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- 8 years agolast modified: 8 years ago
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Concrete or stone patio?
Comments (11)If you do elect to use a mortared slate or flagstone over a concrete base, make sure it is sloped away from the house, and that you do have sufficient positive slope away to drain the extra runoff a patio will generate. If the slate/flagstone is not mortared, then sealing the surface of a stone patio will not reduce your water infiltration below the house. It sounds like a major source of your moisture under the house is due to downspouts off the roof that do not direct the water sufficient distance away from the house foundations. You will need to direct water away from the house by connecting the downspouts to a drainage system at a minimum, and may also need to address seepage from the hillside behind the house by a french drain as well. A lot of the times with newer homes in subdivisions, the lots are graded so relatively flat that there is insufficient slope for positive drainage out to the street from the backyard, and unconnected downspouts only make the problem worse. As well, many homeowners are their own worst enemies in making the sideyard drainage worse, by failing to maintain a good drainage swale out to the street. It is unlikely that creating a sealed surface immediately adjacent the house will reduce your moisture problem under the house if you don't solve the runoff from the roof. Hooking up downspouts to a water storage system is not necessarily a bad idea, but with our concentrated rainfall in winter months only, and long dry season with no rain in the warmest months, any water you may be able to save is pretty expensive and not sufficient to last more than a few weeks or perhaps a month into the dry season. Rainwater capture systems make more sense economically where there is consistent or at least periodic rainfall throughout the year, or during the months when plants need to be irrigated, which is not the case in any part of California. I'd suggest it makes a lot more sense to redirect the water away from the house, and switch solid drain lines to perforated pipe with a filter fabric sleeve once you clear the house and reach the front yard, where the perforated pipes can be used as a weep line to recharge the water table once the lines get at least 10 feet away from the house, with an overflow line continuing to the street for extreme high rainfall events when the water recharge lines might not be able to discharge fully into the soil. As to growing grapes over an arbor, this can be a very nice feature in hot summer areas like most of Fremont, and you may actually appreciate the shade in summer. Concord grapes are the most readily available grape at nurseries, but you can also get better varieties if you buy them on-line, or go with types that are used commercially for table grapes or wine making. As others have mentioned, the leaching of lime from concrete is not the issue with soil problems as much as making sure that the area where the grapes are to be planted is not full of leftover construction debris from house construction, and that any concrete work does not use the planting areas as the location to dispose of waste concrete and water used during the pouring of the concrete base. Soils in the SF Bay Area are generally in the neutral range, unless you are contending with bay fill soils, which often are salty as they are dredged from the bay itself. Get a soil test done if you think you need one, that will give you the best information on what your soils may require for best growth of plants you want to grow....See MoreAdvice on new organic raised bed garden
Comments (8)Start by contacting you counties office of the Alabama Cooperative Extension service (supported by Alabama A & M and Auburn Universities) about having a good, reliable soil test to find out the pH of that soil and the amounts of the major nutrients in that soil. You might also want to use these simple soil tests, 1) Structure. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24 hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight. A good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top. 2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains� too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up. 3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart. 4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer your soil will smell. 5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy. to see what you have now and help you determine what you may need to do. Your plants could be having problems with nutrients because 1. they are not available, 2. nutrients are not available because of the soils pH, 3. the Soil Food Web is not yet working and feeding your plants. Spraying pesticides without identifying the pest problem is not organic. Keep in mind that Neem products are pretty broad spectrum poison just an most other organic pesticides and the synthetic ones....See Moreadopting a dog with hip dysplasia
Comments (7)Hip dysplasia causes arthritis which is a progressive condition. Unless the cause- hip dysplasia- is cured, arthritis will continue to progress and cause more problems in the future. Nobody can predict how long any particular dog will be comfortable without pain meds, with pain meds, etc. For severely affected dogs, surgery is the only option to reduce pain. Others are good with long term meds, but those are not without potentially serious consequences which require routine bloodwork. Metacam and rimadyl are in the same class of drugs- NSAIDs- and have very similar adverse effect profiles. One drug is not any better than the other nor is one any safer than the other for long term use. Showing signs at age 3 is not a good thing. Bunny hopping is a sign of pain, which needs to be addressed. Besides NSAIDs there are many other pain control options available- glucosamine/chondroitin, fish oil, duralactin, strict weight control, physical therapy, acupuncture, Chinese herbs, etc. My own Ana was born with severely deformed rear legs and I managed to avoid NSAIDs until she was 6. I had her on glucosamine/chondroitin and fish oil since I got her at 6 months of age, added rimadyl at 6 years, and added duralactin at 8 years. She still sometimes needs tramadol on bad days. Since past age 6 her degree of pain has increased drastically, as has the rate of increasing pain. I have access to acupunture and that is my next modality. Surgery was performed on one leg at age 4 but it did nothing to alleviate her pain. I would be prepared for multiple vet visits and substantial money in the not to distant future. I think the dog will need at least an FHO to reduce pain- looking at $700+ per leg. Gold standard would be total hip replacement in both legs, but that is about $5000 per leg. Even just pain management can be costly with the routine bloodwork to make sure the meds aren't killing the dog. If you have that kind of money, great. But please don't think that the dog will not require expensive chronic medication at least....See MoreCare for a pile?: Fed: Minorities got worst of boom and bust
Comments (3)We need to lend people with lousy credit MORE money to fix this. What a crock. The lenders and borrowers both deserve what they are getting at this point, bankruptcy and foreclosure. You are NOT entitled to own your house. The majority worked hard to achieve this goal, now the 'gimme' group wants everyone else to pay for them. Since WWII we have set up a system that encourages home ownership. It still required some effort on the buyers part to achieve. Now we have a group that did not want to work, greedy lenders loaning someone else's money( after they sell the note they are off the hook) and everyone is expected to feel sorry and bail them out. It took me 30+ years to accumulate the property I own. It takes work. And Dave, you do not appear in any way to be in the sleazy group. I have a mortgage broker I have used for 20+ years, and you appear very similar to him....See More- 8 years ago
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