Category: Uncategorized

Drainage is an issue most people don’t know a lot about. Even the most competent, conscientious property owners can often get a sudden, expensive surprise at the problems caused by drainage.

Most people don’t know they have a drainage problem until it hits them. Few people recognize the symptoms of a drainage situation in progress.

Perhaps the most difficult, and hardest to predict, problem is with new buildings. The building process often creates drainage problems by disturbing the soil and altering the movement of water in the topsoil and subsoil. The result is usually that a beautiful new home is suddenly at risk from moving foundations, land movement, and eroded supports.

If that sounds like everything your hip pocket never wants to know about, you’re right. These problems can be horrendously costly. The damage can be catastrophic, and may not even be covered by insurance. If it’s not, landowners can find themselves looking at six or seven figures literally going down the drain.

(Note: If you’re not sure about your cover, check. It will be worth it.)

Spotting drainage problems before they cause trouble

Fortunately, it is possible to find drainage problems before they turn in to monsters. Better still, there are some good, cheap, easy fixes for them to permanently solve the drainage issues.

The typical signs of drainage issues are:

• Gaps emerging between the soil and building faces – This is a true danger sign. Water is getting way too close to the building foundations. Do not waste a second getting this problem checked out. This is a big money problem if it’s allowed to continue.
• Doors not closing properly, seeming to be out of alignment – Believe it or not, this actually happens, and the doors eventually return to their original position after a while. It means a lot of water has suddenly shown up around that part of the building.
• Green algae – Green algae are some of the world’s oldest plants. They can find water anywhere on Earth, and they show up around water sources. If you’re noticing green patches, there’s water there, for sure.
• “Slices” cut out of soil on a slope after heavy rain – Flowing water can cut through sandy soils very easily. This particular problem also causes issues up and downstream from the direction of water flow. The support for the higher soil is removed, and becomes vulnerable to further movements, cascading the problem upwards to the residence.
• Driveway movements – If the soil around the driveway is getting too much water, the bedding will move. If you have a paved driveway, you may also notice gaps between the soils and driveway edges.

Getting the problems fixed

Most drainage problems can be fixed by pretty straightforward prevention measures. Putting in site drainage or construction of guttering in strategic places will prevent water from penetrating. Drains are very good managers of runoff and can be sited to divert water away from the premises and surrounds.

The bottom line – Don’t put off managing the problems. Get some help from a builder or landscaper. If you’re in New York and live around Westchester, talk to us. We can find and fix any drainage for you. Give us a call, we’ll be happy to help.

There’s nothing quite like that several million years worth of hard labor it feels like that you spend maintaining your lawn, is there? Then there are the mysteries of why that bald patch is ten times bigger and heading to the opposite coast, and why you’re suddenly seeing some sort of alien things growing happily in your lawn.

Then you get to play “What’s wrong with the lawn mower this week?” and other party games. If you’re really lucky, you can even watch your topsoil move next door and wonder what you’re going to do with the resulting mini Grand Canyon. You can also wonder why your insurance guy is suddenly smiling like that and real estate people suddenly don’t know who you are.

If you’re not a masochist, all this entertainment can get to be a bit too much. It really shouldn’t be a choice between having a lawn and having a life. Owning a lawn isn’t actually a crime. You shouldn’t be punished for it.

You should at least be able to use the lawn yourself, not just be its personal therapist. If maintaining your front yard is turning in to something that feels like weekend jail time, you really do need better options.

Lawn maintenance choices

The best way to manage a lawn is with regular maintenance. You don’t want, or need, the maintenance to turn in to just a different type of hard work, though. To create a low-maintenance lawn, you need to do a bit of planning.

