff down so you don't have it in the spring so you can get a thicker, fuller lawn.

Speaker A: 00:40:54

And so those are all tips and tricks to do that.

Speaker A: 00:40:59

Now of course, different parts of the country, a lot of places where it's desert areas, they're paying for you, we're giving you tax breaks to get rid of that lawn.

Speaker A: 00:41:07

And I totally get it.

Speaker A: 00:41:08

Now the one disadvantage with putting turf down, like the fake grass stuff, I tell you what, that stuff gets super hot.

Speaker A: 00:41:16

You do have the coolness of the grass.

Speaker A: 00:41:20

So if you're in a hot, full sun area, that can get as hot as pavement over there and that can be really miserable.

Speaker A: 00:41:26

Be miserable to be out on.

Speaker A: 00:41:29

Because a lot of these even put down those rubber little beads down there in the base to if you're playing sports or doing something out on it, that stuff gets massively hot because there's still black there to get hot.

Speaker A: 00:41:40

So think about if you're gonna swap that out turf and full sun gets wicked hot.

Speaker A: 00:41:46

Now I think they're coming out with some stuff that will reflect heat better, but there's nothing like cool grass to keep the area around your house a little bit cooler.

Speaker A: 00:41:54

You could add 15 or 20 degrees outside surface temperature just by having the turf.

Speaker A: 00:42:00

So make sure you're making the right choices on that.

Speaker A: 00:42:03

I got a buddy's house.

Speaker A: 00:42:04

He put a big turf backyard in, no trees.

Speaker A: 00:42:07

That place.

Speaker A: 00:42:08

July, August is almost unusable because it's so darn hot.

Speaker A: 00:42:13

And that can be problematic for you.

Speaker A: 00:42:15

But no matter what, just plan ahead on your lawn.

Speaker A: 00:42:19

Take the time, get it dialed in.

Speaker A: 00:42:21

If you consistently mow it, get it looking good, and I recommend watering it.

Speaker A: 00:42:27

So many people in my area will sit there and let the lawn die off.

Speaker A: 00:42:31

That is just a fire hazard in the summertime.

Speaker A: 00:42:33

If you're not going to water it, you'd be better off doing something different because if you have a neighbor's house or some kid on the 4th of July with a firework getting a little errant, you can lose your house off of that.

Speaker A: 00:42:44

So I would not recommend having a white lawn.

Speaker A: 00:42:47

It just ends up being a problem.

Speaker A: 00:42:49

I would change out and do some landscaping or do something different there.

Speaker A: 00:42:53

And all you people out there that are managing the hoas, oh my gosh, those people can get crazy out there.

Speaker A: 00:42:59

My girlfriend's house.

Speaker A: 00:43:01

Holy smokes.

Speaker A: 00:43:02

That HOA will send her a nasty gram.

Speaker A: 00:43:04

If a dog goes by and pees on the front lawn and creates a brown spot, they'll send her a nasty gram, tell her they're going to fine her if she doesn't go in and fix that, even though wasn't her fault.

Speaker A: 00:43:15

That's the hoas for you.

Speaker A: 00:43:16

They can be a little problematic, so be careful with that.

Speaker A: 00:43:20

That can be an issue.

Speaker A: 00:43:21

There's so many good videos on on Instagram on people that are fighting their HOAs.

Speaker A: 00:43:26

It's hilarious.

Speaker A: 00:43:27

I saw a guy this last week that they find him for his garbage cans being seen from the road.

Speaker A: 00:43:31

So what did he do?

Speaker A: 00:43:32

Put up a bat sanctuary because bat sanctuaries are federally protected.

Speaker A: 00:43:37

So he put one up right in his side yard next to the trash cans to fight the hoa, which quite frankly made me laugh.

Speaker A: 00:43:43

It was pretty darn funny.

Speaker A: 00:43:44

Thanks for tuning into around the House.

Speaker A: 00:43:46

Appreciate you tuning in.

Speaker A: 00:43:47

We'll see you next time.

Speaker B: 00:43:48

Thank you for tuning into the around the House show.

Speaker B: 00:43:51

If you are on the radio, make sure you check out the podcast for additional content during the week on your favorite podcast player or at aroundthehouseonline.com we will see you next time.