100 Tons & Counting

We have moved nearly one hundred tons of materials to one job site in the last two weeks, that's a lot even for us. Boulders up to 1.75 ton are being swung into place as a one row 3 foot tall retaining wall at the lakeside. Thirty ton of rock comprise the natural glacial stone wall that is free stacked in front of the existing concrete seawall. What a dramatic transformation in a fairly short time period, the bones of the landscape plan are being carefully put into place as the plan begins to come together.

It is difficult for most people to imagine what their landscape blueprint is really going to look like when installed. The ideas might sound good, the drawing appears professional but to actually be able to visualize in space at grade is a concept that alludes those not familiar with the genre. But there comes a time when the design elements begin to speak, shouting their form and function making it all so easy for everyone to see. That is one of the exciting times of installation and when "awesome," is the word of the day, you just might think to yourself that we're starting to get someplace.



Unlike HGTV our projects can not be accomplished in a thirty minute show or the generous two days some HG shows allow. We will be on this installation for several weeks with the hard scape taking nearly a month. We do not intend on finishing the entire lot this season. A new garage may be built in spring hopefully we will be a part of that project.

The large boulders were culled from various gravel pits in our area and a local excavator on Clear Lake, we try to handle them gently as despite their hardness and girth they scratch and split easily. The steps are Arkansas natural stone which we custom cut using a concrete saw, Bill tries to get one step from each stone by cutting them in pairs making the two pieces from the same stone. This also helps to maintain height consistency. The cracks in the steps will be filled with plant material, mosses and gator dust to prevent any wash outs.



Generally we start at the bottom and work our way up in this case we began in the lake building a glacial stone seawall which is the preferred seawall of the DNR (Department of Natural Resources). DNR governs land and water use in Indiana. The rocks we used in this seawall were as large as allowable as we anticipate winter ice will break up and slam that shoreline in early spring taking rocks and soils. The rock wall will absorb much of the impact protecting the pavers and landscape beds, it might be moved but it can always be stacked again.