Tons of Fun

We are back working at the log cabin on five acres where we worked last year. I hired three new people this week and the open acreage is excellent training ground to learn equipment operation and learn a variety of new skills. As I have often said we love the repeat customers and work just as happily on a three year plan as we do on a full blown installation. It is fun to watch the hardscape fill in and to help the client visualize their dreams.

One of this years projects is a vegetable garden since the clients are now living there full time and will be able to benefit from the fresh produce. I patterned the garden from my own which is circular with a paver walk dissecting it, the shape and walk location make it easier to maintain with excellent reach from the walk.

To build this garden we excavated down 6" in a 22' diameter and leveled the soil. Next we built the sidewalk frame from 2x12"x12' treated lumber and fed a 3" corrugated tile into the center for power to the fountain which will be the center feature. We brought in Uncle Floyd's soil blend and tilled in an additional 60 bags of cow manure. The walk was filled partially with soil then a layer of weed barrier and finished with 5" of crushed granite that was compacted. I can't wait to sample the tomatoes from this patch of heaven.

We are building a sidewalk that connects the barn car park, a set of steps leading from the garage and the potting shed, a 24' diameter seating ring with a interior 8' fire pit will provide a welcome spot for warmth on chilly fall nights. Again we excavated 6" down, fine tuned the edges by hand, laid down weed barrier, installed 3" of crushed granite, lined the edges with 8-10" glacial stone collected on site then added another 3" of granite before compacting the entire area.

To complete the fire pit we will mortar hand fit stone into the larger gaps of the boulders and install a 8' steel fire ring. Eventually benches will be built to complete the seating area. A great place for a marshmallow roast or burning large limbs and debris.

Another large project at this site is lining all the driveway areas with custom made tan block, the block functions to separate the stone driveway from the lawn providing a neat, crisp edge. The block is manufactured by Slater Concrete in Kendallville, IN, Jeff Slater makes all types of block in his small family run factory, he is also our distributor for Paverlock. These block are 8x8x16" and weigh 72# each, there is approximately 1750 linear feet of block to lay for a total of 50 ton or over 98,500 pounds. The young new guy I hired this week is really sleeping well at night since he is humping a lot of the block.

This block is set on a six inch limestone base that is compacted with soil stabilization fabric underneath. I am hope I bid this one right because it is a very labor intensive task and rather difficult to work with the sloping lay of land.