Facelift After 40 Years

The task currently on my pallet is a job on Clear Lake, not that I am running it because my 80+ year old customer is undoubtedly in charge. With a masters degree in art she has specific ideas about form, shape, color and space. The old railroad tie walls that were torn out were from the 70's as were the majority of the junipers that flanked the top of the walls.
Patty first began discussing removing the ties a couple of years ago as the rot and failure were starting to become unsafe, slippery and ant infested but a slip this spring convinced her this was the year to take action. By waiting until fall she was able to enjoy the lake cottage with her family this year and not endure the construction. Plus she is able to spend more time on the project site without worrying about entertaining family and friends.



We were busy enough this fall to subcontract the removal of the old railroad ties to M & C Trenching, with their heavy but maneuverable equipment they made short work of the demolition. The ties ended up at our property and we burned them. M & C also dug out the foundation for repairs, did a road bore to assist the electrician in taking the power lines underground, reworked drainage and installed and compacted the first layers of limestone for our patio. In addition they did some of the excavation for our stone wall and pavers.

Bill, Ryan and Bruce Pardue have been working the job for two weeks now and the wall is nearly complete, the paver stoop well under way and the base for much of the patio is installed. Patty requested 6 to 6.6" snap cut steps five feet wide as her staircase to the main entrance on her lake home. Because she requested such a low rise the custom steps are behind in production and are slowing down our project, we are hopeful they will arrive early this week and relieve our bottleneck.

Part of the project includes a built in bench seat, paver walks, snap cut stairs and of course the glacial stone retaining wall. In the spring landscaping will add color and texture to complete the fresh new look Patty desires. This week a concrete staircase will be poured, we will face the cement with pavers and glacial stone.

1859 A Heritage House

Back in 2004 in pursuit of the almighty dollar I bought a 3000 square foot house in Orland, IN that was built in 1859. The intention was to flip it, working on it over the winter with my partners, maybe make a few bucks we had bought a house the year before and flipped it at a modest profit. Seven years later we still own it and are trying once again to sell it.



The house has a rich history. It was built by Governor Luce of Michigan (3 miles N) for his daughter to live in, the family had a dry goods store and other businesses in Orland. The grand old two story has a Michigan basement (part dirt/half finished), a maids staircase, a lovely foyer, marble fireplace and stellar mill work. We are the third "family" to own the home since several generations of the previous owners lived there.


We believe that the home may have been part of the underground railroad that was prolific in Orland during the civil war. The underground railroad provided assistance to southern, black slaves seeking freedom via Orland into Canada. A recent article in our local newspaper elaborates on this well known connection (kpcnews.com Orland touring through history Oct.19, 2011) .



The reason we think our home was involved with the UG is because of what we found under the kitchen floor. When we renovated we removed all the paint, paper and flooring in all the rooms, it was a daunting task. After several layers in the downstairs kitchen we reached a trapdoor with a hollowed out earthen nest large enough to accommodate two or three people. It was precisely cut into the floorboards and you could see the outline of floor rug that once hid the opening in the pine floor.

Any of you cats out there following this blog are welcome to my Open House this Saturday and Sunday from 1-5 pm, in Orland, IN and if you are in the market for a house bring your checkbook and $ 98,000.00. If you need a place to rent the upstairs apartment is furnished and waiting (in photo's), it is a duplex, you can live in one unit (I pick the up) and rent the other.


RIP: Dee Gordan, you were a good woman & will be missed always.

Michael Sean Allman and Marble Garden

The eldest son of legendary rocker Gregg Allman made a surprise appearance at a concert I attended Saturday night at The State Theatre in Kalamazoo, MI. He took the stage on the third song with the sparse crowd cheering his instantly recognizable looks and voice singing two Allman Brothers songs and an original composition.



