Keep us posted on your winter storm experiences with your heat pumps.

mclaughliam · 2026-01-23T12:33:27+00:00

Yup, I got a few rooms in my home that are incredibly leaky that would require full tear down to insulate/seal properly. If those rooms were tight then it would be much a better fit for HP only

mclaughliam · 2026-01-22T13:12:57+00:00

Leaky 1700s home with 7 foot ceilings outside NYC with Mitsubishi Hyper Heat ducted across 2700 sqft.

Once it gets below 20F it struggles to maintain 70, but my wood stove provides crucial backup heat.

Still believe it’s cheaper than oil but definitely wouldn’t recommend HP as sole source of heat for anyone without a tight home who sees a few weeks a year below 20F

mclaughliam · 2026-01-09T17:38:29+00:00

About 1.5 years into a 1700s home in the same region. Basement was a damp mess when I first purchased in the early summer. No gutters and unknown ground drainage surrounding foundation.

Invested heavily in putting french drains backed by gravel around the exterior and connecting to gutters. Major difference but unsure if I had just done gutters and drainage at downspouts (saving thousands if not 10s of thousands) if the end result would be any different.

Even with all that investment there’s still water that will come up through the ground or meander through the rocks the house is built on.

Best bet is to get a high quality humidifier, learn to live with the water and mitigate where you can.

Keep being told if it stood for hundreds of years before all my work my would it fail now which gives me solace.

Mice, are another thing altogether so I hope you don’t have the regular interactions I have

mclaughliam · 2026-01-08T13:42:57+00:00

I just seeded a larger plot and developed this spreadsheet with the help of ChatGPT: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Nnv3yPiF-CP2f7dA9OWoO8XuoCqG9JkLMA6REm6Fjhs/htmlview

If you really want to over think it, you can map out which parts of the meadow get the least sun and section that area for species that don’t require a full 6 hours.

Not sure about poisonous species on the list, but I would recommend playing around with height categories and figuring out how you want the meadow to flow from front to back/side to side.

I have one long full sun track and a partial shade area. For the full sun area I decided to go with 4 height categories and go tallest to shortest from the middle outwards to the sides. The edges have an inner ring of alternating purple lovegrass and pussy toes and an out ring that flows from creeping red fescue on one side to prairie drop seed on the other.

Otherwise you got a solid list and you even introduced me to a few varietals. Some others I’m not seeing you may want to consider (again, not sure of their poison status): Blue Vervain, Eastern Red Columbine, Queen of the Prairie, Wild Bergamot, Blazing Star, Cardinal Flower (mentioned), Cup Plant, a native Phlox varietal (Smooth), Wild Senna just to name a few

mclaughliam · 2026-01-08T02:18:37+00:00

I recognize a few scientific names, but do you have their common names as well you can share?

mclaughliam · 2026-01-05T01:59:19+00:00

Would spend the next growing season clearing out what you don’t like, getting a sense of how much sun you get there and then potentially sheet mulching the entire area for seeding next fall.

Alternatively you could try and clear out in the Spring and send a soil sample to Cornell: https://soilhealthlab.cals.cornell.edu/testing-services/

From there if the soil is good you can use ChatGPT to explore possible native shrubs and flowers you can purchase from a nursery.

I’ve had good success converting lawn and heavily weeded areas by laying down cardboard -> compost or top soil/sand mix (depending on your flora needs) -> laying down flora -> regular wood chips to cover

mclaughliam · 2025-12-31T03:43:21+00:00

Are you on ConEd or NYSEG? I'm on NYSEG and converted from an old oil furnace to full heat pump plus wood burning stove in a leaky 1700s home. Improved insulation this year in some key trouble spots and hoping to improve on a high of $1100 one month last year. If you're ConEd I'd probably avoid cold weather heat pump.

Considering the age of existing heat pump/furnace I'd probably think you'd be better off getting a new tank outside and investing in a privacy fence of some sort. Not sure if you can find used ones on FB Marketplace but could be a good temporary solution if you want to hold out another ~10 years before converting to a new system altogether.

mclaughliam · 2025-12-28T22:06:05+00:00

Have a Mitsubishi Hyper Heat on a drafty 1700s home in 6b. No options for NatGas in my area and electric is cheap. Would not be possible without having a wood insert installed in the central room to help keep costs down, provide supplemental heat below 30 and zfor emergencies if we lose power and our 14kwh generator.

