Landscaping Rocks Blog

Water and stone are opposites in many ways, yet somehow they are always compatible.  Water, clear and reflective when still, can make wonderful patterns when in motion, creating sounds that can be soothing and restful.  Stone can be a vessel for water.  It can shape a stream, be used as a waterfall, a fountain, or simply shape a pond.  A water feature on the property focuses our attention on the pairing of water and stone. A water feature also becomes a serene focal point while adding the soothing tranquil sounds of moving water.

There are a number of different types of fountains that can move water in a variety of ways, for quite different effects. So when choosing your next outdoor fountain, be sure to consider the location, the amount of space that is available for the size of the fountain, and the style that is going to best suit your landscaping.

Spill Fountains appear to be continually overflowing, with water simply tumbling down the sides of the fountain into the catch basin – the water simply follows gravity. If the fountain’s surface is smooth, the water can be almost undetectable, almost like a shimmering gloss.  A rougher surface produces a livelier dance of light with the water. The traditional tiered spill fountain often resembles a bird bath, with tiered catch basins offering a waterfall effect. Many types of spill fountains are often made of various types of stone and granite.

Spray Fountains shoot water upward in various patterns, from large upright stone like columns to lacy sprays or even just bubbling from the top. To get this effect, assorted fountain heads are used. Splash fountains also shoot water upwards and outwards, however the water is usually sent up through a sculpture of sorts. These types of water features can usually be purchased from a garden and landscape store.

Wall Fountains are a fantastic addition to any home or garden. They pour water from a spout mounted on a vertical surface into a catch basin below.  The spout may be a spigot or a horizontal ledge that creates a small waterfall. Wall fountains can be made of various materials ranging from stones, granite, clay, Fibreglass, metals, glass, and even wood, with some using a combination of materials. Because of their space saving feature, wall fountains have become very popular.

Fountains seem to satisfy the senses of sight and sound, so any of the above styles of water features will enhance your garden and landscaping. With the pleasant flow of water cascading over and thru stone vessels, tranquility and peacefulness are sure to be yours this summer, in your outdoor living area.

Tags: Fieldstone, Flagstones, Granite Stone, Landscaping Rocks, Natural stone, natural stone by mike
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There are a number of different ways to create focal points on your property.  These focal points can be practical or purely to create interest. By following the natural contours of your property you can create functional and fun focal points in your family’s backyard for relaxing, entertaining or any type of fun.

A stone fire pit recalls childhood campfire memories and makes for a perfect weekend project. Today there are many design & style choices for your backyard fireplace projects, no longer are outdoor fire pits just round piles of stone. You could try a stacked stone fireplace, and if you incorporate a natural stone patio to surround your new fire pit you have the perfect place to relax while enjoying a fire in the evening.  With the popularity of stone fire pits steadily increasing, not only are you building memories with your fire pit, you are creating a conversational piece to last for many years to come.

Speaking of conversational pieces, did you know that stone can also be chiselled to create a bowl-shaped hollow? The hollow in the stone then collects rainwater and serves as both a reflecting pool and ground-level birdbath. What a great natural stone piece to add to your landscaping plans.

Why not create interest on your property with standing stone at the entrance of a garden? The standing stone can be placed together in groups of threes, or left as single stand alone pieces. Standing Stone wherever they are placed, will surely be a focal point and enhance your landscaping design. Careful planning and consideration should be given to the stones size, placement and design.

Landscaping Stone slabs can be used to make practical exterior furniture such as tables and benches. For a new stunning talked about table, why not create your own? For simplicity sake (as we know it may be more challenging than it sounds) - perch a stone slab on top of stone bases or for a different look try natural wood bases. You can create other outdoor seating in the same fashion. Chair shaped Boulders would be a nice landscaping accent too.

Natural Stone & Rock can add stories, themes and new memories to your landscaping, so use your imagination in creating your landscaping focal points.