The choices are:

• Plant sod – This is always a good option. You can repair weak spots and prevent spread of existing problems.
• Seeding – Good for many lawns, seeding revitalizes the lawn. The new lawn will takes over all available empty spaces, and avoid that “comb over”” effect of half-baked replanting. (Both sod and seeding are also good for preventing weed growth.)
• Regular fertilizing – This is a very simple approach to making sure the lawn is able to grow well. It’s not a hard job, but needs to be done properly
• Less mowing, at higher blade levels – Low blades can do incredible damage to lawns. A higher setting prevents bald areas. The grass should be about 2 inches long after mowing. This is a good size, and the grass has enough size to absorb sunlight for photosynthesis.
• Basic maintenance – Aeration of the soil, weeding, etc.
• Drainage fixes – Make sure the lawn drains properly to manage local site issues and prevent overgrowth and lawn damage.

The result of this work will be a lawn which can pretty much self-manage to a large extent.

Best option – Get professional help with your low-maintenance lawn

If you’re thinking that a low maintenance lawn sounds good but you’re not sure or keen about doing all the work yourself, you’re quite right. Lawn maintenance isn’t necessarily that simple, either. Some sites have their own special issues. The work has to be done properly.

Now the really good news – Get someone like us to do it all for you. We do this sort of work all the time in New York. We know the problems, and how to fix them, permanently. Give us a call, and let’s talk lawns.

Custom masonry is the top of the line in landscaping. This is classic landscaping material, and it’s also the basis of some of the most beautiful and most elegant designs in history since ancient times.

Custom masonry designs

Custom masonry designs are unique works in stone. The types of stone vary, but custom masonry design is the equivalent of driving a Ferrari in landscape design. Not everyone can do it, and not everyone can do it well. Working in stone is for professionals only.

The best custom masonry is a real work of inspired art, design, and construction. If you search some of the pictures of landscape design masonry online, be prepared to be awestruck. It’s hard to describe the sheer scale and beauty of some of these works.

Interestingly, custom masonry isn’t only for the One Percent people. Some of the famous places in our region of New York around Westchester include custom designer works. A lot of landowners and property managers prefer masonry for its sheer durability and fabulous appearance. Some of the old classic homes, and more than a few of the new homes, are turning to stone as a better option for design.

Stone is one of the very best construction materials, bar none. In design terms, it’s in a class of its own. In rocky upstate New York, stone fits in perfectly with the natural landscape. It also works with the landscape as a natural element. It’s very eco-friendly, and helps in many ways to protect and preserve the natural ecosystem. Trees in upstate environments grow around the stonework because they’re adapted to a rocky landscape.

Big stone retaining walls and hardscape features like formal gardens also benefit from the strength and durability of stone. Stone is a natural stabilizer, holding soil together. It’s often used as a foundation element for new gardens, including rockeries and other classic garden designs.

Working with stone – Choosing your custom design

When you’re looking at stone masonry, do your homework. Check out the very best designs. Take a look at the fantastic new architectural options, and explore the choices.

Above all – Be sure to check the materials. Natural stone offers a truly stunning range of choices of color, textures, and construction selections. Compare materials and see them as part of your design.

Be sure to consider the integration of your stonework with your other landscape features. Do you want stone walkways, beautiful pavers, and/or other features? How about special private entertainment areas with stone surrounds?

The range of design choices is literally limitless. Stonework is scalable, too. You can have a huge customized masonry design, with special features, or special custom masonry built in to an existing landscape.

Another consideration – Stone masonry is really zero maintenance. Some of the stonework in our area has been standing for centuries. This stonework is even a major property asset, a value-adding element, because people love it so much.

Some of our favorite design works are custom masonry. If you’re looking at custom stonework for your place, give us a call. We’ll be happy to discuss design, construction, and talk stone design with you.

Unilock™ is the top landscaping materials supplier in the United States. They’re the real top of the line in terms of quality, design values, and materials technology. If you check out their products, the first thing you notice is that they win any comparison with other products. You can see the quality for yourself.

Why landscape designers love Unilock™

The design side values of Unilock™ become more obvious when you see a few landscapes using their products. Even if you’re not a design connoisseur, you can see that these designs are pretty demanding. These designs can only be done well with top quality materials.

