[tfld]

Originally Posted by RHPL

Just make sure no one sees any of the glue! A couple of my guys are notorious for leaving glue showing all over the place... drives me crazy... so I make them go back on their own time and cut the glue off... Anyways...

We bury at least one course of stone, but at least you don't have to worry about your cuts on that course. Also when we glue the caps we glue then on the sides as well as to the stones beneath them.

Ryan

p.s. I stole the idea a few years ago from a Unilock display at a trade show and have since used in a number of my projects, even one that ended up in the Permacon brochure this year...

I just can't see how this doesn't fall apart the moment someone touches it. I dont care if it's the strongest glue in the world..It's another case of cheaper, faster, faker..IMO, of course.

[Uni Bob]

I have seen many of these in the field. I have built moch-ups of these walls and I don't see how it would fail any faster then any other seat wall. There are no forces pushing on this from either direction, therefore as long as your base is solid there isn't much to worry about. Really the only other consideration is that you need to make sure the joints don't line up.

I know of several "Stonehenge" (we call them spindle) walls that have been in for 3-5 years with no issue.

Styles come and go, trends are trends (I won't ever show anyone pictures of me from the 80's). But structuraly speaking I don't see why this is an issue if you make sure your base is in good shape, you break the bond (no joints running verticle).

[RHPL]

Originally Posted by tfld

I just can't see how this doesn't fall apart the moment someone touches it. I dont care if it's the strongest glue in the world..It's another case of cheaper, faster, faker..IMO, of course.

He built one of these walls at our yard as a tutorial for new employees last year... and we figured it could act as seating (not that I ever let anyone site down at the yard (always a truck to cleanout or a machine to grease). It was aboput 8' long (we built it out of a discontinued colour of stone that I had as leftovers from a display) and it turned out that is wasn't in the best location. A couple weeks later when I was moving things around with a skid-steer and cleaning up I picked the bench up with a set of forks and moved it about 50'. Try that with every other seat wall... Everything was fine until a couple weeks later when my 17 year old employee decided to try and 'rock crawl' over it with his jeep TJ (he is an offroading nut). He broke it into 3 pieces and then it went into the rubble pile.

I believe with good base (we install them ontop of a zero slump concrete), accurate cutting and proper glue placement these will last forever (as long as you keep the jeeps away from them).

p.s. I used to build benches by cutting a piece of sienna stone in half to make legs and place a piece of sienna cap on top as the bench. The problem was that there was too much weight concentrated in such a small area as opposed to being spread out as in a seat wall. Another advantage...

[RHPL]

syzer: here is a shot looking out from the front door across the pond to the island. This was taken last year and we built the seat walls and the bridge this spring. Going back next week to lay some random flag, do some planting and some low voltage out on the island as well.

[tfld]

Originally Posted by RHPL

He built one of these walls at our yard as a tutorial for new employees last year... and we figured it could act as seating (not that I ever let anyone site down at the yard (always a truck to cleanout or a machine to grease). It was aboput 8' long (we built it out of a discontinued colour of stone that I had as leftovers from a display) and it turned out that is wasn't in the best location. A couple weeks later when I was moving things around with a skid-steer and cleaning up I picked the bench up with a set of forks and moved it about 50'. Try that with every other seat wall... Everything was fine until a couple weeks later when my 17 year old employee decided to try and 'rock crawl' over it with his jeep TJ (he is an offroading nut). He broke it into 3 pieces and then it went into the rubble pile.

I believe with good base (we install them ontop of a zero slump concrete), accurate cutting and proper glue placement these will last forever (as long as you keep the jeeps away from them).

p.s. I used to build benches by cutting a piece of sienna stone in half to make legs and place a piece of sienna cap on top as the bench. The problem was that there was too much weight concentrated in such a small area as opposed to being spread out as in a seat wall. Another advantage...

At least if you weren't using some POS concrete product, as opposed to natural stone, you could have made relatively easy, and tasteful re-use of the broken bits. Sh^% is still sh#@ whether it's in the shape of the parthenon or just plain old pile of sh@% in your front lawn (or material yard for that matter).