Tags: English, Flagstones, Landscaping Rocks, Natural stone, natural stone by mike
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When constructing a home people can face a number of difficulties but the problem can be even worse when they begin to landscape the property and they haven’t used a knowledgeable natural stone wholesaler. You must have experienced poor service from time to time. With the advancement in technology, business/customer relationship is waning day by day. Late delivery of construction material, no loyalty to the products, and communication problems are barriers in a hassle free construction of  a home.

These days, people are utilizing natural stones such as marble, granite and limestone for flooring of their homes or workplace like never before. As natural stones possess unique characteristics such as durability, integrity and timelessness, it has become the first preference of home builders as well as homeowners. It seems as the demand of natural stones is increasing, natural stone retailers are overlooking ‘service’ factor.

In this era of cut-throat competition and economic downturn, organizations employ various marketing strategies from traditional media to social media for their brand promotion. Keeping the major focus on promotion and sales, they forget the crucial part of business which is service. Excellent service is the key to the success of any company. To generate sales, is not difficult but to maintain the growth rate requires effort. Customers expect support from the company, failing of which, results in clients changing companies. For sustaining the business, efficient and personalized service is required.

Stone Haven believes that clients are an asset and strives to fulfill clients’ requirements with complete satisfaction. Stone Haven delivers their customers’ products in a stipulated time frame, and often same day delivery is available. Customer service is of great importance to Stone Haven. Their sales team is available to answer questions at any time, and their staff actually take the time to tour the stone yard with their clients for complete understanding of their clients choices. If a landscaper is what you need, then Stone Haven can offer referrals of qualified stone layers too.  Mike Stone, owner of Stone Haven, says, “the trust and support of our customers is due to the excellent quality of our natural stone products, our efficient deliveries and our knowledgeable staff”.

Tags: English, Flagstones, Granite Stone, Natural stone, Sand Stone, limestone by mike
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“You can’t buy experience.” That saying holds true when it comes to working with natural stone. While buying from a quality natural stone retailer will provide the very best raw materials to work with, the actual effort involved in landscaping with stone retaining walls or crafting beautiful natural stone interiors requires the experience to get the best out of the material, avoid mistakes and select the best natural stone for the job.

You can’t buy your own experience, but you can employ someone with that experience to work for you. With that in mind, experience is a key ingredient in the mix of criteria you need to look at when you decide to employ a natural stone layer. In today’s service-oriented professional environment it’s easy to get dazzled by personality and superficial results. While someone may have a reputation for quick work and a polite demeanour, the quality of the end result is what matters. You want someone with a reputation for solid work above everything else.

That’s why it’s always a good idea to ask for references when it’s time to hire a professional stone layer. When you follow up on these references you can ask past clients how their work has held up under everyday wear and tear and how they feel about the job’s quality after the fact. This will give you an idea of whether the natural stone layer’s results stand the test of time, and whether there’s substantial skill behind that first impression.

A skilled natural stone layer also knows how to create beautiful work that fits in with the style you desire. Ask for a portfolio of past work. Ask yourself if it demonstrates versatility across a range of jobs and natural stone types, and whether any particular example especially appeals to you. This will not only let you know if the contractor is right for you, but help you firm up your own ideas about the job you want done.

Once you’ve found the right candidate for the job, act fast, as skilled professionals in natural stone laying are rare. The best professionals will often be booked months in advance, so it’s a good idea to schedule your job as soon as possible, but set a realistic date weeks or months down the road. For outdoor natural stone work such as paths, stone retaining walls and other landscaping jobs, remember that demand spikes through Spring and Summer. Natural stone interiors don’t depend on the weather but will be affected by the demand for outdoor jobs, since expertise often crosses over.

Our natural stone showroom includes examples of professional grade natural stone work as judged by Mike Stone, informed by his decades of experience. Visit us and we can tell you more about how to find a natural stone layer with valuable experience, and the quality you should expect from these professionals.

