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By Our Readers

From The Family Handyman

How to grow a great lawn this spring

Q I’ve had lousy success trying to grow a decent lawn from grass seed. What’s the trick?

G. Mathews, via E-mail

A Water, water, water. Turf specialists make it clear that watering is a key step to a successful lawn. The seeds need to stay moist not only for germination but also for seedling root development. The germinating seeds and the new seedlings are very vulnerable to even short dry periods.

Seed an area that you can realistically keep moist. It may require watering several times a day. An in-ground irrigation system is ideal, but hoses and sprinklers will work. Water long enough to wet the soil to a depth of 3 to 4 in.

Monitor the soil’s moistness with the same attention you’d give to a sick child. Be aware of weather conditions; hot sun, high temperatures and wind will dry out the soil quickly. As the soil surface dries, its color will lighten—a sure sign to water again. You won’t harm the seeds with too much water unless you’re creating runoff and washing the seeds and soil away.

After the seeds have germinated (5 to 20 days), water less often but for longer periods. This deeper watering encourages the seedlings’ roots to go deep. After the first mowing, you can begin to cut back on the daily watering.

Three key steps

Step 1. Loosen the ground to a depth of 4 to 6 in. A power tiller ($50 rental) will make this job easier. Rake the loosened soil to remove plant material and stones. Break up clumps and finish with a smooth surface.

Step 2. Apply starter fertilizer and then the grass seed. Sow the seeds in two directions with a drop spreader. Lightly rake the seeds into the soil with a leaf rake. You don’t need to bury all the seed, just most of it.

Step 3. Water to keep the top few inches of soil moist until germination. After germination, apply more water but less often to promote deep roots.

Other key factors

Plant when temperatures are moderate

Avoid planting in the summer when you’ll be fighting the hot sun and high temperatures. Also don’t plant when the soil is too cold, which prevents germination. A good rule of thumb is to check nearby mature grass. If it’s growing (not dormant), then the soil’s temperature is OK for seeding. An ideal time to plant is at the end of summer when the soil is quite warm, but cooler days are ahead.

Choose the right seed for your yard and region

Talk to a turf specialist (from a garden center, university extension service or landscaping service) about the right seed for your climate and your specific soil and sun/ shade conditions. This is one advantage to growing a lawn from seed. It allows you to fine-tune the type of grass for your yard. Sod, on the other hand, is best suited for those conditions found at the sod farm.

Feed the sprouts

Let’s face it: Lawns eat like teenagers, so feeding is a fact of life. Just before seeding, apply a starter fertilizer. Read the product’s directions to determine the amount to spread. After the grass has been cut a few times and is established, move to a maintenance feeding schedule consistent with the climate in your region.

Staining a treated wood fence

Q Can I stain my green-treated wood fence?

D. Strom, via E-mail

A Yes, you can. In fact, green-treated wood, like any other wood, needs protection. While treated wood is insect and rot resistant, it’s still subject to splitting, cracking and warping caused by wetting and drying. We recommend that you use a semitransparent, water-repellent penetrating stain. It’ll color the wood and help keep out moisture. There are lots of products on the market, so carefully read the label to make sure it provides water resistance. Also, some products require two coats to be effective, so follow the application directions. If you’re applying the finish with a roller or sprayer, be sure to brush the stain into the wood as well.

New treated wood is often quite wet from the treatment process. You don’t want to apply the stain to a damp surface, so let wet wood dry for a couple of weeks. Then test the wood by sprinkling water on it. If the droplets are quickly absorbed, it’ll absorb the stain. If not, let it dry longer and test again.

Replacing two-slot electrical outlets with three-slot

Q Is there a way to change my two-slot outlets to three-slot so I don’t have to use adapters on my three-prong plug ends?

J. Dickenson, via E-mail

A Yes, there is, but the best way isn’t easy. The two slots in your outlet represent the hot and neutral wires. Since the mid-1960s, the electrical code has required a third slot for an equipment ground, which adds shock and fire protection. The best way to get this protection is to run that third wire, which is usually bare copper or wire with green insulation, from the outlet box back to the grounding bar in your main electrical panel. However, you usually have to open walls or floors to get the wire in—a big job. Sometimes grounding can be done in other ways, but they’re often tricky and require the expertise of a licensed electrician.

A second way is to install a GFCI outlet. This device will give you better safety protection than the equipment ground, without running the third wire. However, this method has drawbacks. Many types of modern electrical equipment, such as air conditioners and computers, won’t operate properly without an equipment ground, which is why you’re required to label any GFCI that doesn’t have one. (The labels are included with the GFCI device; see the label above.)

It’s unsafe to use adapters that convert three-prong plugs to two-prong ones, because as normally used, the adapters bypass the safety features of the equipment ground.

Painting ceramic tile?

Q The tile around my bathtub and shower looks old and dated. Can I paint it rather than tear it out?

D. Filuk, Ferndale, WA

A Yes, ceramic tile can be painted, but I wouldn’t paint bathroom tile, especially if the room has a shower. Paint usually fails first at edges where moisture creeps behind it, and a tiled wall is nothing but edges. The paint will most likely crack at the grout joints and allow moisture to work its way in. Soon you could have a wall of flaking paint.

If you’re dead set on doing this, clean the tile well with TSP or a TSP substitute, then apply a primer rated for ceramic tile. There are many in the marketplace, so call a full-service paint store, explain your situation and consider their recommended product.

First test the primer on a small area of cleaned tile. Let the primer dry for a few days and then try to scrape it off with your fingernail. If it comes off rather easily, try another primer.

Once the tile is primed, topcoat it with a semigloss 100 percent acrylic paint.

Water hammer fix for toilet

Q I’ve installed water hammer arresters in the basement water supply lines. They alleviated much of the water hammering in the house with the exception of the upstairs toilet. Every time the toilet tank refills after a flush, the whole house reverberates. It’s nearly impossible to install arresters near the toilets without ripping open the walls. Do you have any suggestions?

Holly Smythe, Phoenix, AZ

A Here’s a rather simple solution. Partially close the valve that feeds the toilet. The toilet will take longer to refill, but the hammering should be reduced because the volume of water going through the pipe is less. Then when the internal toilet tank valve shuts off the flow, the shock to the pipe will be less.

Art Direction • GREGG WEIGAND

Photography • BILL ZUEHLKE

From The Family Handyman - April 2003