Riding lawnmowers?

[Ben E Lou]

It looks like we're about to purchase a house with a relatively large, flat, grassy yard. The lot is roughly half an acre with a minimal natural area and only three trees. It doesn't seem like it would be *too* bad to cut it with a conventional mower, but I'm wondering about a riding mower. I've never paid much attention to them, but the ones I recall seeing don't seem to move all that quickly, so I guess my biggest question is around how much time they save. I'd probably rather spend 60 minutes walking than 40 minutes riding, in other words.

If they are significant time-savers, any recommendations (or must-avoids) for a mower for a yard like I've described?

[tarcone]

My yard is similar. Except for a hill in ther front. I pushed that sucker for a few years. I had enough of that. Hot days just about killed me. And it took too long to do it before the sun went down.

I have a rider now. And I love it, Definitely saves time. And it has a cup holder. And Im sitting.

I put my head phones on and just tool away. It is much more relaxing now. I dont mind mowing anymore.

It was very much an improvement and I will not go back.

[stevew]

Speed is deceptive cause you're mowing like 42-48" at a time on a rider vs half that on a push. You seem like a busy enough guy as it is, so to be able to quickly buzz the back yard would be a plus. If you have a lot of leaves from those trees, you can get a bagger which eliminates that issue. A really good self propelled mower is around 4-500$ or so whereas a hydrostatic transmission tractor is probably at least like 1500-2000.

My yard is similar fwiw. I used to push but this seems much faster, especially if you are on an irregular mowing cycle and it gets long

[Lathum]

I pay a guy $30 a week to do my lawn. Money well spent.

[JPhillips]

If it bags it can also double as a leaf vacuum. That part of it makes it extremely beneficial if you're surrounded by trees.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Have a John Deere rider. Can buzz through my yard in 40% the time it would take to walk it. That's time I can use for other things that I enjoy more.

And as someone else said, I have a drink holder on each side. A beer usually in each one for the drive around the yard is awfully nice to have available, especially during the hot summer days.

[Blackadar]

It looks like we're about to purchase a house with a relatively large, flat, grassy yard. The lot is roughly half an acre with a minimal natural area and only three trees. It doesn't seem like it would be *too* bad to cut it with a conventional mower, but I'm wondering about a riding mower. I've never paid much attention to them, but the ones I recall seeing don't seem to move all that quickly, so I guess my biggest question is around how much time they save. I'd probably rather spend 60 minutes walking than 40 minutes riding, in other words.

If they are significant time-savers, any recommendations (or must-avoids) for a mower for a yard like I've described?

My house is on half an acre on a large flat lot (it's FL) with minimal natural areas or landscaping. It won't stay that way forever, but that's what we bought. It takes 2 1/2 hours to mow it with my push mower (motor, but non-self propelled). It'd probably take me an hour to mow it with a riding mower. So yeah, I'm looking at one too. I actually enjoy the exercise I get when mow it but daaaaamn does it take a long time and it's rather hot here in the summer when it needs to be mowed the most.

[SteveMax58]

I have nearly a half-acre myself. I actually prefer the exercise from mowing but I'm also in FL and sometimes you just dont have the time for that shit as its a year round activity here (not weekly this time of year but I just mowed my yard on Sunday after about 4 weeks of not mowing).

I actually ended up getting a wide area walk behind that I found used on Craigslist. Its 36" and moves as fast as you could possibly power walk behind it (you could also get a little attachment that lets you stand rather than walk). They aren't sold as widely as they were a few years back. I suspect because they are at the low end of the lawn tractor price-wise and you still have to walk so they are a bit niche but I love mine. You can find commercial walk-behinds like that but obviously they are more expensive than the residential typically.

[NobodyHere]

If it bags it can also double as a leaf vacuum. That part of it makes it extremely beneficial if you're surrounded by trees.

+1,000,000

[cartman]

I've got a little over an acre and a half, and I tried the first summer to get away with just a push mower. It was taking me two full evenings (7-8 hours) to get it done. Then I got a riding mower, and the mowing part got cut down to a little over an hour. So to extrapolate, that should mean a 20-30 minute ride for you.

[cuervo72]

+1,000,000

Or in Ben's case, +3.

