The Conservation Commission is requiring me to plant a specific species - nyssa sylvatica, a.k.a. a tupelo or a black gum. In the northeast it is apparently also called a pepperidge, as in Pepperidge Farm, so now you know where that name came from. No one one the Cape raises them even though it’s a native tree, they had to ship them in from off-Cape somewhere.
Oh, and the trees have to have a caliper of at least 2". The caliper is a measure of the diameter of the trunk taken one foot above the ground. That’s pretty large, and from the picture they sent me of them, they look to be 10-12’ high, maybe more.
Apparently the honey produced from tupelos is prized, so if there’s any beekeepers nearby they’ll be happy. And birds love the berries it produces. The fall foliage is supposed to be incredible.
We have a 2ft diameter, 80 ft tall oak tree five feet from the front of our house. (What was the developer thinking 52 years ago when they let that tree stand?) It is 18 inches from our gas line (an above-ground root crosses over the line). The tree is dying and needs to come down. I shudder at the cost, and stump grinding will require a permit from the gas company!
I would be happy with $1000 for 16 stumps. I need that many trees taken down, though we will focus first on the ones that are hanging over our house.
The bright side is that it will give our north-facing house a little more sunshine, and I can finally take out the lumpy DIY brick walkway and replace it with something level and stable, and put in some decent plants.
Interesting trees! I wish our tree gestapo would allow us to replace the stupid rotten maples with something interesting native like madrona trees.
A 2-inch at foot height is not a big tree. Very manageable for DIY planning by our standards. Unless the rootball is gigantic. We’ve planted a few trees that were 10-12 ft tall at House1. So the number $1300 seems very high to me. We would have just driven our truck to pick them up… unless the nursery only sells to landscapers (which is a racket).
Yes, madronas are native. The stupid rules do not allow touching the blasted maples, so we need to petition the tree gestapo to get them replaced, and I doubt that they would OK such a swap.
JK. So it is $700 or so for the trees with tax. The install price sounds close to OK; if you don’t have a truck… renting one would cost some $$, then add fuel, then add the hassle… those trees better be guaranteed!
Gorgeous sunny day here. Going to stain the woodwork tonight.
My builder brought his father with him today. 85 years old, and the guy is tearing down sheetrock and ripping out 2x4s and loading the dump truck and whatnot.
Went into the plumbing supply place over the weekend.
DW walked over to a Kohler faucet and said “I like this one.” Cost? $942. Yeah, no, sorry honey.
It’s crazy - $276 for a shower valve, and $281 for the valve trim plate!!! $500+ for a hand-shower kit.
Is Kohler really worth the money? It looks like their stuff is made in China.
I’ve been browsing on Wayfair, which is having a big sale right now. I am seeing similar setups for 20% or less of what Kohler costs. Most of them are for brands I am not familiar with.
Anyone ever heard of Kube Bath? AKDY? Dyconn? VIGO? Symmons?
Grohe seems a little more expensive, it’s a German brand apparently. Never heard of them either.
Moen and American Standard, I’ve heard of. They are a little more pricey, but way less than Kohler.
I have a Symmons shower head and the tub valve thing (mixer?) My plumber recommended the line and you may not know it because it’s sold at the supply places, not the big box stores. Works fine. Well less than what you’re quoting. And, I like the design.
Getting my house painted. Big stress deal to decide if we want to change the color. Looks like we’ll stay with white, black shutters. Ah, but they’re stripping down to the original shakes and that’s neat to see. Part of me wishes I could go with the natural shakes but a) as they shrank over 100+ years, there are gaps and they’d have to dig out the paint that’s settled between them and b) no other homes on my short street are natural shakes. Well, none are white, either.
Oh, adding: I have a photo of the house when just a few years old. Some descendents of the owners were in town and came to see. Later, the granddaughter of the original sent me the pic. She was already almost 90.
I wish I could find my the pdf with the order forms from my contractor. I looked at them a few weeks ago and I got way more than a 10% discount. My Kohler toilet, for example, was $1000 retail per toilet but I only paid $648 for each one. Same for all my fixtures. Big discounts.
I have all Kohler fixtures (Purist line) in my bathrooms and I’m extremely happy with my choices. My kitchen faucet is a Grohe and very happy with that also. I’ve had it ten years and when I was having a sprayer issue, Grohe sent me a replacement at no cost since it’s guaranteed for life.
I’ve had the same experience with Grohe, but it happened over and over and over. In my next (current) kitchen I decided to go with Moen, and it’s been fine.
@notrichenough: I too bought Kohler from a plumbing supply place – very fancy one. I think I got 30% off retail, but it was still incredibly pricey. In retrospect I should have gotten cheaper fixtures, especially for such nonmechanical things as towel racks and toilet paper holders. I do think that faucets are important and you don’t want to skimp on those, but I think Moen and American Standard are good, solid, well-known companies with good products.
The plumbing place gave us 25% off, but that’s 25% of their own inflated retail prices IMO.
For example, the bathroom faucets were quoted at $293 after discount, but I found the exact same faucet on Amazon for $207. Same with the shower parts. Tub and toilet prices were much closer.
If I was convinced the quality was so much better it might be ok, but for example people on Amazon were complaining that the valve trim plates were metallicized plastic. Not what I’d expect for hundreds of dollars.
No one one the Cape raises them even though it’s a native tree, they had to ship them in from off-Cape somewhere.