[tfld]

[quote=RHPL;57265]syzer: here is a shot looking out from the front door across the pond to the island. This was taken last year and we built the seat walls and the bridge this spring. Going back next week to lay some random flag, do some planting and some low voltage out on the island as well.[/QUOT

Great Work, and dont take this the wrong way, but that wall and patio, and the pond in the bg go wonderfully together...I especially like how the razor-straight edge of the bonds blends perfectly with the engineered concrete block.

[RHPL]

I'm sorry you don't like my design/construction Nick. I guess you must walk away from a lot of customers when they don't like something in your design, don't have the budget for natural stone or want something in the design that you feel doesn't fit in with their property. That sure must make it hard for you to 'put food on the table'.

[Stonehenge]

Great Work, and dont take this the wrong way, but that wall and patio, and the pond in the bg go wonderfully together...I especially like how the razor-straight edge of the bonds blends perfectly with the engineered concrete block.

Someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?

[tfld]

Just trying to liven this place up a bit.

[Stonehenge]

So it's open season on you, too? Just want to make sure I understand the rules.

[tfld]

Originally Posted by Stonehenge

So it's open season on you, too? Just want to make sure I understand the rules.

Absolutely, but I'm not the one who makes the rules, nor do I want to insinuate that I am attempting to impose any set of "rules."

I spend alot of my internet time between a few different, but similar forums. One of them is mainly for Landscape Architects. I feel like there is a major disconnect between the general practice and theory of landscape architecture and landscape construction. Coming from the landscape construction side, there's no doubt I have an appreciation for the time, effort and skill it takes to build many of these projects, unfortunately, many landscape projects are not very well done from many aspects IMO and many others opinions.

The problem with this is twofold-- Cheap landscape construction (and "free" design) devalues ALL OF OUR WORK. I would bet that even in this message board many of the contractors percieve very little value in landscape architecture and design (probably from a lack of interaction with them). On the other side, I often hear landscape architecture students complaining and demeaning landscape contractors (probably mostly for the same reasons as above).

The inherent issue is the DEVALUING of our work, both LA's and Contractors, perpetuated by ourselves. It's been said on this board before that if "given project" lasts ten years before it falls down or sinks or whatever, it is a job well done. I'm not sure this is a good direction for us.

If you have a problem or critique of anything I've done or said here, fire away. I'm not trying to decrease your user count, in fact, it may have the opposite effect.

[Stonehenge]

Maybe. Consider, however, what the effect of insulting another's work here might do - either to that person or to others who might be on the fence about posting some pictures of their work. If you think it will make that person try harder on a design or install, then you may not understand human nature as much as you think.

The comments you made could never be construed as professional, which is something I would expect from someone of your caliber.

Now I've derailed this thread enough - if you think there's more to discuss, let's take it private.

[tfld]

Originally Posted by Stonehenge

Maybe. Consider, however, what the effect of insulting another's work here might do - either to that person or to others who might be on the fence about posting some pictures of their work. If you think it will make that person try harder on a design or install, then you may not understand human nature as much as you think.

The comments you made could never be construed as professional, which is something I would expect from someone of your caliber.

Now I've derailed this thread enough - if you think there's more to discuss, let's take it private.

You're right. Maybe I did wake up on the wrong side of the bed the other day. I think I was trying to force my point and it did come off very unprofessionally. I apologize for that.

[RHPL]

Two points of interest to you Nick;
1. I started last year charging for designs... and in many cases I won't even meet with a new client that hasen't been reffered without a consultation fee.
2. I pour concrete under almost everyrthing i do that would be considered a hardscape. I offer a 5 year warrenty and hope quite literaly, that the pavers I use will go out of style sooner that the project with need repair...

[Stonehenge]

Thanks for your note, Nick.

RHPL, I think that if you and Nick have further issues as well, you should continue the discussion privately.

Jeff