Landscape Construction
In the business of design and construction, we strive to provide our clients with a quality project from start to finish. Whether your project is new construction or a complete remodel, we have the personnel, equipment and creativity to create a unique and functional space.
There’s nothing better than sitting out on your patio deck; soaking up the sunshine, maybe enjoying a fruity beverage and waiting on some delicious food, cooked on your monster grill. Deciding on the best patio option for your home depends on its architecture, the space available for the patio and your personal taste. A patio can be either the focal point of your brand new outdoor living space or a relaxing spot in your redesigned backyard.
There are many different types of material you can use for your patio deck and walkways, let’s go through some of the more popular ones.
Let’s start with brick – it’s been used for centuries for the finest masonry work. Bricks are stones manufactured from clay mixed with sand and lime and are usually fired and often glazed for the reddish-brown look. People who own homes with brick exteriors may incorporate that look in their patio area. The brick on the exterior of the house may vary in colour due to weathering or the ‘used brick’ variation – this look can also be extended to the patio.
There are several types of brick patterns for patios: pinwheel, herringbone, diamond, classic running bond with rectangular bricks, and square bricks. They can also be various shades of red, brown, terracotta or gray with colour combinations that can include a gray brick patio with a red border or vice versa. The border can be raised and even used to create a flower bed – larger bricks can be used to border a patio of smaller bricks.
Bricks can be set to border trees and fountains or other water elements that are part of your patio design and are often used to build an outdoor fireplace or oven for your patio. Brick patios must be flat and level for safety, which is why this poses a difficult project for the do-it-yourselfer. This is a major reason for using the services of a creditable landscape company or professional patio installation company.
Flagstone has a lot of versatility, makes it the most popular stone used for patios and walkways. Flagstone is natural sedimentary rock composed mainly of feldspar and quartz, and it can be used with traditional or modern architecture. Manufactured paving stones, or pavers, look exactly like natural flagstone, with a wide variety of colors. It can be used to border planters, swimming pools, spas and outdoor fireplaces, ovens or barbecues – it’s also used extensively for patios, walkways and hardscaping.
Flagstone is flat with rounded edges but is also available in squares and rectangles similar to brick. It comes in all sizes and shapes for an large variety of designs – colors vary from gray, yellow-brown, and beige tones to subtle blue, pink and coral hues. While brick patios are often made from uniform size bricks, flagstone patios can use a variety of sizes for unique designs. Large blocks of flagstone can be combined with smaller sizes to cover any area and squared blocks can be combined with more rounded stones.
Broken flagstone slabs, in irregular shapes, can be set at any angle. A patio or walkway of jagged flagstone can be used with grass inlays to border a garden. Although the stones must be set flat, their surface may be slightly irregular, with different colorations in each stone; their textures can vary as well.
Cobblestones are those smaller, natural stones used for patios, walkways, driveways and even streets. The stones may be rounded or flat, square or odd shaped and is often combined with flagstone for borders, planters and water elements. Cobblestone squares are used for a classic concentric circle designs for a small patio. They may also be set in a diamond pattern to go with larger flagstones for a patio design and the fish-scale pattern is another popular cobblestone design.
Flagstone has a lot of versatility, makes it the most popular stone used for patios and walkways. Flagstone is natural sedimentary rock composed mainly of feldspar and quartz, and it can be used with traditional or modern architecture. Manufactured paving stones, or pavers, look exactly like natural flagstone, with a wide variety of colors. It can be used to border planters, swimming pools, spas and outdoor fireplaces, ovens or barbecues – it’s also used extensively for patios, walkways and hardscaping.
Flagstone is flat with rounded edges but is also available in squares and rectangles similar to brick. It comes in all sizes and shapes for an large variety of designs – colors vary from gray, yellow-brown, and beige tones to subtle blue, pink and coral hues. While brick patios are often made from uniform size bricks, flagstone patios can use a variety of sizes for unique designs. Large blocks of flagstone can be combined with smaller sizes to cover any area and squared blocks can be combined with more rounded stones.
Broken flagstone slabs, in irregular shapes, can be set at any angle. A patio or walkway of jagged flagstone can be used with grass inlays to border a garden. Although the stones must be set flat, their surface may be slightly irregular, with different colorations in each stone; their textures can vary as well.
Cobblestones are those smaller, natural stones used for patios, walkways, driveways and even streets. The stones may be rounded or flat, square or odd shaped and is often combined with flagstone for borders, planters and water elements. Cobblestone squares are used for a classic concentric circle designs for a small patio. They may also be set in a diamond pattern to go with larger flagstones for a patio design and the fish-scale pattern is another popular cobblestone design.
If you’ve done any reading on landscaping or any kind of research, you would most definitely come across information on retaining walls.
Let’s start from the beginning – what is a retaining wall actually? A retaining wall is a structure which can be added to your yard to hold soil in place. This is becomes very vital landscape if you have a yard which is not level and slopes and even more important if you have a pool or driveway which you don’t want filled with soil after a heavy rain. Sometimes, retaining walls are built to give a home a better aesthetic appeal and help with the flow of the landscape design.
Now whether you choose to use a retaining wall to build a solid foundation to start your backyard project, to help add structural support to your existing landscaping or maybe just to draw focus to amazing garden feature, it’s important to do your homework and research the various kinds of retaining walls, and their materials, to determine which is the best suited for your needs and won’t blow a hole right through your budget.
The majority of retaining walls found in landscape design are gravity retaining, which means the weight of the material used helps resist the pressure from the soil behind. These types of walls often require anchoring to the ground, depending on the desired height of the wall.