[albionmoonlight]

I won't lie. I'm a little sad that this thread hasn't devolved into a discussion of the history of race relations in Greensboro.

[lungs]

http://goatsgoatsgoats.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/goat1.jpg

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

http://goatsgoatsgoats.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/goat1.jpg

We have a winery in the area that has a 'green' vineyard. It's fenced in. They have sheep and chickens in the vineyard. The sheep do the mowing and the chickens do the pest control. Oh, and lots of fertilizer in the process. :)

[Ben E Lou]

Or in Ben's case, +3.Heh.

http://www.fof-ihof.com/upload/Ben%20E%20Lou/31backyard_from_corner__copy.jpg

You can see two of the three trees in this shot. The evergreen in the front yard along the property line is the "big" tree. The other one you can see off to the right fairly near the agent is the second largest. Not exactly a big leaf generator (or grass inhibitor).


I won't lie. I'm a little sad that this thread hasn't devolved into a discussion of the history of race relations in Greensboro.:D



A goat wouldn't be a horrible idea if the yard was fenced. Hey, we love goat cheese! ;)

We made an offer last night and are pretty sure that it's the only offer on the table. It's a corporate relocation and the owners get a bonus if they close before February 28th, so it's looking good so far. It's the first house we've looked at in our price range that has come anywhere close to meeting all of our "really want to haves."

[JPhillips]

How much of the leaves from all the trees around you end up on your property?

[Lathum]

We made an offer last night and are pretty sure that it's the only offer on the table. It's a corporate relocation and the owners get a bonus if they close before February 28th, so it's looking good so far. It's the first house we've looked at in our price range that has come anywhere close to meeting all of our "really want to haves."

Looks like a nice place.

I can tell you from being on the sellers side of the corporate relocation several times, they will absolutely want to sell ASAP.

[Ben E Lou]

How much of the leaves from all the trees around you end up on your property?Hard to know at this point. As you can see, pretty much everything has fallen. The house just came on our radar a couple of weeks ago, so we don't really know. But we have a leaf blower, and in Greensboro, you can just blow them into a pile at the curb and they'll pick them up. No bagging required.

I can tell you from being on the sellers side of the corporate relocation several times, they will absolutely want to sell ASAP.Our counter of their counter has been accepted, and we now have a contract in hand that includes the greatest phrase I've ever seen in a formal legal document:X Seller to provide $2000 appliance allowance, carpets to be professionally cleaned
and dog poo to be removed prior to closing:D

[JPhillips]

Hard to know at this point. As you can see, pretty much everything has fallen. The house just came on our radar a couple of weeks ago, so we don't really know. But we have a leaf blower, and in Greensboro, you can just blow them into a pile at the curb and they'll pick them up. No bagging required.

Our counter of their counter has been accepted, and we now have a contract in hand that includes the greatest phrase I've ever seen in a formal legal document::D

That looks like more than I'd want to push, but I did that much or more at our previous rental. As I get older I have far less desire to spend that much time and effort mowing.

[CU Tiger]

We've got just over 3.5 acres of grass to mow.
Even with a commercial grade mower it takes me right at 1.5 hours.

Honestly between gas, oil, belts, etc. Add in the money for a new mower, figure the time value of dropping the money now or spreading it out, I think the ROI on paying the lawn guy was right at 5 years.

But I like cutting grass so I keep doing it.

[Ben E Lou]

Honestly between gas, oil, belts, etc. Add in the money for a new mower, figure the time value of dropping the money now or spreading it out, I think the ROI on paying the lawn guy was right at 5 years.Yeah. Our mower was very old when we moved and there was one left for us to use at our rental, so we just left ours back in the Lowcountry for the renters. Point being, I'd have to buy one either way. From the feedback I've gotten here and on FB, it seems like this yard size is on the bubble between hiring a neighborhood kid, self-propelled, and riding. I'm thinking that I'll try to borrow a friend's self-propelled to do it the first time and evaluate from there, and also find out how much some enterprising 14-year-old might charge me. The lawn isn't nice enough at this point for a service.

[flere-imsaho]

Just chiming in to agree that based on your description and photo that you do appear to be "on the bubble".