ARTICLES Archives - Page 94 of 315

A Personal First

As I noted a couple weeks back, my to-do list of household projects has long included installation of a small fountain. In the place I had always intended to put it, I figured that the watershape would be visible from the redwood deck where we do most of our warm-weather entertaining; from the stone deck where we

Called upon when other contractors couldn't give the client the organic look he wanted, Matt Wilson put his skills and long experience with artificial rock to the test in creating a water- and plant-draped outcropping that appears to have been in place since time immemorial.

The ‘Forever’ Look

It was a great project: The client called us in to look at a sloping backyard for which his one and only wish was an environment that would be "organic and pre-existing" - that is, a composition that looked as though it had been there forever, long before the adjacent home entered the picture. That sort of look is our stock in trade at Outdoor Republic, a Pleasanton, Calif.-based firm that specializes in the use of artificial rock. As is often the case, we became involved after the homeowner had

Active Water

When agitated or flowing water moves through the air, it loses carbon dioxide. That's particularly significant in systems with fountain jets, waterfalls or vanishing edges, observes Kim Skinner, with the loss affecting pH in ways that must be dealt with to avoid big problems.

What’s Up with the News?

The news wasn't great for public pools, hot tubs and waterparks in the days leading up to Memorial Day and the start of the 2016 swimming season: In five big states (Florida, New York, Texas, Arizona and California), a series of aquatic-facility inspections by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) found widespread violations and in some cases closed facilities pending remedial action. News of these inspections went viral

A Fresh Start

As I've suggested a couple times in the brief texts that have introduced the videos in this series on the spring cleaning of ponds, the process we pursue at Pond Digger Waterscape Design & Construction (Yucaipa, Calif.) is filled with opportunities - for minor adjustments, for new additions or, in this particular case, for completely changing directions and rethinking which forms of wildlife should occupy the ecosystem. Frankly, I doubt the

Knowing Your Range

'I understand that everybody has to make a living,' wrote David Tisherman near the top of his Details column in the June 2006 edition of WaterShapes, 'and I've always known that there are many people in the watershaping world who make their daily bread by selling, designing and building the pool, starting it up, selling pool toys and acid and chlorine, servicing the pool, winterizing it in the fall and opening it back up in the spring.' 'The range of activities some people try to master beneath the umbrella of

The Humidity Factor

Indoor pools are wonderful as both design challenges and family recreation centers. But as Paolo Benedetti discusses here, they'll stand the test of time only if you take care of moving the moisture they generate away from the indoor space -- no shortcuts allowed!

Generational Joys

Every once in a while, the fact that I'm not getting any younger smacks me right upside the head. This time, it's had to do with becoming a grandfather for the second time - an event that's led me to do more than the usual amount of reflecting in recent days and, in particular, think about instances when I've intertwined my personal and professional lives. My oldest daughter was born in 1985, just before I returned to Los Angeles after a few years' absence to take on the top editor's job with Pool & Spa News. By the time

Provincial Splendor

I have always been inordinately fond of fireworks. Indeed, and as my children will not-so-patiently attest, my year isn't complete if I don't get to spend part of every Fourth of July either watching a big fireworks display or, better yet, helping to stage one myself. In the summer of 1978, however, I was in France for most of the month of July and wasn't shocked to find that the Fourth passed with nary a skyward pop. But when I arrived in Aix-en-Provence on July 15, one of the first things the manager of my hotel recommended was getting up early the next morning to grab a seat in a sidewalk café on the town's main plaza to watch what he promised would be a breathtaking pyrotechnical display that evening. My French was quite good back then, and I had a great time getting to know the people around me, all of them French and many of whom had grabbed their Bastille Day tables well before breakfast, as I had. The display that evening was indeed glorious beyond expectations, Bastille Day supplemented by a huge jazz festival that filled the town and had everyone hopping, especially the folks who were jamming what seemed to be an endless supply of fireworks into mortars to send them rocketing up over the plaza. But as the day wore on, I started noticing a huge fountain at the center of the large traffic circle by which I sat: It, too, was more than a bit interesting. On that Bastille Day, however, there was no access to it and its extent was mostly masked by all of the pyrotechnical staging. So I went back the next morning to check it out more closely. Known as Le Fontaine de la Rotonde, I learned that it had made its grand debut in 1860. At about 70 feet wide and 40 feet tall, it would have dominated the plaza on any day other than Bastille Day. With a basin edged by lions and filled with dolphin-riding angels, birds and other elaborately carved figures, there's a central structure rising as a platform for a trio of figures representing justice, agriculture and the fine arts - key themes for what even a century earlier was a bustling provincial center. What a great place! What a wonderful fountain! And I'm convinced that one day I'll go back to see it again - and I'll do it even if there is no chance of seeing any fireworks!

The fountain basin was designed for children at play, but a deteriorating finish was making it much less fun than it should have been. Enter Ron Melbourne, a specialist in reviving watershapes in their time of need: He saved the day with felt, adhesive, PVC and well-applied heat.

Finding a Fix

Yards Park is a wonderful open space in the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood of Washington, D.C. One of its main attractions is in the middle block of the park, where you'll find a grand watershape with a footprint that covers an area spanning 20 by 135 feet. At one end, there's a fountain/waterfeature that immediately catches the eye. But the big draw