compaction
For me and my business in around 2008, this project was a real rite of passage. At that point, pool-construction and shotcrete-application companies like ours were well established and had lineages stretching back to the 1950s. Just the same, we were having a hard time gaining recognition from architects, landscape architects and developers who were pursuing quality, prestige construction. The irony is, my own firm had
This is the story of the rebirth of a pool - and then some. It all started when I was contacted by a homeowner who was in what I'd call perfectly reasonable distress: His swimming pool was a mess, he told me, surrounded by cracked decking, a crumbling slide structure and a deteriorating fireplace. He'd already spent a bundle on piers and other fixes recommended by engineers, hoping to
Atlas Copco (Commerce City, CO) now offers an intelligent, easy-to-use compaction-monitoring system that gives contractors…
In a great many of the renovation projects I come across, one part of the program involves raising the floor in the deep end of the pool to create the classic play-pool contour with a deeper area in the middle and shallower sections on both ends. This retrofit brings these pools into line with one of the most popular features of today's new pools, so many of which are set up for pool volleyball and other vigorous games. The great thing about these sporty pools is that the shallower ends have a
One of the requirements of pond ownership is a willingness to see to the safety of the pond's inhabitants - especially the fish, which can represent a substantial investment in any pond, no matter its size. That's why, in every project we install, we include an appropriately sized fish cave (or two or three): These give the pond's residents places to hide in the event a predator appears at the water's edge or lands on the water's surface. It doesn't take much to provide one: just a big piece of drainage pipe will do the trick. They key is thinking about these features from the planning stage forward: There are few miseries with pond installation that are as gruesome as
Every time I open a landscape trade magazine, I’m bombarded by ads from just about every paver manufacturer on the planet. From the newest faux-stone concrete pavers and ADA-compliant bricks to granite, flagstone, mica and other slab species, we have more choices than ever before for our projects. Some professionals approach this wealth of possibilities and play it safe – not caring so much about what’s the latest and greatest but focusing instead on what’s most familiar and time-tested and being interested in little more than providing clients with surfaces that can safely be walked on. Fortunately, however, there are lots of us who take a different view, putting care and thought into the materials we select for our walkways, patios and terraces and working closely with our clients to make certain the resulting surfaces meet their needs. In other words, there’s
