Monthly Archives: March 2023

Water Features on Public Lands Offer Beauty and Tranquility

Considering the tranquility and uplifted spirits water features offer humankind, adding and maintaining such beautiful spots on public lands can uplift a community. 

Take for example an experience we had working with the Town of Huntington.

Before Deck and Patio moved to our present location in Greenlawn, NY, our home base was in Huntington Station, just a few blocks from the local train station.  

 

Local Residents Hunger for Natural Beauty

 

Before Deck and Patio Started Work

Before Deck and Patio Started Work

One day, a member of our team was engaged in a casual conversation with a few women planting flowers near the train station. As a local landscaper, we offered to help by adding plants, flowers, shrubs and moss rocks.

“A problem became immediately apparent,” says our own Dave Stockwell. “There wasn’t any water source for maintaining the plants. The women had been lugging five-gallon buckets of water from their condos to maintain them.”

Dave adds that there was also no walkway to the station beyond a small brick and cement sidewalk and a dirt path. Plus it wasn’t handicap accessible. It felt that the spot needed more than just plants and shrubs.

 

 

Water Feature (Huntington Train Station/NY)

Water Feature (Huntington Train Station/NY)

After consulting with Deck and Patio’s own Rainwater Harvesting Group, we approached the Town of Huntington. “They were completely on board,” says Dave.

The key was to capture rainwater that would maintain the flowers and an attractive water feature. 

With the Town’s cooperation, Deck and Patio installed a self-sustaining water feature with an underground reservoir to store captured rainwater. To help accumulate the most rainfall as well as add a paver pathway for direct access from the curb to the parking lot, we constructed a walk area made of permeable pavers.

 

 

Rainwater Harvesting System (Huntington Train Station/NY)

Techo-Block Permeable Pavers (Huntington Train Station/NY)

 

“We used Techo-Bloc permeable pavers and installed them over gravel and a rubber liner.,” says Dave. “These pavers allow the rainwater to seep into the ground and into the reservoir where it can be recirculated.

“No Town water is needed to maintain it. Plus, this eco-friendly system keeps a good amount of falling non-filtered rainwater from going into the Town’s sewer system and on into Huntington Bay.”

 

 

 

 

Sustainable Water Feature (Huntington Train Station/NY):

Sustainable Water Feature (Huntington Train Station/NY):

The water feature is not just for aesthetics. It is highly functional. Its waterfall aerates the water — or oxygenates it which also keeps mosquitos at bay. The water plants we added absorb nutrients and pollutants to help purify the water. All together, the gravel, liner, and plants create a self-sustaining rainwater harvesting garden. The area is now a magnet for local birds who come here to bathe and drink.

 

Rainwater Harvesting Water Feature (Huntington Station/NY):

Rainwater Harvesting Water Feature (Huntington Station/NY):

The Aquascape Rainwater Harvesting System includes an auxiliary pump connected to the irrigation system. This ensures that the water used isn’t city water, but harvested entirely from rainwater. The below ground Aquascape Aqua Blox Reservoir holds 500 gallons of rainwater.

 

Rainwater Harvesting at Huntington Station NY

Rainwater Harvesting at Huntington Station NY

Where once was only a dirt path from the sidewalk to the train parking lot, permeable pavers allow easy walking (arrow area pavers) while capturing and filtering rainwater for reuse. The pavers used are Techo-Bloc Victorien Permeable Pavers.

 

 

2 Beautiful Landscaping Plans Expertly Brought To Life

Whether it’s using your own computerized landscape program or Deck and Patio’s, our experts are able to bring your dreams to life. Today, we are showcasing two beautiful backyard upgrades that began with a computerized plan. 

And don’t let the sudden snow this week dissuade you. Even if we get more snow, Deck and Patio can work with Google Earth and local property information to keep the planning and construction of your hearts desires on track.

 

  1. Transforming Existing Patios and Pool

 

3-D Design

3-D Design

Completed Project

Completed Project

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Deck and Patio project had existing patios and a pool. The key was to decide what to keep and what to remove. One part of the design expanded the original confining upper and lower patios. This also helped open up the space to allow unobstructed views of Long Island Sound available on their property.

We used 3-D animation to show how this multi-level pool area would change. We showed how we would turn what the client described as a problem area into a feature, by enlarging the upper area, where the client liked to sit in the shade and enjoy the view. The lower area was expanded for sunning; an outdoor kitchen was added for entertaining.

The extended upper patio — where the clients liked to sit in the shade and enjoy the view — now allows room for lots of comfortable outdoor furniture. In addition, an equally confining lower patio was enlarged for sunning; an outdoor kitchen (at the side of the house) was added for easy entertaining.

In addition, we upgraded their pool and spa and added colorful plants and flowers to enhance these vistas.

 

2. Preserving the Natural Environment

 

Landscape Design 3-D Animation Technology:

Landscape Design 3-D Animation Technology:

Professional Landscape Design:

Professional Landscape Design:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Deck and Patio project required that we preserve the natural environment. This involved restructuring the property’s unattractive retaining wall systems — often required on Long Island’s rocky sloping properties — but which are not normally hidden by a body of water such a pool. However, for this award-winning outdoor retreat, that’s just what we did.

 “We conceived the freeform concrete wall of a vinyl-lined pool positioned into the hillside,” says Dave Stockwell, owner of Deck and Patio. “This way, the pool wall became part of a retaining wall system.”

Deck and Patio designed a curved-steel, reinforced-concrete wall with the strength to withstand the pressure exerted by the slope — and the sheer weight of 20 tons of boulders sitting on the pool beam itself.

All this would have been hard for our clients to visualize without the computerized plans. Especially hard would have been feeling assured that their majestic property’s natural environment would be carefully preserved.

With so much rock and pavers built into the design, we understood it was imperative to soften the impact of these massive structures by scalloping the plants into the hillside with a wide variety of colorful perennial, deciduous and evergreen plant material for a year-round impact.

“Amphitheater-Like” Landscape Environment:

“Amphitheater-Like” Landscape Environment:

The property’s undulating hillside enabled Deck & Patio to create an “amphitheater-like” environment with two spectacular water features:

–a 6-foot-high waterfall into the pool, –and a 4-foot-high cascading waterfall from the spa into the pool.

These large water features not only present a visual impact from every viewing angle, but the enhanced sound effect of the cascading waters minimizes the noise pollution coming from a nearby heavily trafficked road.

 

 

3-D Design

3-D Design

 

 

Using a computerized presentation format — whether it’s Deck and Patio’s or yours’ — means you do not have to guess what the project will look like. Such presentations also allow construction crews to have a better understanding of what exactly is being built.

 

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