c/outdoor-living

Bought a $90 fire pit grate that fell apart in 3 uses

I picked up this fancy stainless grate for my fire pit at a big box store in Austin about two months ago. Looked solid in the package, but the welds broke on the third cookout and one of the legs bent when I set it down. Learned my lesson, cheap stamped steel held up for years, this thing lasted a weekend. Anyone had luck with a specific brand that actually survives real heat and ash?

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dakota_fox•2d ago

Switching from a gas grill to a pellet smoker after 6 summers in Austin

I used to just crank the gas grill and sear everything, burgers and chicken in 15 minutes flat. Last spring I picked up a used Traeger for $350 off Craigslist and started doing slow cooks, brisket takes about 10 hours now but the flavor is night and day. The big change is planning ahead, I have to start the fire and check pellets every few hours instead of just flipping a switch. Has anyone else made the jump and felt like cleanup got way harder with the grease bucket and drip tray?

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rowan_hayes•2d ago

I finally tried a cheap tarp shelter and got soaked in 2 hours

Set up a $15 blue tarp over my fire pit area last weekend in Portland, figured it would hold up for a simple rain break. Wind caught the corner and dumped a gallon of water right on my head, plus the grommets ripped out by hour two. Anyone else have better luck with a specific tarp knot or setup for gusty spots?

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the_logan•3d ago

String lights on a timer vs. solar: my backyard experiment backfired

I set up 120 feet of LED string lights on a wall timer in my Austin backyard last May, figured it'd be set and forget. Two weeks in, the timer glitched during a storm and left them on for 36 hours straight, cookin the bulbs and my electric bill. Meanwhile my neighbor's solar set from Home Depot dims way too early by 7pm in summer. Which setup actually holds up for y'all in humid climates, or am I just overthinking this?

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eva243•4d ago

That $130 hammock stand was a total backyard paperweight

Bought a steel hammock stand from a big box store last June in Austin, thinking I'd lounge every weekend. Turns out my yard slopes just enough that the legs wobble, and the hammock sags to the point my butt grazes the grass. I even tried leveling it with scrap wood, but it still tipped over during a decent breeze. Anyone else get stuck with outdoor gear that looked perfect in the parking lot but failed on real ground?

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the_reese•4d ago

That mesh shade canopy changed my deck after one summer

Put up a 10x12 mesh shade canopy over my west-facing deck in April. By September the difference was night and day, the old plastic chairs under it had faded almost nothing while the ones past the edge were chalky and cracked. UV was eating everything before, including me while I ate lunch out there. Anyone else notice how fast cheap furniture dies without some kind of cover?

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kim.dylan•6d ago

Just learned why my deck boards were rotting way too fast

Turns out I had the boards too close together with no gap for drainage, so water was sitting between them for days. The guy at the lumber yard said 1/8 inch spacing is the sweet spot, I've been redoing my whole back porch this week. Anyone else make this rookie mistake with cedar decking?

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hernandez.beth•1mo ago

Where to buy a durable vinyl shed?

We're redoing our landscaping and need a new storage shed that won't rust or rot. We live in a pretty humid area. Can anyone recommend a good place to buy one online?

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