Lawn Mowers versus You
Hello everyone:
Lawn mowers are necessary evils, if you have a lawn. I once talked to a suddenly single gal who had no problem with lawn mowers, but she considered the weed wacker to be a frightening instrument of torture. She asked her brother or father to come over and use it for her, she was so frightened of it.
But what about lawn mowers? I have never used one, always having had a father, brother, husband, or son whose job it was to keep our lawn looking nice. For this blog, I turned to my nephew, who owns a landscaping business.
If you have your own lawn mower, make sure you know where the repair shop is before you need it! Your mower takes regular gas, unless otherwise noted. You also need to make sure that the mower has engine oil. The type of oil you will need depends on the type of mower that you have; google your kind of mower, if you cannot find the owner’s manual. The mower itself should have a sticker that tells you what kind of oil it takes, if the mower is clean enough for you to read it.
If your mower needed service, how would you get it to the shop? You need to figure this out before the lawn mower gives you problems. Would you use a small trailer, or would you seek out a repair shop that makes house calls? The former might be excessively bothersome and the latter might be unavailable in your area. I suggest googling this, to see what type of service is in your location.
Make sure that whoever services your lawn mower is reputable. We once had a friend do the service, trying to help him get started in his own business. After spending a couple hundred dollars with the man, my hubby took the mower home, used it to mow one line of grass in our yard, and the mower stopped. Permanently. Since a friend had fixed it, he was too embarrassed to say anything, so he took the mower to the dump and bought a new one. Friends are wonderful but sometimes they are not the best choice for getting something fixed.
One way to forestall any challenges is for your mower to have regular checkups. Your regular service for the mower includes changing the oil, changing the sparkplugs, sharpening the blades, getting the mower winterized if it will be sitting unused for more than one month, and draining the gas when the mower is not going to be used for a while.
You need to have a trusted friend or neighbor that you can ask about the mower and its needs. Find him or her now, pre-need. Then get a professional to take care of your mower.
Best,
Dr. Sheri