Tags: English, Fieldstone, Flagstones, Granite Stone, Landscaping Rocks by mike
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It’s chilly now, but soon enough Spring will bring in warm weather and new demand for landscaping stone. But the landscaping season isn’t the only way weather influences work with natural stone, whether it’s slate, granite or sandstone. When you plan your stone landscaping project it’s important to not only plan your work schedule ahead of time, but think of how you’ll respond to day to day changes in the weather.

The first step to planning your work for the season is to set a start and completion date. If you’re a professional contractor, the ability to provide accurate estimates in which you can complete quality work is essential. If you plan on doing it yourself you can take a more relaxed approach – to a point. You can work on your own time, but take care to account for how much time it should take to do each part of the job, from taking it from a stone retailer to finishing the clean up.

We recommend that you pick a realistic completion date and stick to it so you won’t leave your work half done. After all, we all know someone who has a half-finished landscaping job. That not only looks ugly, but some of these efforts will actually degrade over time. For example, if you do the digging for a stone retaining wall but put off completing it, the soil will eventually erode, wasting all of your effort.

It’s also important to anticipate the weather. Again, a good professional landscaping contractor not only learns to take this into account, but can set up precautions to account for weather issues. Whether you’re hiring tradesmen or doing it yourself, keep in mind that one day of rain can equate to a two or three day delay. Rain changes the consistency of the soil and makes some jobs impossible. If your job is scheduled to take place in rainy months like April and May, adjust your schedule to allow for one or two weeks of delay due to rain.

Planning for weather conditions will ensure that you can plan a move or renovation for your property without interference from contractors and machinery, and without having to worry about working around materials and scrap. While you might dodge the worst of the rainy season, including its delays in your estimate means that you can be confident that everything is ready to go.

If you want to find out more about realistically scheduling a stone landscaping job, drop by our showroom or call us. In addition to being a natural stone wholesaler for landscapers and architects, we bring decades of experience in the stone laying trade, and can help you set realistic goals and find the best natural stone to meet them.

Tags: English, Fieldstone, Flagstones, Granite Stone, Landscaping Rocks by mike
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After years of laying natural stone for walls, patios, walkways and dozens of other types of projects I’m proud of where I’ve taken my craft. More than that, I’ve come to understand some of the attributes that separate amateurs from true natural stone professionals. Let me share four of the qualities I think stone layers need to progress to this level.

Passion: The most creative stone layers have an undeniable passion for their work. It’s sometimes difficult for an amateur to understand why someone would want to spend their entire professional life working with natural stone. You need to apply strength, patience and a memory of the techniques you need and the characteristics that apply to a specific type of natural stone. Passion is an appreciation for that detail because you can see it all as part of one process that turns the raw stone into something perfectly suited to its function, whether that’s a stone retaining wall, patio or path.

Mastery of the Tools: A professional stone layer learns to orchestrate his tools efficiently, moving effortlessly from one tool to the next. This ability has to come from a love of the craft or it simply won’t appear, because it requires constant practice and the commitment needed to procure the right chisels, hammers, levels, squares and other tools for the job. Don’t underestimate the effort it takes to put together a truly complete set of tools! A good stone layer avoids using a less than ideal tool for a particular task and doesn’t get confused over his selection of tools. Once he has them on hand, the job may look easy – but nothing that looks so easy ever is without intense preparation.

Knowledge of the Stone: A true professional knows the important differences between each type of stone. This includes its relative weight, strength and how it reacts to different tools and environmental phenomena. This way, he can do more than just get the job done, but participate in choosing the correct natural stone. An expert stone layer is a valuable resource for an architect, landscaping professional or interior designer because he keeps those individuals from making poor choices about the stone to use. Furthermore, a stone layer learns about the cosmetic qualities of different natural stone varieties, including color and texture, and should over time know where to find them from a reputable stone retailer or stone wholesaler (depending on the type of job).

