| 2009 |
| Below is a home located in Lewistown. We started this project off by moving many hundreds of tons of fill dirt to control the water run-off. We used the equipment to incorporate two large swales in the rear yard to control the water run-off away from the home and the new in ground swimming pool. We then used fill dirt around the pool area to bring it up to grade. We then placed a geo-textile weed barrier down and covered that over with 2 b sized river stone. The river stone adds to the concrete area surrounding the pool and makes more use full space. We then installed a new vinyl pool fence that was up to local pool codes. The vinyl fencing was purchased from our supplier Fences and More in Mifflintown and installed by us. We then placed dug out for three new retaining walls. Two retaining walls were built at the entrance to the pool in which we incorporated new steps up to the pool area. We then installed a paver walkway into the pool entrance area. There are a few more pictures of the end result at the end of this project. We used a 6" Rockwood straight faced retaining wall block, Granite Swirl in color. The caps and step treads were a matching 4" straight Rockwood Granite Swirl cap. The pavers were a Old Roman Classic Paver Granite blend in color and laid in a random pattern. We used a grey polymeric sand in the joints between the pavers to ensure the joints don't wash out. We then built one more wall using the same block and caps between the garage and the rear porch. This helped us bring the finish grade up to were it needed to be. In the area behind the wall we then placed a geo-textile fabric down and top coated that with river stone. This area made a real nice dog wash area with good drainage. The next thing we built was a small wall out of pressure treated timbers around the a/c unit to help us be able to bring the finish grade up to where it should have been. We then had topsoil dump trucked in. We spread the topsoil and used the rock away and loader on it to level and create a new level seed bed for our grass seed. We then seeded the yards with a Metro blend of grass. We then placed a erosion control blanket in the swale areas to help try to control the possible wash out areas in the event of a hard rain before the new grass gets established. The rest of the yard we spread straw on by hand due to the accessibility of the yard. We then had a tri-axle load of 2 A Modified stone hauled in and we placed and shaped that in the driveway. This was a descent sized job as you can tell by the pictures, with the end result almost being un-believable. |
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| Below are a few after pictures of the swimming pool entrance walls steps and paver entrance into the pool area. |
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| Below is a home located in Lewistown, Mifflin County, in which we along with the customer designed this retaining wall. This was one phase of the project at this home. We removed almost all the plants and bushes and cut in mulch beds. We then placed a geo-textile weed barrier down with hold down pins. We then planted new plants and bushes and re-mulched with a dyed black hardwood bark mulch. This wall is a Old Castle wall from Lowes. This wall added to the entrance into the home and made a great border/hold back for the mulch behind it. Very nice addition to the front look of the home. |
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| the right shows how the wall meets up to the house foundation. Very nice flow into the homes foundation. |
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| Below is a home located in Mifflin County, in which we along with the customer designed this retaining wall. This was another phase of the wall projects around the home. We added onto the existing wall we did in 2007. We started by removing all the large over grown bushes in the front of the home. We then hand dug out for the new retaining wall. Built the wall using Cottage Stone retaining wall block, Brandywine in color. We then fabricated the matching mini-caps and glued them onto the cottage stone retaining wall block using a hardscape adhesive. We then placed a geo-textile fabric down and planted new bushes and shrubs out front. We then mulched inside the wall using a dyed black hardwood mulch. We then removed an old brick entrance patio and replaced it with a new paver entrance. The last two pictures show the Hanson paver walkway, granite blend in color and laid in a random pattern. This project finished the wall in front of this customers home and with the new bushes and shrubs really adds to the beauty of the front of the home and makes the home look a lot larger in size. |
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| Below is a home located in South Hills, Mifflin County, in which we along with the customer designed this new retaining wall step, paver patio, landing area to get from their upper driveway to the rear entrance of their home. This project was really a work of art. The customer had existing block retaining walls and steps built from the 6" straight faced Brandywine retaining wall block. We used a 4" x 8" Hanson pavers Burnt Red in on site. The original wood ties were rotten and in need of replacing. This project required us to haul out more the old wooden structure. We replaced the straight angles walls with gentle flowing ones. The center of the retaining wall step, paver patio, landing area to get from their upper driveway to the rear entrance of their hardscape is a flower bed that we replanted bulbs in. The steps are 6" high. We then re-used the low voltage home. This project was really a work of art. The customer had existing block retaining walls and steps built lighting to help add lighting to the hardscape area. We then placed a geo-textile fabric down with hold down from the 6" straight faced Brandywine retaining wall block. We used a 4" x 8" Hanson pavers Burnt Red in pins. We then replanted the desired plants back into the area with new dwarf Alberta Spruces, some Red color for the landings and the patio area. We laid the pavers in a Herringbone pattern to match existing pavers Pygmy Barberry Bushes and Red Princess and Prince Holly bushes. This project really replaced an old rotten wooden structure with a new concrete one that will last for many years. It really was a fun project and the customers were great to work for and treated the crew to many lunches and even breakfast. Thank-you again. I have many more pictures available of the daily work being done. They are really neat pictures to see the many steps involved in building a hardscape of this magnitude. |
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| Below is a home located in Belltown, Mifflin County, in which we along with the customer designed this new Paver Hanson pavers Burnt Red in color and Hanson Granite blend 4" x 4" pavers for a border (soldier) course. We laid the pavers in a random pattern. We then filled the joints in with a grey polymeric sand. On the side entrance to the home we cut the existing concrete slab and brought river stone up against the new pavers to create a new border into the new lawn we had just done. Very nice project that will give the home a nice rear and side entrance for many years to come. |
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| This retaining wall is was added to help improve the stability of the bank where the driveway was added and to help give the side of the driveway bank a new clean look. The wall started where the customer stopped building his wall. We then ran the new wall off the old/existing wall around the driveway and up to the main road. We stepped the wall according to the grade of the yard. The retaining wall block and caps we used were manufactured by Old Castle with a chisel face and were purchased at Lowes. We built the wall and fabricated the matching caps and glued them on using a hardscape adhesive. We used a geo-grid cloth to help add strength to the wall due to the amount of water that runs off the main road and onto their driveway and off to the side were the new wall is. We ran drain pipe behind the wall and out from behind the wall using schedule forty pipe. We then back filled behind the wall with 2b limestone. We then used a geo-textile fabric on top of the 2B's and then top coated them with a mixed blend of river stone. Very nice wall that serves multiple purposes. |
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| designed these new retaining walls. The retaining wall blocks and matching mini-caps were manufactured by Rockwood. They are Cottage Stone and Granite swirl in color. The block and caps match an existing wall that we did in 2008. The walls we built here replace a old plastic border around the home and garage. We built the walls and fabricated new matching mini-caps and glued them onto the blocks using a hardscape adhesive. We then back filled them with 2B limestone. We then placed a geo-textile fabric down and top coated the area behind the wall with crushed red brick. We then moved the Flagpole from the front of the home to the side rear corner of the home and placed a new retaining wall with matching mini-caps around the new flagpole area. We then placed a new retaining wall with matching mini caps around an existing driveway light post at the entrance of the driveway. We then used fill from the excavation of the walls to fill in some low areas in the yard. We then hauled in screened topsoil and top coated the entire work area and some low areas. We then planted the work areas with Metro blend of grass seed with a addition of Rye grass due to the time of the year we did the job. Rye Grass is a cool season grass that will germinate in lower temperatures than blue grasses or fescues. We then Strawed the work areas. This was a very nice matching addition to the existing walls that really adds a clean border to the home, flagpole, and driveway entrance light post. |
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