Landscape designers breathe a sigh of relief (well, we certainly do) when using Unilock™ pavers. The extremely high quality of these pavers, range of colors, textures and their meticulous manufacturing makes them 100% reliable for designers. This very high quality factor basically means that your landscape design takes wings.

There’s another reason for working with Unilock™ for designs. We know we can use Unilock™ products for any type of landscape design. We know they’re low maintenance, no-nonsense products with very long product lives. We know they will work any kind of environment, even our neurotic “guess which season it is” New York weather. We also know we’re providing good value for our clients using these products.

The questions you should ask your Unilock™ contractor

An authorized Unilock™ contractor deals direct with Unilock™. Your contractor can give you straight answers to all your questions about the Unilock™ product range, features, and design choices.

Here are a few questions for an authorized Unilock™ contractor:

• Can you get all the products in the Unilock™ range?
  The correct answer: Yes. Unilock™ contractors have full access to the entire product range.
• Can I see a 3D design of your Unilock™ products?
  The correct answer: Yes. Unilock™ contractors can give you a full 3D version of designs using Unilock™ proprietary software.
• Can you do Unilock™ walls and verticals for my design?
  The correct answer: Yes. Unilock™ contractors can construct a full spectrum of walls and verticals with the Unilock™ range.
• We want natural stone for our landscape design; does Unilock™ provide natural stone products?
  The correct answer: Unilock™ offers a big range of natural stone products. Unilock™ contractors can provide any of these products, and special order products, on request.
• We want our landscape to be constructed entirely of environmentally friendly products. Can you provide us with good eco-friendly pavers?
  The correct answer: Yes. Unilock™ products are designed and manufactured according to strict environmentally friendly guidelines.

Exploring the Unilock™ range and design choices When you talk to an authorized Unilock™ contractor, you can also explore your design options and see your ideas come to life. You’ll be fascinated, and pleased, by the extremely high quality Unilock™ design choices and their beautiful selection of materials.

If you’re in New York and looking at a major exterior upgrade or new property build, talk to us about Unilock™. We’ll be happy to help.

When you’re looking at your garden steps, you need to think about a few things that aren’t obvious. Steps are real problems solvers. Steps can deliver whole new opportunities for property improvement. They’re often the facilitators for great landscaping.

Steps basics – Choices and considerations

The core elements in designing stairs are:

• Types of stairs – Steps may be constructed of any good construction material, like stone, timber, tiles, metal frames, or built in to the soil as reinforced steps. Generally speaking, steps are constructed with the most functionally appropriate materials, although site design features may be added to the basic structures.
• Site issues – The need for steps, number of steps, elevations, angle of steps, and support foundations. Most steps are constructed much like buildings, with frames and supports designed to ensure the stairs are firmly based.
• Design considerations – The designer look element of steps is based on a combination of coordination with existing designs and meeting site access requirements. If you’ve ever seen the Hollywood style fantastic homes, you’ll notice the very demanding combinations of step designs with surrounding architecture and landscaping.
• Architectural landscaping considerations – In landscaping, steps are very practical, simple options for access and creating useful features. Steps for hardscape features also help to improve site safety in high traffic areas. They’re particularly useful for managing exterior design features and house access. You can even use them to manage security.

Choosing your steps

A word of advice before we discuss your choices of steps, and how to choose them – Take your time to figure out exactly what you want. As you can see from the Steps Basics section, there’s a lot to think about.

The best way to choose your steps is to consider a range of possible choices:

• Start with a short list of designs and materials, like stone steps or tiles.
• Visualize how you want the steps to work in your environment.
• Do you need additional access, like a walkway, or path?
• Do you want landscaped plantings around the steps?
• Are you considering additional landscaping features, like a gazebo, entertainment area, or similar new areas which require access?
• Would you like a particular style of steps, with railings, designer ironwork, masonry, or other features?
• Do you need to consider site security?

