Landscape Architect Articles

The Go-To Guys08-03-16 | Feature

The Go-To Guys

Clark's Pools of New Castle, Del., was contracted to build a pool in the expansive backyard of this home in the hills of southeastern Pennsylvania and they called in Evergreen Hardscaping to take care of the surrounding features. Evergreen, of Wilmington, Del., installed the retaining wall necessitated by the excavation, as well as the pool coping, decking, patio, stairs, outdoor kitchen, fence and pergolas.

Tennessee flagstone was selected for the pool coping; travertine for the decking. Because of the township's impervious surface restrictions, the amount of decking in the original design had to be reduced so instead of encircling the pool, its back edge was planted with cherry laurels, gold thread cypress and more.

Though the pool contractor did most of the excavation, Evergreen used its own skid steer to dig the trenches for the wall's footings, which consisted of rebar reinforced concrete 36" deep and 24" wide. The rebar was tied into the 8" hollow block CMUs filled with mortar that were used to build up the wall. The wall's face, as well as the risers on the stairs that help facilitate the 30' difference in elevation from the house to the pool deck, are faced with split Fenoff fieldstone. The caps and the stair treads are Tennessee flagstone.

Concrete footings were also built for the outdoor kitchen counters to sit on. "Crusher run" – 3/4" modified gravel with screenings mixed in – at up to a 6" depth provided the base for the kitchen floor of travertine. Instead of solid surface countertops, Tennessee flagstone was selected to match the pool coping. The decorative mahogany pergola was constructed by the landscape crew. Its 6" x 6" posts are anchored to pier footings – 10" x 10" x 3'-deep holes filled with concrete. The homeowners sourced all of the appliances.

Nestled in the rolling hills of Landenberg, Pennsylvania, the two acre property of Mike & Lynn Zbranak's residence was in need of amenities. A swimming pool with the usual accompaniments was on the top of their list.

Clark's Pools was contracted to build the pool and they in turn turned to a trusted partner for the accompaniments: Evergreen Hardscaping.

In fact, subcontracting for pool builders forms a large part of the landscape company's history. Evergreen owner Scott Berry began in landscaping while attending the University of Delaware, which ultimately presented him a degree in biology but not before he was already heading up a landscape company's commercial maintenance operations.

After college he decided, with Leonard Leslie, to start their own business called B&L Landscaping. The company concentrated on lawn care but every so often they built a retaining wall or a patio for a customer or a friend. "As it started to evolve, certain opportunities started to present themselves," recalls Berry.

Those included being called in by pool companies to install decking and coping. Berry realized that there was a strong market for that and he and his business partner decided to, over the course of a couple of years, disinvest themselves of their maintenance equipment and accounts.

"After six or seven years (in maintenance), we got completely out of the lawn care end of it," Berry says. "We sold everything and just focused all our growth on hardscaping."

From that, Evergreen Hardscaping was born. Soon the company was working for eight different pool companies, keeping 23 installers busy on a daily basis. Berry credits the ICPI, NCMA and hardscape product manufacturers, as well as on-the-job training, as sources for his hardscape installation skills.

The source for this project, Clark's Pools, is based in New Castle, Delaware. When they were contacted, the backyard was pretty much unadorned, and presented some challenges.

The spa's exposed wall and the pool's raised edge were also faced with split Fenoff fieldstone.

The material for the face of the wall and the risers are not veneer, they are building stones with 4" to 6" profiles. Because of their weight, no more than two vertical feet could be built per day so that the mortar had time to set. The first course of stone sits on the wall's footing.

"The pool and outdoor living space is situated approximately 30 feet below the house and surrounding yard," states Berry. "Not only did the installation require a large amount of steps to lead from the current grade down to the newly excavated pool area, large retaining walls were needed to contain the upper portion of the yard."

They also had to deal with impervious surface restrictions and strict codes of the township where the property resided. This forced the reduction, in the original design by Leslie, of the amount of decking.

Once the revised plan was approved, the pool contractor started the job by cutting the grades for the pool and retaining wall, digging the pool, constructing its steel frame and then applying the gunite.

Evergreen took its turn in the driver's seat and dug the trenches for the walls' footings, which are rebar-reinforced concrete, 36 inches deep and 24 inches wide.

Next came the block work consisting of CMUs filled with mortar and tied to the footings' rebar. For the face of the wall, split Fenoff fieldstone was selected – not veneer stone but building stone with 4-inch to 6-inch profiles. Because of this, no more than two vertical feet could be built per day, allowing the mortar to set overnight, or the weight to the bottom stones would be too much for them to bear.

Tennessee flagstone capped the walls and columns, and was also used for the pool coping and stair treads. The pool decking is travertine set on a base of six inches of gravel. To facilitate the required reduction in the amount of impervious surface, decking was not installed along the back of the pool, which was instead planted with various groundcover materials.

The outdoor kitchen's counters were built like the wall and sit on the same type of footings. Pieces of flagstone were fashioned into countertops. Travertine was installed on the floor.

Besides the pool and hardscape, this project had a number of other elements - two decorative pergolas made of mahogany, around 200 feet of aluminum fence, landscape lighting, plantings of perennials, groundcover, shrubs and trees – and the crew from Evergreen handled them all. They even returned a year later to help install fountains that shoot into the pool.

The project took approximately two and a half months to complete with a crew that fluctuated between six and 12. Berry is rightfully proud of the results and somewhat philosophical of the challenges it presented.

As he sees it, "This project had its own set of obstacles, which ultimately added to the beauty of the installation."

As seen in LC/DBM magazine, August 2016.