Brick Paver Walkway and Landscape Wall Redesigned

Landscaper misses the mark when designing and installing walk & wall

We recently redesigned and reinstalled a brick paver walkway and landscape wall that an inexperienced landscaper installed in Ann Arbor.  The landscape contractor told them that this was the best he could do. The homeowner was very disappointed in their quality of design & execution and hired us to help.

The homeowner did not want the inexperienced landscaper to correct the problem because they lacked confidence in his workmanship and professionalism.  We are frequently performing redesign & reinstallation of brick paver jobs that have been installed by unqualified contractors. Many homeowners we deal with would rather pay someone that is qualified to redo the work then have the originally contractor perform the work.

This brick paver walkway was uneven and the joint lines of paving stones where crooked.  There was no soldier course row border on the inside, even though the outside of the pavers walk had one.  This made the pavers walk look unbalanced.  The paver walkway also did not flare at the drive and actually bowed or turned back towards the house.

The landscape wall was also crooked and just ended at the driveway.  The landscape wall had no balance to the layout of the landscape.  The end of the landscape wall ended too high and too close to the driveway with no finish edge.  It caused some damage to someone's car when they opened their door.

We completely lifted up the entire front paver walk and re-installed the pavers.  We made sure the joint lines flowed properly and flared the paver walk at the driveway for easy access.  We also installed a soldier course row border on both sides of the walkway to give a balanced frame effect.  The final product was a dramatic make over from the originally installed  pavers walkway.

We tore out about half of the landscape wall and symmetrically re-installed it to properly match the layout of the landscape.  The homeowner was looking for a landscape planter wall to compliment their newly installed baywindow.  Enclosing in the baywindow with a symmetrically curved landscape wall did the job.

We listened to the homeowner's needs & wants and we were able to recommend the best economical solutions to meet those needs.  The final result was drastic change to the curb appeal of the home and the customer could not be happier. Success again!

Brick Paver Raised Patio & Steps in need of immediate repair

Failure of Raised Paver Patio Wall & Steps due to inexperienced Landscaper

During a brick paver repair estimate this past week, I again witnessed the failure of a raised paver patio wall & doorwall steps that were installed by an inexperienced landscape contractor. This homeowner is in immediate need of patio repair before this leaning patio wall collapses or some one trips coming out from the doorwall.

The landscaper used a "garden block" type of wall system that is not intended for retaining a raised paver patio. Not only did they not bury any rows of block below grade, this current wall block does not have any tongue-n-groove or pin system lock-up.  They also exceeded the engineered height requirement of this garden wall system too.

Over the years, the customer has had several brick paver repair service calls to reset the pavers behind the wall & step rises. The current wall has continued to settle, gap, and lean out and it is time to replace this inferior wall block with a proper modular retaining wall system.

I recommended we pull back @2ft of the paving stones, remove the existing wall blocks & caps, and reinstall a tried 'n true patio wall system like Unilock's Pisa 2 or Fendt's Country Manor.  Upon installing the new patio retaining wall, we will bury a block below grade due to the height factors involved.  After carefully and diligently compacting behind the wall, we will install a filter fabric to eliminate filtration through the wall blocks.

We will properly cap the wall and reinstall the paving stones.  After replacing the inferior wall blocks used for the paver steps leading out the doorwall, we will reconfigure the patio steps layout for better safety & function.  The current layout does not meet proper building codes.

The overall cost for performing the above wall & step replacement, repairs, and warranty will cost the homeowner $3,500 for labor, materials, and removals & disposals.  Had the original landscape contractor properly designed & installed this raised paver patio, this homeowner would only have minor maintenance touch -ups and minimal service needed over the years.

Because of the lack of experience and poor workmanship of this landscape contractor, this homeowner has had years of frustration & unnecessary financial costs.  Qualified and experienced brick paver contractors will design, install, warranty, and offer "after install" services that will help avoid costly pavers repair and ongoing aggravation & strife.

Retaining Wall Repair needed quickly in Ann Arbor

Repair of Landscape Wall

We were needed recently to repair a Retaining Wall in Ann Arbor that was beginning to collapse. The corner of this retaining wall was beginning to separate and slide off it's bottom foundation. The homeowner had recently noticed further gapping of the blocks and leaning of the wall towards his front walk.  Time was of the essence and the modular retaining wall needed total reconstruction.

The homeowner was frustrated because the original landscape architect & contractor would not properly address the issues regarding this landscape retaining wall.  Because of my 27 years experience constructing & repairing modular retaining wall systems, I had some theories as to the reason this block wall had drastically settled.

From my visual inspection, I had noticed that the 90 degree corner of this retaining wall had failed miserably and some lower modular blocks had "slid" off the ones below them. This particular retaining wall system is Fendt's Keystone Old World Country Manor and requires a fiberglass pin system to hold the structure together.  These modular retaining wall blocks also have a hollow center that requires to be filled with gravel.

I had concluded from my visual inspection that these  2 key factors contributed to the failure of this retaining wall system.  As we disassemble this landscape wall, my conclusions were accurate. See the pictures to the right to see the poor installation of these retaining wall blocks.

The corners of modular retaining wall systems are the most important part of any large landscape walls.  They require extra reinforcement because the brunt of hydro static pressure & gravity can compromise the weakest part of any retaining wall construction. This retaining wall lacked the basic requirement of fiberglass pins to help secure the blocks in place. The landscape contractor choose to just "glue" the corner blocks. The result was a lower landscape block "sliding" off the foundation block below and allowing the pressure to push the retaining wall out.

As we tore down the complete wall due to excessive gapping, leaning, & settling, we also observed that none of the block's hollow centers & gaps were filled with gravel.  Filling all voids in a modular retaining wall system is required to give the wall additional mass.  Landscape wall systems are engineered with minimum specifications to help insure long-term performance. This particular retaining wall failed to meet 2 key installation specifications.

We disassembled the entire retaining wall from the top down. We re-leveled and recompacted the gravel base, reinstalled the bottom blocks to the correct level, and reconstructed the modular retaining wall blocks one-by-one, using the correct number & location of fiberglass pins and filled all voids with gravel. The finishing touch was to re-cap the wall and touch up the surrounding landscape.

We paid special attention to the corner of this retaining wall.  We replaced the small blocks the past contractor used and used the larger blocks in the retaining wall system so we could properly pin the units. We also constructed the corner using the "log cabin" method of overlapping the corner units as each row was stacked, pinned, filled, and backfilled. 

This retaining wall repair situation is very common in Ann Arbor. The landscape architect & contractor had a good design and good use of product, but the execution of installing was poor.  It does take some expertise & experience installing modular retaining wall systems properly. This particular landscape wall construction should have started and constructed from the corner out. It only took "one" block to slide out and destroy the performance of this very popular retaining wall application.