About to enter closing on my first house. Excited.

[Sniper23]

I've used most of the zero turns out there. I ran my father's lawn business for several years. I recommend something solid yet simple. Don't get caught up with all the fancy add-ons. Each manufacturer has their own advantages and disadvantages. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Congratulations on the awesome house!


Sent from the edge of the world Edited May 6, 2013 by Sniper23

[willis68]

I have 5.5 acres and we have a commercial Great Dane Zero turn that I put through hell every season and it is the best mower I have ever used. Problem is after I showed the wife how to use it, we now fight over who gets to cut the yard, it is that much fun!

[Sam1]

 

Do they still make Dixie Choppers? My brother has had one for maybe ten years until he got a bigger model.

They aren't cheap, though.

 

Yep, I used to use a $12,000 one at my last workplace.  Could mow the football field, baseball field and soccer field in 45 minutes at what seemed like 20mph  :rofl:

 

Hell, they got multiple engines on some of their mowers now, basically making them to the point where you could mow down a rock quarry and create granite counter tops.

[mav]

Closed.  That is one process that I do not want to repeat.  It wouldn't be so bad if everyone did their job.

 

I will keep my self-propelled mower for smaller areas.  The back and the front wouldn't be too bad with a push mower, but the bottom end of the property would be just too much. 

 

 

It would take me fours hours or so to do all of the property.  So, I guess I will be shopping for a riding mower this weekend. 

 

(edit) - yes, they still make Dixie Choppers

Edited June 12, 2013 by mav

[Hershmeister]

I picked up a used husquevarna string trimmer at a pawn shop and its been working great for two seasons. Before that I used to buy a new ryobi from the big box stores and it would die after a year.

I also plunked down some coin for an echo hedge trimmer - it rocks

[Mike.357]

I did not read all the responses so as to not taint my reply.

 

Buy Stihl gas powered tools.  They last forever.  

 

I bought a Huskee yard tractor ten years ago.  It is a MTD and never have regretted that purchase.  I have essentially the same amount of land.  

 

Also get a yard cart/trailer to go with whatever tractor you buy.  It will prove of immense value.

 

Your soon to be new home looks awesome. Be careful about showing it to woman you date.  

 

PS: you will need a chainsaw.  See my comment on Stihl.   Buy extra chains.

Edited June 12, 2013 by Mike.357

[Sam1]

 

So, I guess I will be shopping for a riding mower this weekend. 

 

(edit) - yes, they still make Dixie Choppers

 

Congrats on the closing and as some of the others have said, to save some coin check out all the local repair shops, they usually have plenty to choose from that were trade-ins or abandoned.

[Mike.357]

How big is your actual lawn?

[Sam1]

How big is your actual lawn?

 

[Mike.357]

 

looks slightly bigger than 3 acres.

 

( cracked me up)

[mav]

How big is your actual lawn?

 

I would guess there is between 1.5 - 2 acres that will need to be mowed.  It is funny, when I did the final walk-through, it dawned on me that most of my free time is going to be spent on yard work.

[peejman]

I would guess there is between 1.5 - 2 acres that will need to be mowed.  It is funny, when I did the final walk-through, it dawned on me that most of my free time is going to be spent on yard work.

 

Welcome to the joys of home ownership!  :rofl:     My wife and I are avid landscapers.  I'd much rather do yard work than remodel interiors.

 

Seriously, congrats.  You'll love it.

Edited June 12, 2013 by peejman

[Volphin]

I have 1.5 acres and mow it with a 1995 MTD 14.5HP 42 inch cut riding mower.  That little thing is a tank.  She doesn't look too pretty anymore, but she fires up every season without fail.  All I've ever done to it is replace the battery once, give her fresh oil and air filter once a season, and sharpen the mulching blades.  Speaking of that, I highly recommend a mulching kit.  It cuts down need for fertilizer and you don't have to bag grass clippings.  Oh, and I wired in some auto driving lights for the early sunsets in the Fall...  

 

One day I'm going to buy a used Smart Car and add blades to it.  LOL

 

I don't own a weedeater.  I designed my landscape so all areas are cut with the rider.   :)

Edited June 12, 2013 by Volphin

[mav]

Moved the first boxes today.  It totally sucked and was ridiculously hot.

[mikegideon]

Moving from an apartment to a house sucks. Moving from the house will suck worse. I can fill a few apartments with the crap that's in my house. The longer you stay there, the more crap you're gonna have.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

That is a beautiful house Mav, on a fabulous situation, semi-rural but close to town.

