The age of the YouTube DIY-er

Do-it-yourselfers all over the planet have it easier than they ever had before. There is a wealth of knowledge on the Internet that can help you fix that sump pump that has been plugged up and not running to its full potential, or build a raised garden bed.

My medium of choice is YouTube. I don’t know if it’s the most reliable information, but I get a lot of my information on how to do projects around the house from YouTube. About seven years ago, I “YouTube’d” my first DIY project on my own. I looked up the process for how to rewire a car stereo that I had brought over from a different vehicle and put in my 2006 Hyundai Sonata. The process went smoothly and from that point on, I was hooked.

This month’s project has been leveling out the lawn. I had researched, on YouTube of course, a variety of different methods to fill in those holes and ruts left from years of neglect. I came across a video that told me to create a mixture of 40% sand, 40% top soil and 20% compost along with some grass seed that can be spread throughout the lawn.

It looked like a reasonably easy process and after researching prices, seemed cheap enough to do. Now, the resourceful DIY-er probably would have found where they could get a trailer full of sand and top soil. I however, decided a trip to Menards would do the trick. I bought three cubic yards worth of sand and soil along with some grass seed and... dairy cow manure. Now, if you would have told me when I woke up that day that I’d be going to the store to buy some packaged cow dung, I’d be telling you, you’re nuts.

I left the store with the bags of materials and went home to start mixing. I grabbed a tote that had been formerly used to house Christmas lights but was now my personal, oversized mixing bowl and went to work.

I spread the mixture of sand, soil, seed and sh...compost over portions of our yard that had been lowered due to previous tree removal or concrete installation projects. I watered the mixture in the coming days and after about four days of no results, I started to get discouraged. However, by the fifth day, little sprouts could be seen rising from the dirt. Kaitlyn, who had been working during the research and development process of this project, was now fully on-board seeing the results of the first few loads of mix. She started creating her own batches and covering the areas she felt needed some extra love and flushness. The project seemed to have been a success. However, when it was all said and done, $30 worth of materials only covered about 1/35th of our lawn. To get the area perfectly level, we would certainly need a trailer load of dirt, sand and compost and use leveling rakes or other tools to ensure a perfectly smooth lawn.

That might be something that is on the horizon, but I was just happy with the small victory for now.

Speeding

Through

L

ife