Re: Home and garden projects
 

Bagworms:thumbdown:

They have destroyed Jabba (my dome shaped very large fern shrub). We managed to get rid of them 6 years ago but this year over 90% of poor Jabba died off. So he has been removed and the other shrubs have been sprayed and so far all is ok.

Re: Home and garden projects
 

Nasty looking things. Steve and I got the hydroponic system populated with tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, cucumbers and melons last week, then I had to hightail it to the UK at short notice and left the basil seedlings in his tender care. Hoping for a less wet summer in PA this year, last year had biblical rainfall!

Re: Home and garden projects
 

So far this summer I have dug out a new planting area for bushes down the length of the backyard and planted bushes, painted the garage and garage door, and now I'm currently working on the basement and gutter out in the back yard simultaneously. I switch between them both weather depending!

Going to buy flower boxes and shutters for the garage, and need to replace the side door too for the garage. On the gutters, I had the replace EVERYTHING, as it was in bad shape due to our house being worked on terribly by previous owners and left empty for 5 years. I had to replace the fascia boards which were badly damaged, and now I'm currently replacing the soffit they had installed incorrectly. Next will be the fascia trim, then the gutters finally! In the basement, I'm cleaning it, finishing up the last bit of drywall and will begin priming and painting it soon ready to be done up. Once I get the gutter stuff finished, I'll begin tearing the decking as we want it gone, plus it's old/falling apart anyway.

Re: Home and garden projects
 

Took the car to Ford dealer for the airbag recall. Whilst there they did a "courtesy" inspection and informed me of a leak in an AC valve on high pressure side. I was told it needs to be replaced, and as a requirement of that a couple other things are required. All in all $550

Googled and YouTube the part - $20. The rest that they tried to sell with it was BS.

Re: Home and garden projects
 

I have experienced a Ford dealer like that. Luckily our local Ford dealer is a family owned business and very reasonable - has never, AFAIK oversold parts or service.

Re: Home and garden projects
 

"Lets Talk about cars" anyone ... ? :) https://britishexpats.com/forum/trai...t-cars-801119/

Re: Home and garden projects
 

Guys, I'm going to be installing the new gutters either tomorrow or Friday, all going well. I know what I need in terms of materials, and have researched how much slope the gutter should have. I'm struggling to find how far from the shingle overhanging should the gutter start? An inch? 2? Any advice would help greatly!

Re: Home and garden projects
 

Re: Home and garden projects
 

Here in Florida, when they can be bothered to hang gutters, they are always fixed directly to the fascia. Which, come to think about it, is how we always fixed them in the UK. What are you using for hangers, external brackets that fit around the outside of the gutter or internal ones?

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Thanks for that, I'll check out the DIY Chatroom website!

Hidden hangers, so internal ones.

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Re: Home and garden projects
 

One question I forgot to ask, What's the best way to account for two downspouts? House is only 28 feet wide but for some reason it has 2 downspouts. I am keeping these as they're fine, I'm only replaced the gutter that was damaged. Should I make it raise slightly towards the middle, then start bring it downwards towards the other downspout?

Re: Home and garden projects
 

I had mine done by a local company due to a very good price. They kept it slightly high in middle going down hill to each down spout on each end. I asked for the larger down spouts which I think are 3 by 5. My house is small 1200 sg foot rectangular box. Each side about 45 feet. I paid about $550 for seam less gutters made on site with the four larger down spouts. Total for material and labor.

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Finally got the new gutter up. It took me 8 hours of working non-stop, and I somehow managed to do it solo (never again!). Will see how it is when it rains, and I'll just adjust the pitch if needs be after checking the gutters post rain, but hopefully all is well with it! Now that's done, I can finally begin taking down the rotted decking and work on the next project (yay).

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Huh, I thought pitching a gutter was a European thing, my boss gave me a right funny look when I asked him why the first gutter I witnessed him put up had no pitch. Florida just uses loads more downspouts, and if a customer ever gets pooling, yup you guessed it, we fit another downspout, does my head in.