engineering
All too often, the purchasers of a home (new or old) find a garden space stripped of any natural feel. Large lot or small, they sense no "connection" to the land - only a bleak space devoid of vegetation or any sort of overhead canopy and lacking the finishing touches that draw them out of the confines of the home to enjoy what usually represents the majority of their real estate. From my perspective, the best way to generate this connection to the land is through the creation of ponds, streams and waterfalls in these backyard settings. Such features bring a more natural look and feel to residential garden spaces and instill a sense of connectedness. And whether customers pick up this sense consciously or subconsciously does not matter: What matters is that they somehow know it, that they feel it. Plantings are a big part of this picture, but I lean heavily on watershapes to create connections because of
When I talk with prospective customers about hillside installations, more often than not I'll find myself saying "A good foundation deserves a great pool" at some point during our conversations. In fact, I view all of my pools as works of art, whether they're installed on a hillside or on flat land. The design can be a simple rectangle (which in my opinion are some of the most beautiful pools built) or an elaborate oceanscape with all sorts of bells and whistles. Regardless of location, style or complexity, I build my pools with first-rate foundations engineered for the specific soil conditions, and I give my clients the best pool I possibly can. As I explained in
As a former shotcrete builder myself, I believe you can't find a better method of building a pool, spa, pond or waterfeature of any type than by using pneumatically placed concrete, or "shotcrete." The method and the material offer the designer and builder great and often incredible design flexibility, and the resulting watershapes will last several lifetimes. Given that the vast majority of watershapers around the world depend on shotcrete as their primary construction material, it only makes sense that we should know as much as possible about putting this amazing product to its best possible use. Unfortunately, however, that's not always the case. There's little argument that the process of shotcrete construction is laborious and demanding, that it requires a major logistical and physical effort and that fairly precise timing is necessary. For all the focus it takes to apply it and shape it just so, however, I have observed a couple of critical steps many builders overlook in the press of getting the job done - the most important of them being the proper curing of the
How far we've come since the days of the lazy L, the kidney and the rectangle! During the more than 30 years I've been part of the pool industry, I've witnessed mind-boggling advances in the designs of swimming pools, spas and watershapes of all types. Especially in the past 10 years, the ideas, creativity and workmanship found in residential backyards far surpasses what we saw or even dreamed of 20 or 30 years ago. Back then, you'd have to go to a movie set or Las Vegas to see the exotic designs we are seeing today. I'd even say that today's designers are turning backyard pool environments into
Some projects grab you right from the start, and this was definitely one of those cases. As the principals at Herzog Development Corp. explained in our initial meeting, their new development was to be a "golf course community with a rustic feel, but refined." To embody that refinement, Don Herzog and his son, Daryl, wanted some sort of elaborate waterfeature - something that would break the monotony of the stark, flat terrain of northeast Dallas County and welcome
If you love rock, New England is a great place to work. A special combination of geology and the glaciers of the last Ice Age left behind a spectacular legacy of granite formations and scattered countless tons of boulders of all types and descriptions across the landscape from Maine through Massachusetts. It's the indigenous rock, so it's not too surprising that affluent New Englanders have long chosen granite and other local species to accent their landscaping. And this is especially true in
The triennial publication of the National Electrical Code is an event of critical importance to any contractor or subcontractor performing electrical installations or repairs. First published in 1897 and produced since 1911 by the National Fire Protection Association, the NEC is now enforced in all 50 states and also serves as the basis for codes in several foreign nations. As has been the case with all editions published to date, the 1999 edition of the code is designed to ensure "the practical safeguarding of
When he was brought in to replace a pool that had failed because of improper construction for the existing soil conditions, David Tisherman knew he’d have to dig deep to come up with a solution – literally. The resulting structural design defines an approach to building in which at least as much thought and care goes into what’s installed beneath a pool or spa as into how the project ultimately will look to the client. Some projects are doomed from the start, and it was pretty obvious when I first laid eyes on what was left of the existing pool that this was one of those cases: Light-duty construction coupled with a complete lack of consideration of existing soil conditions had resulted in a nightmare for the homeowner – and costly litigation for the contractor. But with every failure comes a chance to succeed, and that’s what we’re working toward in this project, which is about 50% complete as this chapter of the story is being written. Our goal: taking an utter catastrophe and transforming it to a
This waterfall could've been built in either of two ways: A system of internal reservoirs and a long, narrow nozzle could've been formed as part of the structure itself, a task that would've placed huge burdens on the forming crew and the person shooting the gunite; or a manufactured fixture could be used to create the desired effect. Sensibly, the folks at Tango Pools in Las Vegas chose to pursue the latter option, deciding it would be better to
To my way of thinking, one of the most fundamental considerations in any landscape design has to do with understanding how the major elements blend visually with each other and their immediate surroundings. When that design includes water - be it a pond, stream, fountain, pool or spa - the key to effective visual blending depends to an overwhelming degree on how you define the internal boundaries within the design. This is so because of a couple of crucial visual concepts: First, we all know that
