The old stairs and stone walkway.
Here is where the waterfall will sit at the end of the patio.
The work site in progress.
Workers pretending to work.
The patio, fire pit, and waterfall beginning to take shape.
The flagstone was set and cut into place before we mortared it.
The new steps. Note how much wider they are.
Another view of the flagstone before it is mortared into place.
The hole where the water pump will be set.
The pump that will be hidden by a layer of rocks. This water feature will focus more on the waterfall than on the pool or pond of water.
Though not even halfway finished, the pump is covered to make this feature look like the water just disappears.
Drilling holes into the pipe for the water to seep out of.
With all these holes, the water will flow rather than gush out of the pipe. The water will pool up in the trough and fall out over the rock for a gentle waterfall.
Some of the controls values. The control value on the top is for the waterfall. The one on the bottom is to pump water out of the pond for the winter months. The top tube goes into a trough where the water seaps out and flows over the top rocks to give it the gentl waterfall effect.
Here is a sideview of the waterfall. Note the trough in the upper left part of the drawing. The water seaps out of the tube, trickles down the rocks, and is collected in the basin.
The waterfall almost completed.
Up and running for the first time. Fine-tuning is a keen detail for any water project.
Mixing mortar. With a job this big, we had a couple guys dedicated to mixing mortar all day.
Here we are beginning to set the patio in front of the stairwell.
Focusing on the small but important details of the patio. Details are often overlooked on large projects, but they will either win or lose the homeowner's approval.
Cleaning excess grout and mortar off the stones brings the patio to a finished product.
Landscaping is underway as the hardscape is almost completed. A number of blue spruce, blue atlas cedar, and loblolley pins where installed around the patio and waterfall to complete the setting.
The patio in front of the stairwell mortared and grouted. Note the new flower bed to the left of the stairwell.
Looking down from the stairwell off the deck. The flagstone looks dirty and stained and needs a final cleanup.
The end product.
We poured regular crusher rock on the driveway area and poured trapper rock (the redder rock) as a border against the patio and flowerbed.
Some of the landscape along the pathway and porch.
Back of the waterfall.
The almost finished waterfall.
Another angle of the waterfall. Most of the thin slabs and mossy stone at the top were found near the property to give the waterfall a native and natural look.
Simple and eloquent.
The initial sketch of the project. This was used as a guidline and was altered per the homeowner's involvement and preference.
This is a natural waterfall about a mile hike from the home where we built the patio and fire pit.
