We started about 18 months ago and it’s been great for us in terms of managing bins by allowing us to keep the stinky stuff out of them. This weekend though I saw our compost bin has been infested by rats. We use one of these plastic ones that is technically closed off, but they have air vents and the fuckers bit through them to get in.
I dont grow any food so am not concerned by the disease potential for the compost, but I dont want to continue this if it is going to attract rats. Any thoughts on if this is now a busted experiment? Anything different I can do to keep them away (I already never put any meat or animal products in there)…it is about 80% plant based food waste and paper, and about 20% grass clipping and leaves to balance it out.
Put it on a hard surface in an area well used by the household or other people. Mix or move the compost regularly like every time you put something in it.
A major problem is these bins are closed so offer great shelter. If you used the compost for the garden I’d strongly suggest one with open top. Still disturbing the compost is most important.
If you don’t have much waste ones that you can turn are ideal. They are off the ground and the compost is easy to mix.
Just make the rats feel uncomfortable with your presence and prevent them from having easy access and homely comforts like a roof over their head.
I have a big pitchfork and use it to turn over the contents every time I put something in it. We have a counter top bin in the kitchen and I empty that into it maybe twice a week. But this week had one of the bastards run up the pitchfork handle as an escape route and I absolutely shit myself.
my folks do, and at 1 point had massive issues with the compost bin getting huge numbers of cockroaches. They were suggested to use worms and cover each dumping of food scraps with enough soil to cover the food completely.
Seeking advice on my next house project that sits outside the normal space of a new kitchen and so on.
I want to expand my garage. The extension I can do, thst seems pretty straight forward but I also want to get a reliable internet signal there from my house router. Its a completely separate building and a say 30-40 yards away. Too far for my current router.
I’m in the process of connecting power but not sure what is a good way of sorting connectivity that’s simple and reliable. I can do concrete but IT baffles me.
Have you tried a mesh system? I was having real problems getting WIFI out to the backyard to be able to run the tv but after switching out my regular router for a mesh system I was able to get almost completely lossless signal out there.
This is equivalent of what I got
I was able to cover about 2500 sq ft with just a simple 2 mesh system (more pucks isnt necessarily better)
That has crossed my mind but I’d have to tear the house apart to get the cable to the point where I’m running a new electrical supply or go externally round half half the perimeter of the house. Then the route is a convoluted one. A new trench is possible I guess but it feels messy.
You basically just treat the primary puck as your router and update your WIFI connections to that puck. It doesnt matter if your modem currently doubles as your router or you have a separate modem-router combo, you just plug one of these into the modem and go from there.
The only real complexity is figuring out the right combination of how many additional pucks and where to place them. But that is not more than trial and error.
In that vein, the ASUS ZenWiFi whole home system is the one I have been happiest with. I put one in as a stopgap for a comprehensive Ubiquiti system, but I don’t think I am going to bother making the change now.
The primary box is plugged into the modem/router with an ethernet cable, secondary boxes arranged around the house. It has two bandwidths plus an IoT subnet for household automation, amazingly seamless
I’d have to go through the wall for an external route. To go the same route as the power cables, I’d have to take the ceiling down. Behind the skirting might be possible but there’s a doorway with a tiled floor to negotiate. Then through the ceiling space again.