 

My couple of suburb acres are mostly woods with tiny yards, not enough yard space to even turn around a riding mower. We hire a young 20 something friend to cut the lawn and weedeat and pay him well. He actually enjoys such work, strange as it may seem. I've never been able to understand that. Also wife actually enjoys pushing a mower once in awhile, thank goodness more power to her.

 

You got lots of good advice on lawnmowers and tractors. Maybe it is silly and dunno anything about it, but Northern Tools sells lots of neat accessories to connect to large ATV machines, dirt blades, cultivator tools, bush hogs, fork lift or small buckets. Maybe a lot worse idea than a tractor with a power take-off, but everytime I see all those ATV attachments it makes me want to get an ATV for the coolness rube-goldberg of all the attachments. Though there's not even enough space to turn one around on my property. Was just thinking, if cutting grass on a hill is a problem, if an ATV won't do it, then what?

 

Dog and burglar system do sound like good features. Sounds like you are far enough away from roads maybe a dog fence not necessary, though the best dogs are the ones who will get hit by cars and the worthless ones never get hit. But maybe some larger, home-defense breed that doesn't travel too far afield, am ignorant of the topic. Coonhounds and such have good voices but are often not protective enough, love everybody, and maybe you would need more like 40 acres to make sure a hound wouldn't often wander far enough to find a road to get run over on. Females MIGHT tend to stay a little closer to home, and the females we have had definitely never approved of strangers getting close.

 

Well-trained dog perhaps. We don't know about well-trained dogs, as our mutts have always been rather undisciplined. I don't have enough confidence to have something like a german shepherd or doberman as a run-around-outside-without-a-fence dog, because they need quite a bit of training or they can be hazards to innocent people who might come too close to the property. That is just my ignorance speaking and may not be the truth, but the people I knew with those breeds, the dogs could get pretty redneck aggressive if you happened to come to their houses when the owner was not available. No sense getting sued over a mauled girl scout cookie salesgirl who happens to come by while you are at work.

 

With you having so much expendable income to buy all the guns and knives, a house will go a good distance solving the problem of having too much money. But you won't really achieve the "final solution" of too much expendable income until you get a wife. Any wife who does her job properly will guarantee that you will never again be plagued with that pesky annoyance of having too much money. :)

Edited June 14, 2013 by Lester Weevils

[mav]

 

With you having so much expendable income to buy all the guns and knives, a house will go a good distance solving the problem of having too much money. But you won't really achieve the "final solution" of too much expendable income until you get a wife. Any wife who does her job properly will guarantee that you will never again be plagued with that pesky annoyance of having too much money. :)

 

Someone once told me that you need to get everything you want before you get married because things change once you get married. :)

 

Anyway, I am pretty much done in the firearms category.  I doubt I will buy anymore handguns, and I have one rifle on the way.  Outside of perhaps building a SBR, the rifle will probably be my last.  As far as knives go, I won't buy anything unless I can get a good deal on it.

 

Everyone has made some great suggestions in regards to lawn mowers, etc...  I will first cut the property with my push mower and see how bad that is.  If it isn't too bad, I will just keep doing it (I don't mind breaking a sweat).  If it is a little much, I will probably go with a cheaper riding mower.  The zero turns are certainly nice, but I can't see myself spending multiple thousands of dollars on something fancy. 

[mav]

I cut my new grass today with my push mower. That is the last time I will do that. It took me four hours and I still didn't finish because my lawn mower wheel broke off. I have still got to weed eat areas I can't mow. I will have a riding lawn mower by next weekend

[TripleDigitRide]

I cut my new grass today with my push mower. That is the last time I will do that. It took me four hours and I still didn't finish because my lawn mower wheel broke off. I have still got to weed eat areas I can't mow. I will have a riding lawn mower by next weekend

:lol:

Congrats on the new home. I am taking a break from preparing our floors for hardwood. I'm too fat for this crap. I'm about to start painting and staining roughly 150' of shoe molding. Hopefully, by the time I get finished with that, it will have cooled down a few degrees so I can mow the lawn. Our yard isn't very big, so I can usually push mow it in about 45 minutes.

[peejman]

I cut my new grass today with my push mower. That is the last time I will do that. It took me four hours and I still didn't finish because my lawn mower wheel broke off. I have still got to weed eat areas I can't mow. I will have a riding lawn mower by next weekend

 

 

:rofl:    Like I said in the other thread.... welcome to home ownership.  Last time I moved it was in mid-July.  I even paid someone to move the big stuff and was still completely exhausted. 

[Ugly]

Zero turn! You'll never look back!