Moving, and they asked me to clean out the run-help???

[tweetzone86]

Ok, so long story short, we're finally getting acreage-YAY! But the inspection came back on my suburban house in a city neighborhood, and while I expected that they would have me clean all chicken poop out of the shed (no surprise, I had planned to) they are ALSO having me completely clean all straw out of the run

Now, keep in mind I was doing the composting bedding method/deep litter where I just put new straw atop the old straw. So half the bedding is half-composted, and the rest is packed down quite thickly (I think it's all about a foot deep now at least). My run is 7' wide by 20' long, and the last time I tried pulling straw out it took me a good half hour and I only cleared about a square foot and a half-and that was HARD.

Which would be better in this situation-1. Just deal with it and bust my butt to get it all out, likely going to take several days of back-breaking work (I have 10 days to do so), or 2. Rent a tiller and till it all in until it's either a) chopped up and loose and easier to shovel out, or b) flat and mixed into the soil completely, and done?

Any thoughts?

 

[SurferchickinSB]

Ok, so long story short, we're finally getting acreage-YAY! But the inspection came back on my suburban house in a city neighborhood, and while I expected that they would have me clean all chicken poop out of the shed (no surprise, I had planned to) they are ALSO having me completely clean all straw out of the run

Now, keep in mind I was doing the composting bedding method/deep litter where I just put new straw atop the old straw. So half the bedding is half-composted, and the rest is packed down quite thickly (I think it's all about a foot deep now at least). My run is 7' wide by 20' long, and the last time I tried pulling straw out it took me a good half hour and I only cleared about a square foot and a half-and that was HARD.

Which would be better in this situation-1. Just deal with it and bust my butt to get it all out, likely going to take several days of back-breaking work (I have 10 days to do so), or 2. Rent a tiller and till it all in until it's either a) chopped up and loose and easier to shovel out, or b) flat and mixed into the soil completely, and done?

Any thoughts?

Wow, I think you are going to have to comply with what they want. It sounds like you will have to remove all the straw and poop which is going to be a lot of work!

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Can you pay a landscape crew to do this for you... a crew of 3 or so with the right tools might make quick work of it... they might even be able to temporarily take down some fence and get in a mini excavator or skid loader...just a thought

 

[danceswithronin]

Can you pay a landscape crew to do this for you... a crew of 3 or so with the right tools might make quick work of it... they might even be able to temporarily take down some fence and get in a mini excavator or skid loader...just a thought

Yeah I think I might be tempted to outsource this particular job.

 

[paneubert]

Well.....you don't HAVE to do anything. You are free to respond to the inspection with a firm "no" for that item. If you are willing to risk the sale going south due to that of course. Do you have a feeling as to how badly the buyers want your house? Most people do not agree to fix all the things that are noted in an inspection. Usually the inspection "fix list" is more of a "wish list".

Edit to add: You could always contribute to the buyer 50% (or 100%) of the estimated cost for a crew to come haul it out after the sale closes. So that the buyers are the ones who have to deal with scheduling it and all that. You pay, but they do the work on their own timeline instead of a rush job now before you close the deal.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Well.....you don't HAVE to do anything. You are free to respond to the inspection with a firm "no" for that item. If you are willing to risk the sale going south due to that of course...

This is a good point... when we sold our last house we had a contract and the buyer wanted every nit picky thing done as far as inspection, but we had another interested party....

... so the realtor drew up some sort of 24 hour contingency contract and had that party agree to enter a contract and buy the house ‘as is’ based on the current inspection ...if our current offer fell through...

Then we went back to the buyer under contract and told them they could basically take it or leave it... they took it ‘as is’ and we did nothing as far as the inspection went...

Of course the market was tight and everything in that area was selling quickly at that time... and none of the inspection items were anything major.... so we had leverage in that case...

 

[Shadrach]

Ok, so long story short, we're finally getting acreage-YAY! But the inspection came back on my suburban house in a city neighborhood, and while I expected that they would have me clean all chicken poop out of the shed (no surprise, I had planned to) they are ALSO having me completely clean all straw out of the run

Now, keep in mind I was doing the composting bedding method/deep litter where I just put new straw atop the old straw. So half the bedding is half-composted, and the rest is packed down quite thickly (I think it's all about a foot deep now at least). My run is 7' wide by 20' long, and the last time I tried pulling straw out it took me a good half hour and I only cleared about a square foot and a half-and that was HARD.

Which would be better in this situation-1. Just deal with it and bust my butt to get it all out, likely going to take several days of back-breaking work (I have 10 days to do so), or 2. Rent a tiller and till it all in until it's either a) chopped up and loose and easier to shovel out, or b) flat and mixed into the soil completely, and done?

Any thoughts?

I don't know if this is an option in your suburban setting but the easiest and cleanest method is to burn it.

 

[paneubert]

This is a good point... when we sold our last house we had a contract and the buyer wanted every nit picky thing done as far as inspection, but we had another interested party....

... so the realtor drew up some sort of 24 hour contingency contract and had that party agree to enter a contract and buy the house ‘as is’ based on the current inspection ...if our current offer fell through...

Then we went back to the buyer under contract and told them they could basically take it or leave it... they took it ‘as is’ and we did nothing as far as the inspection went...

Of course the market was tight and everything in that area was selling quickly at that time... and none of the inspection items were anything major.... so we had leverage in that case...

Yeah, this can either be super risky, or super safe depending on the real estate market. I was lucky in that I was in a position of power when I sold my condo, as well as when I bought my house. As a seller, I said "no" to a few things, and then as a buyer I was able to say "no really, you need to fix this or I bail on this purchase". As a buyer, I did compromise a bit with the seller, and they did something a lot like what I proposed. They left me some cash on the kitchen counter to pay for an extra "dump run" or two in order to dispose of some crap they did not clean up when they moved out.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I'd just outsource the work, considering you're probably busy with moving and don't have time to rake rake rake.

Even if the sale falls through my guess is the next buyer would want the straw gone anyhow, so might as well just take care of it now.

If I was selling my house I'd just call my run "two dog runs with mulch flooring" and tout it as a bonus feature.

 

[tweetzone86]

Can you pay a landscape crew to do this for you... a crew of 3 or so with the right tools might make quick work of it... they might even be able to temporarily take down some fence and get in a mini excavator or skid loader...just a thought

Nope-it's between the shed and the fence, and the run wall is attached to both. I had to secure it from cats who wanted a tasty snack and kept attacking my chickens. I can only get a wheelbarrow in there, nothing more.