New Member To Lawnsite

[Raven]

Hello all! I just joined Lawnsite after many months of reading your posts and thought I'd give you all a brief bio of myself.

Being 45 years old, I may very well be the Grandpa of this forum! I've been in landscaping and lawn care for nearly 20 years, but I still have a lot to learn, so I will be asking questions. I've been in business for myself for 15 of those years. In the past 6 years I have gone from a full-fledged landscaper with 20+ employees to a solo operator. A gradual downsizing by choice. A little less income = a lot less headaches!!!

I only mow three days a week to protect myself from the unpredictable springs and falls of Northeastern Ohio. The rest of my time is filled, or should I say over-filled, doing other lawn maintenance tasks. I also do quite a bit of mulching, install between 10-15 low-voltage lighting systems a year, about 5 patios or decks a year, a few ponds, and maintain lighting systems, irrigation, and ponds.

Did I mention brief at the top of this post? Sorry about that! Thanks to all of you for the knowledge I've gained reading through your posts and I hope I can help some of you in return.

[MuskTurfKing]

Welcome to LS, I've learned so much on here in the past months that it would take years of screwups for me to get to the point I'm at now. You may be older, but I'm a youngin', only 15. ;)

Hank

[SLS]

Welcome aboard, Raven! :)

[vipermanz]

You've reached the largest lawn support page out there Raven, any questions you have about a lawn , we have answers!!:)

[MikeLT1Z28]

Welcome. Low voltage lighting? like lights around drive ways and flower beds? I have thought of installing those at my parents house and was wondering how i would tunnel the wiring under the driveway. any suggestions? it's a circular drive that is blacktopped.

[David Haggerty]

Welcome!

I wish I was only 45. But I'm not building hardscapes either.;)
Glad to have you aboard.

Dave

[slplow]

Welcome, sounds like we will be learning alot from you too.

[proline32]

Sounds to me with 20 years of experience you probably had a chance to get all the bugs worked out by now, so most likely a lot of us will be asking you about some experiences. You have wisdom on your side......:cool:

[stslawncare]

welcome to lawnsite, u have come to the best place to learn and share.

[ceaman]

Welcome

[Russo]

Good to have you here. You won't feel like a new guy for long.

[Fantasy Lawns]

Glad you made it

[mxrdrvr3]

:D welcome to lawnsite

[lawnrangers]

iam new to this site also,but have been reading post for about 6mths,have learned a lot just by reading..

[Mykster]

Welcome.

[65hoss]

Welcome, but shame on you for being around for a while and just now getting involved. ;)

[SCAPEASAURUSREX]

Welcome abord !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Brickman]

MikeLT1Z28

Low voltage lighting? like lights around drive ways and flower beds? I have thought of installing those at my parents house and was wondering how i would tunnel the wiring under the driveway. any suggestions? it's a circular drive that is blacktopped.


What I have found works very well is build yourself a water drill. Take a piece of 1 inch PVC (preferably schedule 80 for strength) glue on garden hose fittings to the one end for your water supply. On the other end adapt it down to 1/4" with the end being a peice of metal pipe, like a 4" nipple works good.
Dig a trench in the lawn where your wire comes in. That way your water drill will lay relatively flat in relation to the ground. Dig a hole on the other side of the drive way where you want to come out. Turn on your water and start ramming the pipe and let the water do the work. Because you are reducing the pipe to 1/4" at the business end your pressure comes up and is well directed. If the ground is hard and needs more water pressuer you could use a pressure washer I would imagine.
I have found this work pretty well for me. Also works for sprinkler pipes too.
If you have any other questions feel free to ask.