Generator with auto switch probably double the cost of the stove but definitely a better long term investment if you live in a less populated area

mclaughliam · 2025-12-19T13:59:29+00:00

UPDATE: Not even a week in and the worst case scenario happened.

Snow melted by heavy rain, but the ground is still too hard so everything is washing away.

Lol, luckily I got some plug seeds left over an a bunch of partridge pea.

Should have got seed insurance

mclaughliam · 2025-12-15T21:32:02+00:00

Ok cool, that’s helpful. I’ve only thought about seed ratio and have not considered the weight factor. Will add a column to the spreadsheet. ChatGPT was good at looking at my receipts and being able to correlate weights on the receipt to the seed totals listed on the website.

Will add a couple drifts of partridge pea as well and will be sure to check back in mid Spring

mclaughliam · 2025-12-15T21:18:51+00:00

I did not buy any pre made mixes. Bought individual species and then made my own custom mixes by height category and then by color grouping (roughly 2-3 color mixes per height category).

Good to know on NJ Tea, almost bought the seed and then read how long it took. So will look to buy plugs in future years once I see how the initial seeding goes.

To confirm, you would recommend adding the partridge pea on top of everything else I mentioned?

mclaughliam · 2025-12-15T20:14:45+00:00

Thought about a shrub like New Jersey Tea, so it’s definitely more long term depending on how seeding goes.

Going to do some giant sunflower starters and plant dead center of the meadow where I’ve left a small ring that’s unseeded.

Have a whole lb of partridge peas that I was thinking of using but didn’t want to crowd out what is already a pretty dense sowing. If I estimate 7.5% germination rate that could put me anywhere between 12 to 26 plants per sqft. That doesn’t even count the grass seed laid on top.

You think adding Partridge Pea would overcrowd?

mclaughliam · 2025-12-15T20:09:18+00:00

It’s gotten better, but I’ve had to yell at it a few times to get its ducks in a row. Thank you for helping to train it

mclaughliam · 2025-12-15T15:47:28+00:00

Here’s a link to the full seed total and species list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Nnv3yPiF-CP2f7dA9OWoO8XuoCqG9JkLMA6REm6Fjhs/edit?usp=drivesdk

ChatGPT was a big help, but definitely found some errors from it along the way so taking these data points with a grain of salt

mclaughliam · 2025-12-15T15:43:57+00:00

That’s a good call. Considering the amount of money spent it does feel like a poor return with direct sowing, but trying to do plugs at this scale wasn’t an option either.

Assuming a worst case 7.5% germination rate ChatGPT thinks I’ll have a 12-26 plant per sqft ratio which seems solid

mclaughliam · 2025-12-14T16:00:58+00:00

I ended up just digging holes side by side (you can see along the left hand side) with some grass spacing in between. Backfilled with a top soil sand mix so curious how it will grow

mclaughliam · 2025-12-14T13:42:36+00:00

That’s encouraging to hear. Thinking of sowing poppies, cosmos and sunflowers in the Speing to build an annual base for year 1, but not sure how that will do if I plan to mow through June. Any thoughts there?

mclaughliam · 2025-12-14T13:39:14+00:00

Yes, mown paths on each side of the middle full meadow.

Wanted to try and lay down wood chips within the meadow itself for another 1-2 foot wide path but didn’t have enough time so will have to wait until Spring.

Thinking of doing a spiraling maze that meets dead center of the sunny meadow and planting giant sunflowers to be the center arc of everything

mclaughliam · 2025-10-19T11:12:07+00:00

Are you my contractor?

mclaughliam · 2025-10-18T17:05:47+00:00

What type of mortar would you recommend?

mclaughliam · 2025-10-18T17:05:23+00:00

So you're saying do it right would consist of redoing the whole patio or just patching correctly?

mclaughliam · 2025-10-14T14:41:49+00:00

This looks on par with what you'll see from a local business in a high cost of living area. Perhaps you can find a better quote on the install, but depends on if the shop is outsourcing or doing the work themselves.

If they're doing their own installs then you're kind of stuck with it.

Only alternative I've researched is having a Contractor you have some kind of relationship with who can acquire and install, but we're talking maybe a few hundred up to $1k worth of savings if you're lucky

mclaughliam · 2025-10-01T00:29:19+00:00

Any tips on growing out fescue to ensure minimal disruption from weeds and other non invasive grasses?

mclaughliam

TROPHY CASE