Just Like HGTV

I hired a new guy, he started Monday, he is the son of a longtime girlfriend. He got a rough initiation as we set new record high temperatures last week, topping out at 98 degrees mid week. The 100% humidity had em' dropping like flies, two employees called in during the week as they were experiencing heavy cramping, one of the signs of heat stroke and heat exhaustion. Water, vitamins and my favorite bananas will keep you out of trouble when the hot weather hits.

Our accomplishments last week were pretty close to our goals so it was a good week. Looks like we will be able to get back to the log cabin, with a thoughts that we will finish that next week. In addition Bills next project will be a water feature that has paver work too.

The permeable paver driveway, walk and patio on Lake Gage was wrapped up Wednesday and on Thursday we hit it with a big crew completing the landscape installation and clean up in one day. I think the Belgard, Subterra paver was the perfect choice and the Grey Mist color ideal. The idea behind permeable pavers is to allow rapid water absorption through the gaps between the pavers and the holes in the bottom of the pavers reducing the need for retention ponds on large commercial applications. For residental applications the pavers help homeowners restricted by hardscape to greenscape ratios extend their square foot ratio as the pavers count only 50% as much as concrete poured surfaces.

Here in Steuben County, Indiana we have a building code which states your hardscape (this includes the footprint of your house, driveway, walks, retaining walls, pavers, etc.,) can only be 50% of your total lot square footage, we call it the 50/50 rule. With the square footage of our customers on Lake Gage they would not have even been allowed to pour a concrete driveway. The permeable pavers changed all that and they got the drive, a walk and the patio.

This lot was very small. The landscaping is simple yet elegant and compatible with the young homeowners desire not to spend their time at the lake taking care of the yard. We sodded the lakeside yard and seeded the rest. We used Futura Blanket (the green stuff in the picture) instead of straw to hold the seed fearing the frequently windy location would have straw in Lake Gage in no time. Futura is used mostly on slopes but can but substituted for straw and will pop a lawn quickly as it holds moisture and hear extremely well.