This is your shopping list to help you decide what you want. It’s also useful to compare your choices, and see which steps best deliver the features you want. There’s no hurry with this process. You’re designing your space, your way, so take your time. Explore your choices, and settle for the very best. When you’re happy with your design choices, talk to the experts. This part of the process is very useful. You can talk about practical issues, materials, and costs, with a good knowledge base of your own to work with.

Landwork Constructions Inc. constructs all types of steps in the fabulous Westchester, Dutchess and Putnam counties region of New York. If you’re looking for steps for your property in New York, we’ll be happy to help.

Beautiful lawns done right

One of the most common issues for landowners looking at landscaping for a new property or thinking of redeveloping an existing property is “Where do I start?” The other natural question is “What will I achieve by landscaping?” If you’ve got a big property, these are natural questions.

If you have a big property which is basically a wasteland, you may also be thinking that you don’t want to enter in to any major commitments which might be expensive or result in a high-maintenance land management scenario.

The good news for landowners is that modern landscaping is a problem solver on multiple levels. Landscape design and construction is very much about creating useful land management values, as well as creating a beautiful living space.

Landscaping problem solving example

Best practice landscaping, in fact, is all about problem prevention and value-adding.

Let’s use a practical example:

The problem

A person owns a large property which has barren areas, and some steep elevated areas. The natural environment is a bit run down. The soil is sandy, not great for a lawn, or garden without some work. There’s a virtual jungle of weeds nearby.

There’s also one area which turns in to a very wet, saturated place in heavy rain and during the thaw because it’s right in the middle of natural drainage. It’s also right next to the house (naturally – where else would it be?) and could compromise the foundations and the driveway, which is a bit of a mess.

This is a pretty common range of site issues. The real problem is that the property doesn’t look good, the drainage is a risk, and the barren patches are real eyesores. These things do nothing for the value of the property, and can be expensive seasonal nuisances. The steep areas don’t help site access, either.

The landscaping solution

The landscaping design integrates solutions with design:

The steep elevations are designed to create easy access with walkways and stairs. They’re also planted appropriately with good hardy plants for design features and color.

The natural environment is restocked with the appropriate plants for the region, which can self manage and act as good wind proofing and privacy screens. The natural plants outperform the weeds, too.

The barren areas are completely renovated with good soil preparation and a beautiful lawn area is created. This also deals with weeds and aesthetic value-adding. The lawn area is then planted with roses and other straightforward, tough but very dependable plants which only need seasonal work.

The wet area has proper drainage installed and is scaped with good wet area plants to provide a nice garden feature. The area around the house is effectively water proofed, managing risk to the building. (This is also a good opportunity for managing the driveway, creating a proper safe bed for it, and ensuring it’s 100% stable and won’t break up.)

Result – The property looks great, maintenance is minimal, and some major problems are permanently solved. This type of landscape construction can also include a range of other amenities and exterior features like patios, outdoor entertainment areas, and much more.

If you’d like some help with your landscape design issues in New York, talk to us. We can help you with any site problems and create a great landscape for you.

Planting Grass This Year? Why Not Consider Installing Sod?

If you’re in the process of planting grass this year, you may be working with a lawn which needs more than just reseeding. Most lawns need to be re-turfed at some point.

The lawn issues, explained.

There’s a series of possible issues which you may need to address. This is the usual range of reasons your lawn may have developed gaps and bald patches.

Grass root systems can become dysfunctional. Soil impaction and heavy traffic usage can break up the root systems which hold the lawn together. The root systems “unravel”, creating gaps. The lawn can’t regrow itself because the soil is too hard, physically preventing it from growing.

Local climate plays a role in lawn deterioration. A tough winter and severe wind chill or a harsh summer can dry out areas of the lawn, particularly the most exposed areas. The lawn, naturally, stops growing in these hostile areas. Again, the root system is affected. Heat dries out the roots, and cold kills them.

Terrain also contributes to lawn problems. A sloping area may experience runoff issues. Water cuts in to the soil, exposing the roots, which dry out.

