Old-World Charm with New-World Techniques

By William K. Akehurst, Akehurst Landscape Service

Taking Akehurst Landscape Service a total of 100 hours to complete, this Maryland project was the recipient of a special concrete technique to provide a well-worn look with poured concrete simplicity.

For this Maryland driveway/walkway project, landscape contractor Akehurst Landscape Service used a method of creating stone from concrete to solve a myriad of challenges, while providing the homeowner with a new driveway, walkway and two of retaining walls.

According to the contractor, the process they used a new process of creating durable hardscapes from solid monolithic concrete, which makes for structures stronger and more durable than real stone and mortar.

Not only did the contractor sculpt the driveway from concrete, but also for the project's boulders, stone walls, steps and brick/block risers. Coloration and sealing was applied after the sculpting.

The Project

During the design process, the company determined that the original steps, porch stoop and related walkways had to be replaced. Also on the project's to-do list included replacing a prior retaining wall, which was originally constructed of manufactured wall block. Workers demolished the existing concrete structures, and then excavated the footings for the walls, reinforcing them with rebar.

They installed drainage pipes behind and through the walls. Like the rest of the project, they poured in formed concrete and then sculpted it, and then finally added coloring. Finally, they added mulch to the planting bed areas.

The Step Walkway

Workers replaced the original steps with flagstone with a brick block riser face. All Joints were to simulate a mortared finish. They added granite boulders as a transition of grades from each terraced wall.

 


The first order of business was to remove all the existing plants in the work area. It took two men, four hours to demo the existing stoop, steps and landings using an electric hammer, and a mini excavator.

The designer used Sketchup and Photoshop to render the illustration for the client's sign-off. But Akehurst warned, ''Rendering does help, but one must work smart as we tend to get carried away and can spend more time than its worth. I try to keep rendering to 20 minutes max.''

The Final Look

The specialty product, process and technique allowed the contractor to create a time-worn and naturally-distressed look, enhancing the natural appeal of the project. Workers poured the concrete, and then they carved and textured it to look like real rock. The finish look was to be that of boulder sized stacked blue/grey PA Flagstone, with the brick/block to complement the existing coloration of the foundation brick.

Challenges

Prior to the contractor's part of the job, a plumber had previously dug out to fix a broken water line. During the repair process, it was determined that the existing steps and walkway needed replacement. With the fresh dug soils, compaction was required. However, using the solid monolithic concrete, bridging over the pipe work area gave greater satisfaction to the client, knowing that other stacked walls could potentially fail if compaction was not at or near 100%. Fear that such compaction could cause issue with the newly replaced pipe further resulted in selecting this solid concrete process.

Workers pulled off the wood forms within five minutes of the pour, as they stacked, cut and sculpted the concrete to form the steps and brick work. The crew was concerned about getting the concrete to form properly on the initial pour, but soon found the forms were not needed. The concrete pour of the stoop, steps and lower wall were completed in 40 hours.

For the retaining walls, workers used a 24-inch footer with rebar reinforcement, backfilled with 12-inch gravel, fabric and drainage pipes. They used a high-strength concrete blend with an additive for greater stability. The installation crew used more than 16 cubic yards of concrete mix. It took workers 50 hours to complete the concrete construction and sculpting. The homeowners planted all the softscape themselves.

And The Award Goes To . . .

The Lee Project received the ''Craftsmanship Distinction Award'' from the Landscape Contractors Association (LCA).