Eric Hanson

I was also going to suggest an alternative to the banana jacks.  Banana Jacks are convenient and easy to hook up, but they are wild dangly things and can accidentally contact unexpectedly.

I have been moving towards Anderson PowerPole connectors.  They are becoming standard connectors on my electrical builds.



Eric

I will chime in here—I definitely get the hot summer temperatures and the summers often get a drought period.  

I live in Southern Illinois which is in a frustrating place for establishing grass as it is south of the northern areas where bluegrass rules.  We are also north of the area where southern heat loving grasses reign supreme.  The zone I live in is called the transition zone and getting a lawn established is this area is definitely challenging.

For starters, fall seeding is absolutely crucial.  The grass needs to get started with warm soil and as winter comes, soil moisture will be retained and the grass itself never completely quits growing over the winter, starting spring with a root system established.  Spring seeding will get a start but the fine little root hairs will crash in to the intense heat of summer, dry out and die.

Water is absolutely everything.  I hate to admit it but I poured a lot of water on my lawn via sprinkler.  My advice:  go for a sprinkler that is heavy duty, metal, and covers a large area.  The coverage is less likely to have bare spots.

Probably you will need straw.  

Be patient

For my zone, fescue is standard but there are a few custom local blends that include heat tolerant blue grass cultivars.  Bluegrass and fescue together make a very nice mix if you get the right bluegrass—common Kentucky won’t do it for a bizarre reason.  There are some Texas-Kentucky hybrids that are excellent.

Again, be patient.  And then be patient some more.




Eric

Michael, everyone,

Good points about the pre-cooling in the day since you have solar to make it work.  Also good to know about the temperature information that you have for your overnight lows being in the low 70s or lower.

I have not yet seen where the OP stated his overnight lows so that can be make-or-break.  

Perhaps I have a sort of worst-case scenario where my overnight lows can be in the mid 80s and the humidity intense.  There is commonly about a 6-week period in the summer where the temperature is just plain ugly.  Upper 90s highs and mid 80s lows and the humidity just won’t quit.

If you have circumstances different than me then by all means take advantage of them!


Eric

Paul,

I am glad it was helpful!  I loved that little house, but I learned there were several things I would have changed.  Noteably that would be the insullation!  But anything that could cast shade would have done wonders as well.

NOTE:  We have very hot and humid summers, so consider that (Southern Illinois).


Eric

Hi Paul,

That’s a really difficult question to answer.  And it is highly specific to your home’s exact setting.

The first house my wife and I lived in had absolutely no western daytime protection/shade.  One of the first things we did as homeowners was to plant backyard shade trees, but really it was other owners who got the benefit of those.

In July and August the sun absolutely beat through our bedroom wall (which was an exterior west facing wall).  And being a spec house, the insulation was marginal at best.  I couldn’t believe how HOT that wall would get!  Even 2 hours after sunset, the wall still radiated heat into the house!

Our current house was specifically built with trees to the west to prevent that intense heat that poured through.

My point is that it’s is going to be a bit difficult to get any kind decent estimate.  Our area is hot and humid which doesn’t help.  But up north it seems like the moment the sun sets the temperature plummets.

I wish I had better news for you,


Eric

We did have a frog once swimming in that same toilet bowl—from where we never figured out unless this was the source.

But thanks both Anne and Pearl!


Eric

Today I had to replace the boot on the toilet vent pipe up on the roof.  As I pushed one over the pipe above the master bathroom, the highest vent on the roof and furthest from any obvious ground access point, I looked in the pipe and saw a frog (maybe toad) looking back up at me.  How did it get there?  The ground, depending on which route it took is 20’ or 30’ above the ground.

I think the little critter was alive.  It was firmly planted on the inside of the pipe.  It was not in a great place for viewing, as the pipe was dim, but the low angle bright sunlight was right in my eyes.  I am pretty certain that it was actually a toad, but again, I couldn’t get a great view (it was maybe 8” inside the pipe).  And I think it was alive, but I didn’t exactly get any vital sides.

How/why did it craw up 20’+ and jump across a roof just to go down a vent pipe?  Do I have a breeding population of frogs/toads in my toilet?



Eric (a very confused Eric)

I am going to revive this thread so as to add some recent pertinent news.  Unfortunately, Hybrid American Chestnuts are currently not ready.

There were two programs running in parallel.  The first was a series of intercross with Chinese Chestnuts and backcross with American Chestnuts to get an American Chestnut with blight resistance.
This approach takes decades.

The second approach was to take a gene crime wheat that resists blight and insert it into American Chestnut.  This hypothetically should have produced a much more predictable outcome on a vastly shorter timescale.  And it looked like it was going to work!  That was until it was realized that there was a simple lab labeling error—literally someone made a simple mistake of mislabeling a sample.  AARRGHHH!!!  But we are all humans and any of us could have done it.

So for the moment, American Chestnut is off the table.


Eric

Anne has an excellent point about water and electricity.

When I built, I had access to city water and of course, power must be brought to my land (access to my house is on me).  My specific location meant that both of these needed over 500 feet of trenching and pipe/line laid down.  Niether was cheap, but I did save some pennies by trenching in my own water.  I bought about 450' of pvc pipe and my father and I (meaning, really my father) used the standard plumbers chem-weld to connect the 10' pieces together.  We ended up making 40' lengths that we then walked outside and connected/welded together.  I had previously that day dug in the trench (with a little trencher) , and then gone and cleared out most of the crumbs that fall back in.  It was over 20" deep in a location that rarely if ever gets 1" frozed earth.

If I were to ever do this again, I would have purchased from my builder who had 20' lengths that had bell ends--about 1/4 the chem welds needed!

Electricity cost us about $5000 to trench in.

It was all worth it, but be prepared for these costs before building.



Eric

John,

You might have a couple of decades on me, but I won't turn down the offer to help load something if the offer is given either.


Eric