Creativity: Laying stone requires more creativity than you might think. A laid down surface is like a puzzle where the person solving it (the stone layer) gets to “cheat” by reshaping the pieces, but he must make the end result attractive and functional. There are countless ways to arrange stones in a path, but not all of them are practical. A stone layer can find the best looking option. He can build a wall with a beautiful pattern with its structural requirements.

The end result is that he’s created a piece of art out of natural stone. His solution shows the imagination and talent of the stone layer and the natural beauty of the stone.

Tags: English, Flagstones, Landscaping Rocks, Retaining Walls, Uncategorized by mike
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Coordinating your renovation’s colour scheme to account for natural stone interiors requires more than just picking a colour and finding the stones with the closest colours. You need to plan carefully so that natural stone interior elements fit with the rest of your vision for a particular room.

Pick the type of stone you want to use before settling on interior colours. Natural stone comes in hundreds of amazing colours and shades, but not all types of stone come in all shades. That’s why you need to start by asking yourself what you’ll be using the stone for, as that will determine the best basic type of stone. Do you want veneers on your walls? Do you want a stone floor? What about stone counters and shelving? Depending on colour and texture your choice of stone could be limestone, Penn Blue sandstone, slate or granite.

To make the right choice you’ll not only need the help of someone who knows natural stone, but a stone retailer who combines that experience with access to a large selection of different types of natural stone. While you might read about a particular type of stone, what if it isn’t the best choice for that particular interior feature? What if the retailer doesn’t have it in stock? At Stone Haven we pride ourselves on access to a diverse array of natural stone varieties, along with the experience to guide you to the best possible choice.

As there are so many options available it’s possible to use natural stone to meet very specific interior design specifications. At the same time, natural stone is an enduring material that may last longer than your plans for a specific room in the house. You may want to choose a textured might to medium grey colour if you plan on changing your interior spaces regularly. Grey is a neutral colour and won’t clash with others.

On the other hand, don’t think you have to pick grey. One of the great things about natural stone is that almost any colour comes off as neutral compared to non-stone interior elements. Natural stone’s appearance and range of textures means that any colour takes new “dressing” (the addition of furniture, shelving and other interior pieces) well.

Once you’ve narrowed down the type of stone you want to use and found the right colour, it’s easy to decorate the rest of your interior. By determining your base colour, your natural stone guides you to the right wall colour, furniture and other elements, but doesn’t lock you into that choice forever. If you’d like some specific examples of how natural stone makes your interiors more attractive, contact us at Stone Haven. We’ll share our experience with successful designs.

Tags: English, Flagstones, Granite Stone, Landscaping Rocks, Sand Stone, Stone Veneer, Uncategorized by mike
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Homeowners, landscapers and even architects will forget landscaping basics from time to time. It isn’t enough to just be technically proficient laying granite stone and other landscaping rocks, or to only provide a solid set of stone walls. A quality landscaping job needs to look balanced – in other words, its elements need to work together to both look good and make it easy for people to enjoy in a practical sense.

Over my years building stone retaining walls, stone patio features, doing general landscaping and acting as a stone retailer and wholesaler who advises landscapers, I’ve come to appreciate the difference a balanced landscape makes to appearance and usability.

For example, imagine if your driveway goes up to the centre of your property, possibly to end in a roundabout or take a “U” shape in front of the main entrance. On a sizable property, just clustering everything by the entrance makes it look too busy, so you’ll have to landscape either side of the driveway.

If you build up one side with retaining walls surrounding an extensive garden, with stone steps leading up, while leaving the other side with nothing but some trees and driveway-level flower beds your landscape will look imbalanced from the front, both in terms of how developed each side is, and by relative level. Practically speaking, your guests have to cross the driveway to enjoy either open space or get to the garden, which is a nuisance.

If you built up a mix of garden space and open recreational space on either side, you can enjoy both sides and keep traffic over the driveway to a minimum. You don’t need to make both sides exactly the same, but ask yourself this: Do both sides attract my eyes equally? Is there any one location I would never go to because it looks bare or is annoying due to a slope or poor sign lines?

