Saturday, July 31, 2010

Pool Cabana

Not complete just yet, but here we see the timber frame assembling for a Cabana. This article is a continuation of my recent one: Pool Coping

When I was called in to this project back in February of this year, the home owners already had a landscape design drawn by another designer for their yard. They expressed to me that they were not too crazy about the design as they felt something did not fit right...
I had to admit that my first reaction when I saw the design was...why is there a big Cabana planned to be positioned right in the middle of the yard...blocking the view of the forest behind it and right over top of a group of 30 foot tall trees?

The trees were a nice feel to the yard and I wondered why they would be slated for removal?
I asked that question to the home owners and they expressed that they loved the trees on their property...all of them! That said it all...this is why they were not crazy about the design plan they had....

So I pushed aside the landscape plan they had...and said lets start fresh! We work around the trees to preserve them for you to enjoy and give you everything else you wanted in the yard!

The end result is the pictures above...I call it my wrap around Cabana! I am sure those trees thank me for my design every time I visit the yard! When the Architect came to visit the site to get an understanding of my layout...he smiled and loved the idea of the structure being able to work around the existing trees and having wide open views all around the yard!

I smile every time I think that those trees in the middle of the yard will grow to a big healthy stand of mature Ash trees in the years to come...

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Pool Coping

Well... it is a hot summer in the Toronto area...and the landscape work is in full, busy swing! My blog posts have somewhat slowed due to being very busy these days with many clients!

I thought I would throw in an update on my last post about Owensound Ledgerock. After my tour of the facility, and the ordering of materials, the project is finally coming together! The above picture displays a close look at the Eramosa Bush-hammered coping ordered for the job.

This picture shows the Stone Mason at his craft...carefully inspecting his mortar joints and checking his level to make things look good! The important thing when using a coping like this... the edges are machine-cut and all the pieces are gauged to almost exact thickness....so you want to make sure your lines are straight and levels are equal!

If care is not put into those two important details...it will show up in the final product and you will notice that something is out of square or not level. A less uniform type of pool coping with varying edges and thickness will be more forgiving if a mason is not too careful during the installation process.

I always demand high-quality stone work when I refer a job to a Stone Mason...the man for this job in particular put the care needed in this install to make this yard look stunning! The project is almost complete...what's next is a couple of stages, one is to build a Cabana suited for a king! ...the other is to complete the planting to make all the stonework...work!!!