Unintentional over-mowing can do a lot of damage, particularly if the blades are set too low. It’s possible to expose root systems by mowing, particularly in summer, and the damage can be severe to the point where replanting is unavoidable.

Wet zones and too much water, ironically, can also kill lawns very effectively. Water can remove nutrients from the soil by simply washing them away. The lawn basically starves.

Soil quality is the other, usually very difficult, problem for lawns. A good basic soil will eventually run down unless well maintained. The soil loses nutrients over time unless replenished, and worse, loses the biochemistry which makes nutrients available to the lawn. Sandy soils and clay are the usual suspects.

Planting sod – The all-round option for a beautiful new lawn

Planting sod is a great option to revive or replace a lawn. The process of planting sod includes directly managing all the problems of the lawn.

Sod is planted systematically:

• A good bed is created for the sod prior to planting with sufficient depth for the grass roots.
• Good soil quality is ensured, and top quality soil may be added to the site prior to planting.
• The appropriate choice of grass type is made.
• Each roll of sod is carefully laid in strips.
• No gaps are permitted in the newly laid sod to avoid the exposure problems described above.
• After planting, the sod is thoroughly watered in and bonded to the soil.

Landscapers also check out any site issues like drainage and exposure, identifying problem areas. In some cases, they may suggest wind protection or canopy cover to address overexposure, or some alternative form of protection.

We provide a full range of turfing services in New York. If you’d like to talk to us about your lawn needs, we’ll be happy to assist.

Call us or contact us online.

When you’re thinking about upgrading or remodeling exteriors, the real design issues are likely to equate to a full makeover. In many cases, you may wish to add space, or create outdoor amenities. Patios and walkways are obvious exterior design considerations.

Patios

Patios are the unsung heroes of space management. They can make great safe enclosed outdoor play areas, and double as outdoor entertainment space. They can become excellent personal spaces, too, perfect for healthy relaxation and as healthy work environments.

The other big architectural asset of patios is that they can be truly excellent choices for exterior design. Modern patios have become real design features in some of America’s most chic and elegant homes. Whether spacious and elegant or small and private, patios offer a range of architectural choices for lifestyle and property enhancement.

Patios have a range of functional values:

• A patio design can be matched to any type of design from classical European to ultra-modern.
• Patio construction creates additional space and amenities for existing rooms.
• Patios are adaptable to almost any purpose, from large scale entertainment to family space.
• Patios add real property value.
• Patios are very good design assets, helping augment exterior designs and surrounds designs.
• Patios are a very cost-effective way of managing good access to premises while maintaining exterior design style.

Walkways

Walkways are the preferred design choice for architects for a range of practical as well as aesthetic reasons. Modern walkway design is as much a part of exterior design as the physical layout of the main house itself. Structurally, a walkway acts as a good seal around the access points of the house.

These high traffic areas, if unpaved, can be problems as the soil becomes impacted, causing drainage issues, and in some cases expose the foundations, creating vulnerabilities. An unpaved area around the home can also become a maintenance issue, promoting weed growth. These areas can become untidy and unsightly.

From a purely design perspective, walkways offer a lot of choices:

• Tiled walkways with matching color schemes as part of an overall design.
• Walkways as part of landscaping environments in gardens to reduce wear and tear on the garden spaces.
• Walkways provide useful secure access for visitors.
• Walkways can be landscaped to provide amenities for site access, particularly on slopes and difficult terrain.
• Walkways can be used to augment rockeries, pools, and other hardscape features.
• Walkways can be good problem solvers for managing movement around commercial and residential sites, improving access for people and materials.
• Walkways can be designed as part of a security layout.

Combining patios and walkways

Just about every building has some need for exterior features which are functional as well as design-friendly. Patios and walkways are often combined to provide high value design in conjunction with access choices.

We use top quality materials to create designer patios and walkways. Our low-maintenance exterior landscaping services integrate with home and commercial building designs to deliver a superior design look made to measure with site needs.

If you’re looking for patio and walkway design ideas in New York, contact us. We can create exactly what you want, the way you want it.