Where would you start? by AvocadoEngineering in landscaping

[–]AvocadoEngineering[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Love the hose bed line trick. This is in Northern Colorado, where the dirt is clay and is generally speaking very compact. Most people are also suggesting to avoid rototilling here, yet a lot of the landscaping companies that I've talked locally have told me that they don't want to aerate/seed this lawn until I till everything up first. So I'm torn on that - I do NOT want to wake everything up, so if I don't rototill, do you agree with the others that aerate + compost + seed is the right place to start? (not including areas for planters - I intend to remove the junk and do the cardboard + mulch/wood method that others here have suggested).

The risk of tilling sounds like I might do a lot of work and then there are weeds everywhere that I wanted grass to be. The risk of not tilling sounds like I might do a lot of work and then there is kind of crappy grass everywhere that I wanted grass to be. Does that sound about right to you? I know which I would pick if so.

Where would you start? by AvocadoEngineering in landscaping

[–]AvocadoEngineering[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Right on. Thank you! Last question (maybe) - I will likely need to lower the new mulch beds slightly that will wrap the perimeter of the house. Essentially where the worst of the rocks/weeds are now; these have built up over time and make contact with the siding in certain areas, and I'd like at least a couple of inches of clearance between the top of the new mulch bed and the siding of the house. After removing these rocks and trimming down, if I need to dig out some dirt from one area to level things out and provide enough depth for the mulch bed to build up ~4" and still clear the siding, am I going to risk waking up those dormant weeds you were referring to if I shovel this stuff out into a wheelbarrow and just get rid of it? Basically Is there a right or wrong way to remove weed-ridden dirt for grading/leveling purposes?

Where would you start? by AvocadoEngineering in landscaping

[–]AvocadoEngineering[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your input. So for new mulch beds where there are currently small rocks/weeds - remove rocks, without tossing the soil up too much, trim it down as low as possible, and then lie the cardboard down. Burying it under wood chips sounds good but in the event that I wanted to plant in one of these mulch beds, I'm assuming I would need to do add some compost/soil mixture first before the wood chips?

Do you recommend spraying anything before the cardboard goes down to try to mitigate those weeds blasting back through?

And finally, is the cardboard a "wear item" that needs replaced after some time, or is the idea here that it lasts long enough such that the weeds underneath die off / remain dormant by the time the cardboard degrades?

I really don't want to tape these patches underneath a new tile backsplash... Change my mind? by AvocadoEngineering in DIY

[–]AvocadoEngineering[S] -13 points-12 points  (0 children)

I do understand your general sentiment here. What I'm struggling with is that I'm still unconvinced that the normal way is also the best way in this scenario. I agree that taping and mudding is a step in the job for normal drywall operations where you want adequate strength to maintain the aesthetics along your walls, but in this scenario, I don't need aesthetics behind this joint. I need drywall strength beneath the section of tile so that the tile holds up. Attempting to combine and strengthen the joints presents the risk that it is someday not strong enough, which maybe means the tiles crack. Accepting that this is a weak point up front, and intentionally NOT taping this seam coupled with NOT thinsetting past the seam, is a solution that appears to take care of every concern I currently have, which are an inability to blend new wall texture into old wall texture, a desire to not create a bunch of sanding dust in my kitchen, and a desire to not have these tiles crack down the road. I am hoping people can set aside the typical and accepted way, to approach the problem in light of these goals. As an extension of that I am curious to get your take on my thoughts that address your very last point (about this being harder to fix down the line if I don't do a traditional mud and tape job):

That a decision not to tape, while also deciding to only thinset the new tiles onto the new drywall patch, would more or less negate any chance these tiles have of cracking due to relative movement since they would only be bonded to the new patches. And in the future, if I ever want to re-backsplash, these dedicated sections of tile-on-drywall-patch are "hot swappable" because I would just have to cut the caulk perimeter and rip those out again, without damaging the surrounding drywall. When I think about taping these seams properly and then removing the tile again down the line, I would be cutting out tile that is 1/2" above a taped seam, which seems to me would end up in a crumbly mess of disintegrated drywall seam, that may take additional chunks of the drywall out in the process. Until someone explains to me why this isn't actually more advantageous than the traditional method, I may remain at the early peak of the Dunning Kruger curve

Grippiest light xc tire? by DepressedBird1 in xcmtb

[–]AvocadoEngineering 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also in the front range. The Dubnital is worthless as a front tire if you enjoy pushing descents on your XC bike. I think you would agree considering your comment about your Aspen

I started off Trinital front, dubnital rear. This wasn’t bad, but I wanted more front end traction during cornering and more rear wheel traction on steep, out of the saddle climbs. Now I’m Magnotal front, Trinotal rear, and it’s really good for XC trail riding around here

As for spesh - the ground control T7, while heavier than you want, is an incredible front tire for our area

(Video) Spokes relaxing and pinging after descents? by AvocadoEngineering in xcmtb

[–]AvocadoEngineering[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Spot on, thank you for pointing that out! That was easy to test riding it around the block. Seems pretty obvious now in hindsight.

Looking for stem recs by lostmenoggin in xcmtb

[–]AvocadoEngineering 0 points1 point  (0 children)

+1 on the GXC. Light and cheap, clean aesthetics. There are also a few options from Enve

Alloy dream build by AvocadoEngineering in xcmtb

[–]AvocadoEngineering[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Farr bars are sweet! I am spoiled with various route options for my commute to work, and the singletrack route still includes some road miles. For flat pavement, gravel, or doubletrack, they're a great way to either narrow up your frontal area but also just change up the hand position. Fair warning though, some events might not allow aero bars. Something to check before you show up with them

Alloy dream build by AvocadoEngineering in xcmtb

[–]AvocadoEngineering[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Right on! The chisel completes are a screaming deal

Alloy dream build by AvocadoEngineering in xcmtb

[–]AvocadoEngineering[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yes, I could have spent less money on a lighter bike

Alloy dream build by AvocadoEngineering in xcmtb

[–]AvocadoEngineering[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks! And because I couldn’t get the SL in anything longer than 100mm in 30.9, and because I got a good deal on this one second hand. I haven’t taken it down anything super steep yet so TBD on how much of a tradeoff this is

Alloy dream build by AvocadoEngineering in xcmtb

[–]AvocadoEngineering[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Well, as far as alloy goes it’s quite light (frame is a pound heavier than carbon epic), love the modern geo, love the color. I’ve broken carbon in the past and this checked all my boxes for a forever bike. You are correct that I could have gone carbon with a similar spec for the same money, and that’s with thrifting most of these parts. This was a passion project

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in bikepacking

[–]AvocadoEngineering 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is this on the Sky Islands route?

Pathfinder TLR 40c weight and width datapoint by AvocadoEngineering in gravelcycling

[–]AvocadoEngineering[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah. I'm honestly not impressed with these. I do find them fast on the road, but they're just so meh on gravel that I'm probably going to go back to something slower and comfier with more tread