The important thing is the overall view and practical comfort, which should attract you on all sides and blend naturally from any direction, so there’s always something interesting to see, and you don’t feel “blocked” from a particular feature. Take care that a focal point like a trees or stone isn’t so dominating that it causes the imbalance. Sometimes, on particularly “loud” feature is all it takes to throw your landscape off kilter.

Come up to out landscaping stone showroom and talk to us. We can advise you how different varieties of landscaping stone can help you provide balance to your property through properly placed stone walls, flagstone steps and patios, and more. We have the experience on staff to answer your questions and look forward to hearing from you.

Tags: English, Flagstones, Granite Stone, Landscaping Rocks, Retaining Walls by mike
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At Stone Haven, Inc. we’re a flagstone wholesaler, so we welcome pros and do it yourself landscapers. If you’re just starting out, all the fun and excitement of choosing beautiful flagstones can take your mind away from the practical aspects of actually turning them into a comfortable, durable patio.

Let’s break that task down into 10 basic steps. This is a checklist to help you work after you do some thorough research; it’s not a full instructional. Plus, the most important rule is that whenever you’re cutting stone you should wear safety goggles, work gloves and steel toed work boots.

Once you’re well-read and dressed for safety, here’s what to do:

1. Excavate 12″ deep.
2. 6 inches larger in all directions
3. Make sure to slope the base of excavated area away from buildings.
4. Start by filling in area with 3 inches of 3/4inch clean crush stone and compact it with a plate compactor. Fill in area with another 3 inches of the same crush stone and compact again.
5. Place a layer of membrane on top of the crush stone. Make sure to place some small rocks at corners and center of area .
6. Fill in area on top of the membrane with 3inches of 0-1/4 inch stone dust. DO NOT COMPACT THE STONE DUST!
7. Start laying stone at the highest elevation, making sure to remember to slope away from buildings.
8. Place the stone onto the stone dust at the desired slope and compact the stone into the stone dust with a rubber hammer or by placing a 2×4 with a length of about 18 inches onto the stone and hitting it (the 2×4) with a hammer (Min 16 oz.).
9. Try to find the next stone to be laid that won’t need a lot of cutting to fit next to the stone you have previously laid.
10. The joints between the stone can vary between ¾inch to 2 ½ inches. They can be filled with stone dust, river stone 3/8” –5/8” or topsoil. Try seeding the topsoil (you could plant thyme in the joints, for instance — it looks great).

The stones are going to be loose for a few weeks until they set properly, so don’t worry if they seem to move. Once they feel firm under your feet, it’s time for the most important “step” of all: Get a chair out there, pop open a drink and enjoy your patio!

Stone Haven is now giving courses by appointment only. These draw on Mike Stone’s 40 years of landscaping experience.  Please call 450.242.0255 or email Mike at mike@stonehaveninc.ca to have your name included in our 2009 schedule.

Tags: English, Flagstones, Landscaping Rocks by mike
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Sandstone has an incredible amount of variety, and you can usually find a type to match your project. Our Penn Blue Sandstone is ideal for temperate climates due to both its colour and material properties.

Penn Blue is a tough, fine grained sandstone that we offer in smooth ( cut and flamed), tumbled, and natural faced varieties. 400 million years of heat and pressure give it a smooth texture and almost luminous true blue as well as our full colour (grey, brown, and rust colours) that make it ideal for building facades, walls, patios, steps and walkways. It’s also popular for interior features such as flooring and fireplaces.

Here at Stone Haven Inc., we have some of the most durable and beautiful sandstone around. People have used Penn Blue to build houses and even bridges, so it should suit your landscaping and interior home needs just fine. Drop by our Pergola showroom to see how you might use it for walls, paths, steps and more.

Until then, take a look!

Tags: Flagstones, Landscaping Rocks, Sand Stone by mike
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