Landscaping Rocks Blog

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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1. Si la terre est humide (pas en raison de la pluie) vous devriez excaver et drainer l’espace ou il y aura la base du mur. Veillez à toujours drainer loin de tous les bâtiments. La base sous le mur devrait être 6’’ de plus large que le mur lui-même.
2. Si la terre est sèche, vous pourriez commencer à poser les pierres sans excavation. Pour sauver des pierres vous devriez élever le niveau du sol où il y a des trous.
3. Le mur devrait suivre la configuration de la terre pour avoir fière allure. Cela veut que si la terre monte ou descend votre mur devrait faire pareille.
4. Commencez par regarder où votre mur sera bien placé. Ex : L’apprécierez-vous de l’intérieur de votre maison ? Peut-être voulez-vous porter l’attention sur un endroit spécial de votre propriété? Vous pourriez vouloir l’employer comme clôture ou simplement embellir votre jardin avec un mur de pierres en arrière-plan.
5. Après avoir trouvé le lieu parfait, la prochaine étape est d’installer la ligne qui vous aidera lorsque vous construirez le mur.
6. Employez un 2×2 en bois ou un rod à ciment de ¾’’ comme piquet. Ils devraient être installés avec une pente de 21/2’’ vers l’intérieur pour tous les 12’’ en hauteur du mur. Ex : Si votre mur est de 2’ de hauteur, les deux côtés du mur devraient être inclinés vers intérieur 5’’ rendant la base du mur 10’’ plus large que le dessus. Donc, si vous voulez le dessus du mur 24’’ vous avez besoin d’une base de 34 pouces. (La distance entre les lignes d’un côté à l’autre du mur)
7. Une fois que vos lignes sont placées c’est l’heure de commencer à poser les pierres. Commencez par ceux dans les coins et ensuite travaillez vers l’intérieur. Utilisez les plus grosses roches pour la base mais placez-en ainsi dans le mur pour lui donner du caractère. Gardez les grosses pierres plates pour couvrir le dessus du mur.
8. Tout en posant les pierres dans le mur veillez à placer les longues pierres vers l’intérieur du mur pour lui donner de la force. Ne placez jamais une longue pierre mince sur son côté comme pierre de façade, il donnera a ce secteur du mur une force de retenue très faible et il risquera de s’écrouler.
9. Pendant que vous construisez votre mur, prenez le temps de vous reculer et de regarder pour s’assurer que vous avez un beau design. Parfois, il est bon de placer, à la base, une grosse pierre pour faire porter l’attention des gens sur cet endroit précis de votre propriété.
10. Rappelez-vous de prendre votre temps et de solidifier, à l’aide d’autres roches, chaque pierre que vous posez pour qu’il ait le moins de mouvement possible.

Comme un vieux sage mon père m’a, un jour, dit : cela prend à chacun du temps pour apprendre à poser des murs de pierres. Comme tout que nous apprenons dans la vie, il prend, pour certains, plus longtemps que d’autres.

Tags: Fieldstone, Flagstones, Francais, Landscaping Rocks, Uncategorized by mike
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My wife Sue and I would like to welcome home owners, landscapers, architects, stone masons and retailers to our store and show room at 570 Knowlton Road, Lac Brome , Qc. Canada. I have, as of this year, been working in the stone and landscape trade for 40 years! With over 3 1/2 acres of natural stone we have one of the largest selections of landscape and building stone in Quebec.  Deliveries are usually within 24 hours or the same day.  The coffee is always on and our expert staff would be pleased to answer your questions and make sure your order(s) go out on time .
Mike Stone / President

Tags: English, Fieldstone, Flagstones, Granite Stone, Landscaping Rocks, Retaining Walls, Sand Stone by mike
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