Lawns are a lot easier than you are being told. There are two extremely popular grasses in the south. One is bermuda and the other is St Augustine. Bermuda is a fine bladed grass which requires extra care every week while St Augustine grass is a coarse bladed grass. There are two kinds of bermuda: one is a hybrid which only slightly resembles the "wild" varieties, and the other is common bermuda which is started from seed. This bermuda seed is the only grass seed that makes sense in the south. If you mix the two kinds of bermuda, it will always and forever look weedy. The two different kinds of grass just look different. The hybrid looks really nice most of the time. The common looks so-so most of the time unless you really spend a lot of time and money on it. Really both require a lot of care when compared with St Augustine. Bermuda is a FULL SUN type of grass. If it is in the shade of a building, fence, or shrubbery/trees, it will thin out and look poor. Bermuda can go dormant in the winter and when it does not get regular water. St Augustine comes in many varieties. The common variety is rarely seen anymore. The others are all hybrids with different degrees of tolerance for shade, disease, and drought. St Augustine is the only grass in the south that can tolerate much shade, and it can tolerate a lot. In full sun it becomes very dense and very resistant to weeds. The Floratam variety works best in bright sun but will be a little thin in deep shade. When selecting St Augustine what matters most is what's available in your neighborhood. If you find some of a certain variety, please write back and we can explain the pros and cons for the ones you can get. One interesting thing about St Augustine is that you can care for it such that it will wipe out other grasses. All it takes is proper water, mowing, and fertilizer. The difference between proper care for bermuda and St Augustine is slight but important if you want one or the other. If you start with just a few pieces of St Augustine, with proper care it can cover a yard in 2 years. If you want instant lawn, this won't work, but if you are patient, it will work. In fact I just bought a new home with no grass and will be doing the same thing. Sorry I'm being called to dinner. There's more to say, but you might have some more questions.

I'm so sorry, Alberta. My 82 yr old Mom sold here home many years ago and now lives in a nice retirement home, living on her savings, which is dwindling quickly. She's been a widow for over 40 yrs and my parents never had much to start with. She has to file a financial disclosure with the retirement center every year or 2 and account for any missing money. Her only small life insurance policy ran out- she lived too long and the policy coverage period ended last year! She outlived the insurance. So once her money runs out I won't even get money to bury her! I'll have to pay for it. The good thing is that once she's there they guarantee to keep her for life on whatever Medicaid will pay them.(It's a religious affiliated one). Maybe you could find some help thru their church? If only for another source of help for cutting through the red tape. Or the Council on Aging? I know I will be in your shoes in the not-too-distant future and I sympathize with you. I have seen this with other family members where their homes had to be sold, money spent on their living expenses until it runs out. Only then has government assistance been available. The beurocracy just makes the process of doing that so difficult. My heart goes out to you. Karen

Thanks, Michelle, I think I can understand maybe 10 cylces or so. But hey, whatever - like I said, it's the hardware affecting durability and servicability that I want to talk about, and most people at the store just give you a stammering reply there. My Maytag died after 6 years, which is atrocious IMHO. The bearings seized on the motor. No, you can't change them, it's a new motor and belt for $130, with me doing the work. I want to have some idea that if I dump a grand into a washing machine, I'm buying a good motor and drum and solenoid valves and hoses, not fancy firmware that ends up shorting out due to insuffcient control housings. But at least I know I don't need steam! Thanks, all! BTW I'm leaning towards a Bosch 500 (WFMC5301UC). Hoping the door mold issue is gone, and hoping someone knows something about them. Looks like either that or the LG TROMM, but I like the layout of the Bosch's controls and the way the door frame allows easier access to the drum. But I guess that's kind of wondering off-topic for this thread. I'm searching for info here and elsewhere, so thought I'd mention it.

Before you go to far with your plans, get an engineering estimate if your foundation will support a second floor. If not, your plans will have to change.