Michael performed with Marble Garden a warm up band for the headliner Tinsley Ellis. Tinsley is a well known blues guitar player from Atlanta, GA who fingers some hot licks on his old solid body guitar. He is well known in the southern blues circuit and even plays an occasional gig at our local blues bar in Angola, Skips Party Place.

It is always nice to see live performances and a special guest makes it even more fun. Of course going to Kzoo and The State is a treat, the old theatre is very art deco with a high rotunda, classic statuary and intricate painting and molding. With the stadium seating we were able to sit front row balcony and walk down to the dance floor to see Tinsley's last few songs.

Talking Turkey

One of our long term customers is building a new home after tearing down the small, old cottage that existed on the lot. The homeowner thought the weeping crab that was on the lot would look good on the lot line between another property he owned. So we needed to move it before construction on the new home started. Normally, with a tree that size (over five inch caliper) we would hire a tree spade to move it but due to the transplant location a spade would have been unable to get into the site.

The new location was on the lot line between two houses, the tree was to heavy to move by hand and was impossible to lift manually so we used our tractor. In addition we needed to remove a section of the white picket fence to make some room. We hope the tree lives we wanted to wait until the tree lost it's leaves but construction waits for no one.

Next door to the tree we transplanted is a house we landscaped a few years ago. The house was newly constructed and we installed full landscaping; trees, shrubs, lawn and pavers. The home owners have kept everything well manicured paying special attention to keeping things trimmed and neat. The job looks great and is a testament to a well planned landscape design.




Snap cut stair treads are all the
rage because of their durability, flexibility and their one full step at a time ease of installation. They require careful handling at 500 to 600 pounds each you can easily lose a finger if you not vigilant. This staircase was retrofitted into a glacial stone wall we built several years ago. The ten steps now provide access to a back lot at the lake.

The green shrubs in the photo on each end are fern leaf buckthorns and these are two fine examples. A Big Cis plum is sandwiched in the middle. It has taken a while for these plants to develop but they were well worth the wait.

This paver walk was installed by Matt, Gary and Bill, it is on Clear Lake, they only way to reach the site was to go up and down the stairs. Young Matt made many trips hauling out 5 gallon buckets of broken up concrete that was the old sidewalk. Fortunately the dirt they removed could be used on site but all the limestone (2.75 ton), sand (.5 ton) and three skids of pavers were brought down the stairs. It is no wonder that Matt has lost nearly 20 pounds since starting work, most of the employees fatten up a bit over winter and quickly lose 15 0r 20 pounds in the first couple of months working.

Picture Perfect Pavers

There are many reasons to choose pavers over cement when installing sidewalks, driveways and patios. Besides the outrageous variety of styles, colors and manufacturers pavers are 4 times stronger than concrete and made in a controlled environment. Pavers have made huge improvements over the years and have been popular for hundreds of years. After all what is all this fancy work with concrete but an attempt to imitate pavers.


In addition to the above benefits pavers can be renovated unlike that hard and crumbling concrete that must be jack hammered out and poured again after it cracks. And we all know the old adage, if it isn't cracked it isn't concrete or there are two types of concrete; cracked and waiting to crack.



The paver industry has always been about innovation and developing technology that benefits the end consumer making pavers more customer friendly and eco-friendly. They are working to make pavers as durable as those original pavers still lining the streets of Europe after hundreds of years.




Using these new technologies we are able to rejuvenate pavers that we installed years ago making them all shiny and new looking again. We start by power washing which is often very time consuming to get the pavers and joints as clean as when they first were installed. Then
polymer sand (joint stabilizer) is swept into the joints, next it is vibrated with a plate compactor, given a final sweep, a light blowing with air and then the sand is gradually whetted until it forms a hard, grout like seal. After 24 hours a sealer can then be applied.



The sealer will help retard plant growth, seal out ants and weeds and allow for quicker and easier clean up. Sealers are available in a variety of finishes from a slight satin sheen to a gloss product that gives the pavers the "wet look" all the time.