Since gravity retaining walls rely on weight, they can be can be made
from a wide variety of materials. Over the past few years, one of the most common types of material used for retaining walls are railroad ties. You may already have one of these next to your neighbor’s driveway and while railroad ties are affordable, they often will rot over time and will need to be replaced.
The sheet piling retaining wall. When space is an issue, using a sheet pile retaining wall is your best bet – it’s a thin wall of steel, wood or vinyl that is driven directly into the soil. This very basic kind of wall often has a vertically corrugated structure to provide additional reinforcement. These pilings only work in softer soils and a good rule to follow is that you have to get one-third of the sheet piling driven into the ground for every two thirds that will be above it. Larger walls will require additional anchoring such as arrowhead or bullet anchors and even another type of wall, anchored retaining walls.
Speaking of anchored retaining walls, they allow for a variety of faces of retaining walls to be supported by anchors driven into the earth behind them and attached by cables or strips. Mechanically driven into the ground, these anchor ends are expanded by injecting pressurized concrete or through mechanical means. You can use this method to provide additional support to any of the aforementioned retaining walls and they are often used for structurally thinner
walls or where higher loads are expected.
Regardless what retaining wall you choose, the materials you choose to build it, whether you decide to do the job yourself or hire a professional landscaper, make sure you know the proper dimensions and what all the costs involved are. With a retaining wall, you can rest a little but easier when a unforeseen disaster strikes or a harsh weather system rolls into your area. You’ll be able to withstand most landslides and mudslides – you won’t have to fear as much in desperate times.
Your perfect retaining wall is not only very useful in protecting your home, it sets up your entire backyard. With a retaining wall, you’ve added so much curb appeal to your overall landscape design.
With gravity retaining walls, shorter walls require no additional reinforcement but most will require at least a small trench to be dug for the wall to fit into and some may even require a concrete footer to sit on.
Retaining walls made from stones or rocks are very beautiful but can be very expensive to build and require massive amounts of time and back breaking labor. A modern version of the railroad tie wall are made with bricks and are commonly used for low walls, like ones that surrounds a tree or forms a planter. Brick walls require mortar bonding in between the blocks to give it extra strength but drainage is sometimes a problem and water pressure can cause issues.
A popular and affordable alternative to railroad ties or stone walls are concrete blocks, which can either be a do-it-yourself project or you can hire a landscape company if you’d rather not get your hands dirty. Pretty simple when it comes to assembling it; just place one block on top of the other for a unique design and create a maintenance free structural fence to hold the soil in.
Cantilevered retaining walls, or reinforced retaining walls as they are sometimes called, are the preferred style when used in a commercial setting – they are made with steel bars that run through the concrete or masonry retaining wall. These walls makes use of a retaining wall affixed to a slab foundation that goes under the soil, the wall is supporting in an ‘L’ shape and the weight of the above soil holds the slab down so that the wall cannot tip forward. A counter-fort or buttressed retaining wall includes additional vertical wings to the foundation that provides additional strength and rigidity. Although you have to account for the shape of this retaining wall, if you build it correctly, it’ll definitely stand up to the elements.
Like the name suggests, a spout water feature using spouts or sometimes taps, to project arcs of water. This presents a very classic look, evoking memories of ancient times in Greece and Rome – elegance and sophistication personified. You may also see these water features in large bodies of water, as a stand alone feature or incorporated into a pool or a pond.
If your backyard doesn’t have a lot space but you still want a water feature, a bubbling rock or drilled rock would be the way to go. A bubbling rock is a large boulder that has a hole drilled vertically through the rock to let water bubble out of the top and cascade down the sides. If you don’t even have space for a large boulder, you can get smaller stones that can do the same trick – smaller in size but still creates a big impression.
Pondless waterfalls are a great option if you have a bit of space but not enough for a full pond or if you’re not totally sold on the idea having a pond in your backyard. You get the harmonious sound of the water splashing down but without the worry of anyone falling to a pond.
On the other side of pondless waterfalls, a backyard pond can be a very soothing place to relax at the end of a long day or to spend time with friends and family. Ponds can be very large or very small, just depends on what you like and what your property is like. The great thing about a pond is that you can add fish to them, thus creating another wow factor within a wow factor – you’ll be able to enjoy them for years to come. If you are indeed thinking about a pond as a potential water feature, most pond owners wish they would have gone bigger with their pond so keep that in mind when deciding on a size for your pond.
Now get outside and enjoy your water feature – whatever it is!
There you are, sitting in your backyard, enjoying the outdoors and you’re at peace but something’s missing. Perhaps a sculpture, a neatly trimmed hedge or maybe something a little bit grander in scale.
When your landscaping needs a little more Mother Nature, it’s time to consider a water feature but what is it exactly? A water feature is garden or landscape design element that features the use of – water.
This could be an intricately decorated reflecting pool with synchronized jets spraying in different directions. Or maybe a small fountain that spouts water or something more subtle and restrained, like a backyard pond. The possibilities are endless and so much so, that you may have a hard time choosing a water feature or convincing yourself that more than one water features is totally okay.
No matter what you decide; your imagination is the artist, your backyard is the canvas and the water feature is the work of art. A water feature is technically any indoor or outdoor decor that incorporates water, taste and craftsmanship.
Fountains may be one such features that offers the biggest selection and variety. For the most part, they are smaller, fitting perfectly into many spaces, within your backyard. There also huge fountains that you could run through and get your feet wet, in city parks all across the country. There are smaller single basalt column fountains, medium sized spillway bowls, larger stacked slate urns and massive three tiered classic fountains you may see at many large mansions. We are talking about fountains, which are water features but not all fountains have water in them. If you want something different and quite possibly a little risque, you can have a fountain that incorporates fire! Or even a fountain that has fire and water, the choice is up to you.
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