Rain Rich Blog

As winter weather continues to pummel away at us and many of our tools and equipment begin to wear down the use of ice melt to battle cleaning our walkways and driveways increases. Today, there are many choices and applications to consider before applying. One should always consider the type of pavement the material is being applied to as some ice melts are more corrosive than others. There is also the issue of damaging the surrounding environment and landscape.
The first type of ice melt and the most popular and least costly to apply is rock salt. It is the same as table salt, sodium chloride, with all the impurities - so don't use on food! It's cheap and easy to apply. Unfortunately, it is corrosive to steel and rebar. It will also damage concrete especially new concrete. It does not work well when temperatures are below 20 degrees Fahrenheit. If it should get into your lawn and shrubs it will damage them.

With the possibility of a big snow storm arriving this week  the time to prepare is now. Large snow storms can wreak havoc for days following the big blast. Here are a few tips to help you prepare:

1. Make sure you are prepared to remove snow from your driveway, walkways, and even your roof!

2. Have snow shovels and ice melt ready. Too many times the snow shovels are old and about to break. Make sure you have plenty of ice melt handy. Go see Manny and staff at Greenlawn Hardware www.greenlawnhardware.com. They have everything you need and they are very knowledgeable and friendly.

3. If you need ice melt, I have a safe non toxic environmentally friendly supply that is $24.95 + tax for a 50 lb bag.

Winter officially begins this Monday December 21 and listening to the way the weather reports it looks like we are in for an early start this weekend. Winter has its own special rules and if not followed carefully can make for a dangerous and costly few months.

Announcement! This will be the last week for winterizing!

There are a certain percentage of my clients who like to live dangerously and they are the ones who wait until Thanksgiving and into December before they call us back for their annual winterizing. They have ignored our mailings since September, our repeated phone calls, and emails reminding them that this service is available and not an option.

Be the envy of your neighborhood this holiday season with energy-saving LED lights! Learn to cut your electric bill in half and join us as we "go green" by switching to energy efficient LED lights. LED, which is abbreviated as Light Emitting Diodes- is a form of lighting that does not use a filament such as found in the standard light bulb. Residential LED lighting has been researched and developed for over two decades. With over 2 dozen applications and more increasing there is one application you should consider using right away, LED Christmas lights.

Over the past several years we earned the trust of thousands of our clients as their irrigation company. Many of our clients were unaware that we offer holiday lighting but after a few successfully years and a few dozen happy customers, we are pleased to offer holiday lighting to everyone.

One of the most important pieces of equipment on a sprinkler system is the shut off valve. It is the main valve for the water source to the sprinkler system. It is also the valve you turn on in the spring to activate the system and it is the valve you use to perform maintenance and go to in emergencies. I know it as the ' main valve' and I'll stick with calling it the sprinkler 'shut off valve' because that is how most owners identify it as.

As summers slips into fall and the leaves begin to change color it is also the time to begin closing your sprinkler system. As always, the summers fly by and the ritual of preparing for winter takes place. Winterizing a sprinkler system is normally a simple and easy task whereby we pump compressed air into the system instead of water. Water left in the system will freeze and crack the entire pipe, fittings, valves, and sprinkler heads. When water freezes it expands and is a powerful force. Besides being able to ruin a sprinkler system, frozen water can split rocks, steel pipe, and roads (potholes).

This week marks the beginning of the fall season. It is a great time with the start of a new school year, the football season, baseball playoffs, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. It is also the end of summer, heat, humidity, and time to begin to think about winterizing your sprinkler system.

This past summer was tough one for landscapes especially for lawns. The heavy rains in June, high heat and humidity in July and August put tremendous stress on lawns. Grass is a cool weather plant and when the temperature outside rises and it becomes real hot it naturally wants to go dormant. Of course, we want our lawns to be green and lush throughout the summer so we fertilize and water hoping that it stays green and looking great.