The process takes a bit of time but is nothing compared to the cost of replacing concrete or the initial paver installation.

Pavers are a beautiful thing.

Life's A Beach

Last year we built the sea wall shown in this video for a client on Lake James. The swim area near the pier has a lot of weed growth and is very mucky. We added several ton of pea gravel which was walked into the muck to help tighten up the muck.

The DNR (Department of Natural Resources) required that we obtain a permit to complete the work. For now muck and weeds are at bay and mother earth is firmer under foot.

Getting Started Cottage Style

Laying the bones of a lakeside cottage garden was on the schedule this week. Jenny and Tom recently purchased a sweet lake home and are taking their personalization outside now. They removed two big old dwarf Alberta spruce to their back lot while we transplanted the rose of sharon road side. This cottage had minimal existing landscaping and Jenny and Tom want to create a lovely English style garden, heavy on flowers and eventually stuffing the beds.

The sandy, gravelly soil conditions were not beneficial for growing but make for great drainage. After mechanically desodding the beds we tilled the original soil then added 6" of organic soil which we again tilled. The focal point of the front bed is the Japanese maple, over thirty five perennials will give this bed a quick jump next spring. Victoria blue salvia, a few cosmos, half dozen cleome and bing, bang, boom you've got a full, healthy bed.

The west side keeps our low maintenance, colorful theme going with five, pink knock out roses and a boomerang lilac (blooms all season). The Ivory Silk Lilac tree is the anchor for the southwest lakeside corner planting which Jenny and Tom will complete at their leisure. They have already planted the east side so we went ahead and mulched that as well.

Tom will be installing a white picket fence with an arbor and gate parallel to the road. That will really add to the cottage charm and roadside appeal. Down the road more lawn will come out and beds will eventually be developed along the fence.

The next project on my drawing board is this single story residence in Fort Wayne, IN. We seldom go to the Fort for work but we do have many suppliers located there, 45 odd miles to our south. The house belongs to the mother of a gentlemen whom we did work for many years ago. When we worked on his house we got along famously and have maintained a cordial if distant relationship. We had dinner together in Fort Wayne after visiting at mom's house at a place called Naked Chopsticks, great food, wonderful company and stellar conversation.

A good moment in life.

Mom's house has some large junipers which give it a dated appearance and has generally gotten a bit out of hand in a few of the beds. It should not be to difficult to bring a fresh look to the landscaping, mom's only request; a pink, flowering dogwood.

The Home Stretch

Mid September and we are already expecting a frost on Friday but the cooler temperatures are welcomed by the crew. We are on the back third of the track for our season with work steady and workers looking forward to the winter break. Fall clean up is just around the corner the leaves are showing a hint of color and the nuts are pounding our roof when the wind rocks the trees. As I walk in our yard I find piles of discarded nut shells that the squirrels drop from high up in the trees. They sit for long periods in one location as they husk their favorite treats.

Bruce is wrapping up the Allen Block on Lake James. The installation of the snap cut staircase is nearly complete, it needs cleaned and then the cracks filled with Gator Dust. Between the two sets of steps a flagstone walk has just been started. The lawn installation will be a bit delayed as we wait for the irrigation to get started.

Two new jobs will begin soon. One new construction that will likely not get completed this year. As you see from the photo's it is on a fairly steep hill. The job will contain minimal landscaping, paver patios and possibly a paver driveway.





As a second home low maintenance is a priority.

One of our long term customers on Clear Lake has decided she is ready for a complete renovation of her roadside landscaping. Getting rid of outdated railroad ties, faded concrete and old junipers will really change this house. We will be installing pavers and free standing, stacked, glacial stone walls. This motif will match the stone walls that are already existing and go well with the plethora of stone walls around Clear Lake.

The Koi were photographed at Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford, IL. My little fishes at home never get this big as predators abound in our little ecosystem, frogs, snakes and birds eat them before they ever get to the show off stage of Koi.

Chicago Botanic Garden