Hello, this is the DH to help explain the situation. Because the property slopes down from the front, the rear yard doesn't drain, plus we get run-off from adjoining yards and half the gutter downspouts drain in the backyard. In the past during bad rain storms, the entire backyard floods to within a couple inches of water entering the house (the door sills are low as we have a slab foundation, not a raised wood foundation). To cure the problem, in 1988, I put in a french drain line with three collection catch basins in the rear yard and a exit catch basin at the sidewalk. This 4" line slowly filled with silt after a few years from soil in the run-off, not from soil invading the pipe perforations. The frnch drain worked so poorly that I had to dig a ditch through the dirt sideyard to help drain the backyard during storms as the french drain wasn't adequate. It is hard to use my small sideyard to put the waste containers and other things when there is a dirt ditch in it. Then I installed a sump pump to augment the french drain and it helped significantly to remove rain runoff. With the re-landscaping we are doing now, I added a second sump pump to pick up water at the lowest spot in the yard. The back yard needed major revamping as we added a pergola, a location for a fountain, etc. so I had a chance to dig up the french drain. It was at least 80% clogged. Clearing it with a garden hose was hopeless so I just dug it up and threw it away. The 210' my wife referred to is the side lot fence line. The section I plan to change from dirt to hardscape is 55' long by 7' wide. I have installed a water line for two hose bibbs in this area, plus new electrical for outlets, both sump lines run through this section and I am added new surface drain catch basins with 3" diameter drain pipe running to the sidewalk. Also buried very deep is the natural gas line to the swimming pool heater. I'm not very worried about there being a problem with all the utilities that will be buried under the new hardscape, but we have had problems such as the original french drain clogging and needing replacement. Installing concrete in this sideyard of 55' by 7' will give me a dry, mud-free area for 3 large waste containers (garbage, recycle, and green waste). The sideyard is 11' wide overall, but the existing concrete walk isn't adequate especially where it jogs around the air conditioning compressor. I plan to use my Weber gas BBQ on the new hardscape, that's why I added water and electrical. This walk way is how people enter our rear yard without going through the house. So the trade-off of installed concrete, which is about $1200, or putting in pavers and 2x or 3x the cost depending on the price of the paver bricks. If there is a problem with the buried utilities, or I want to add something else underground, removing pavers is DIY. But removing and fixing concrete is Not DIY at my age and condition. I like the idea of pavers also because they are more attractive to me than concrete, even with an exposed aggregate finish. The chance that I would have to ever get back underground is very remote, but in the 25 years we have owned this house, we have had to dig through this area four times (pool utilities, french drain, and twice for sump lines). This is the fifth time we are digging up this area to install drains and such mentioned above. For those of you who wonder what I will do if it is a bad rain storm and the power goes out, rendering my two sump pumps useless, I have the sump pumps on the same GFI breaker and I could add a cut-over switch and small generator to address this possibility. So my DW thought we should ask on the forum for advice on concrete vs. pavers, in case we have overlooked any factors to make a decision. Knowing cost is a factor always, just let me know what you think as if concrete and pavers cost the SAME. Hope this lengthy explanation helps. Thanks.

Well, my friend and i worked on that crazy riding mower today. Found out that the controls are decidedly different from USA type controls! At the front, on the steering column brace cover, down by yer feet, are two pedals. I haven't figured out what the left one does, but, the right one will send ya into the woods, or yer work-bench, at frightening speeds! So, when it doesn't stop, ya let up on the pedal, and that infernal machine backs up at the same speed as when it smashed into the work bench! The side gear shift sez it has 4 speeds and reverse, on a metal plate at the left side of the engine where the bent shift handle resides. Problem with that---it doesn't say where Neutral is--nothing to show its location! On the left side of the steering column plate, is another foot pedal, which i haven;t figgered out yet what it does. It took 7 minutes to find neutral, so i could even get the engine started, since it doesn't have electric start. At least, i haven't found that either, if it even has it. Finally, i did start the engine, got on it, moved the shifter handle to R (Does "R" mean something else in swedish?) And it ran swiftly into the arc welder and cart in front of it! I left up on the right pedal, and it backed out of the garage swiftly, then i pushed the pedal down and--yep--you guessed it--the arc welder cart again! By that time, i was sorry i had ever seen that infernal machine! It is going back to the owner-free-no charge! I did get it tamed down once and had it mowing and going along good, then Ruth called me for lunch, so i shut it off. I guess it had a fit of pique, because, after lunch, it did everything backwards, except it didn't put the grass back on the stems! After many years of using the right pedal for the braking process, to have it work just the opposite is scary! WEEEeee--over the cliff, foot firmly planted on the brake pedal!

Hey, Nino: Park the tractor with lots of room on the right side. (Right side as you sit on the tractor.) Lower the cutting deck as far as it will go. Disconnect the two rods that go to the front of the tractor. Disconnect the cross bar at rear of deck, has a clip pin. Lie down on left side, look for two large clip pins, one at front of side bar(flat), and one at rear. DO NOT unbolt the hook that holds the side bar onto the machine! Go to other side, do the same with that side flat bar. Then follow a thinner steel rod up to where it hooks into the lifting handle plate. Determine this by lifting up on the large lifting handle, and peering up under there. After you get it all unhooked, slide the deck forward, until you can slip the drive belt off the front lower engine pulley. Then, with care, slide the deck out to the right side. And, there you are! To reinstall it, do everything back wards. NOTE: These instructions are for the tractors in use at this time. Don't know about older, or new ones. A case of trial and error, in any case.

" I have a suggestion, can you make it where the discharge is on the left side of the mower? " Already been done sort of.. And I have one.. Lawn Boy made a push mower that the handles are mounted in the center of the deck. You push it one way and instead of turning the mower around. You just flipped the handle and start mowing in the other direction. When you push it one direction the discharge is on the right. When you go the other direction it is on your left. It is the only Lawn boy I have saw like it. When I found it. It had been shoved under a storage building. The building sank over time and I had to dig the mower out. After a little tinkering I was able to get it running. But it had sat for so long that the carb got destroyed and it could not be saved. Looking for another carb to fit it now. I have another one almost like it. Not sure what make or model it is, But it all red and has a 2 stroke Tecumseh engine. That mower also works the same way.