Romancing the Stone Rock solid choices, from bluestone to granite

Romancing the Stone

From bluestone to granite, these natural materials are rock solid

by Nina A. Koziol

The biggest landscape investment your clients will make is their hardscape—sidewalks, steps, patios, pools, fountains, fire tables, driveway, pillars, retaining and seat walls and veneer surfaces. Choosing and properly installing the right materials adds beauty and long-lasting value to their property. And, that’s a selling point you can’t ignore when providing a bid.

When it come to hardscape, stone continues to be highly sought after for many projects. “The great thing about stone is that it’s a timeless product,” said Jim Larson, general manager of Capitol Stoneworks in Wheeling. “There’s a large demand for ‘manmade’ products, but an even larger demand for natural stone products. Manmade products do have their place and do a lot of good. It’s not a criticism.”

Landscape contractors are lucky to have access to several Midwestern quarries and distributors. “We live on the tail end of the Niagara escarpment, so most of our regional stone is limestone with some granite from Minnesota,” said Daniel Wood of Lurvey Landscape Supply. “That’s what our vernacular speaks to.” (Rock found in the escarpment was originally deposited as lime mud on an ancient sea floor about 430 million years ago. What remains is the result of uplift, weathering, and erosion. And that’s a great conversation piece when showing stone samples to your clients.)

Wood’s virtual presentation, “The Language of Stone,” was well received at this year’s iLandscape. “Homeowners transplanted from the East Coast might prefer granite, sandstone or quartzite, which is more prevalent in that region.” But the array of stone choices is breathtaking. Wood is past president of the National Stone Institute and travels the globe looking for unusual products.

Supply and Demand

So far, the demand for stone has not let up since early 2020. “It’s been crazy busy,” Larson said. “This time last year nobody knew what was going to happen. But we supplied stone for outdoor kitchens and patios, stone for mail boxes, and stone piers with caps that had a home address. We were probably making at least five to six pool copings a month easy. I think it’s going to continue for at least this year.”

The great demand presents a challenge when it comes to acquiring stone materials for projects large or small. “Keep in mind the lead time, especially if there’s custom work,” Larson said. “The quarries in Pennsylvania and New York have had a hard time keeping up with the demand. They’re playing catch-up from last year and it hasn’t been easy.”

Some of the more popular stone installations include patios and pool decks. “The other trend is the outdoor living room and kitchen,” said Matt Johnson of Area Landscaping in Mokena. “The hot trends are outdoor grill islands, the fireplace and fire pits—the entire outdoor entertaining experience.” For pool coping, he finds the two most popular products are Indiana limestone and bluestone with a thermal finish. “The bluestone is popular but some people feel that if it’s 95 degrees in the sun, bluestone takes in the heat and can be a little uncomfortable for feet.”

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Design

“For every decision the client or designer makes about hardscape, there’s a pro and con,” said Bob Hursthouse of Hursthouse, Inc., in Bolingbrook. One thing that is often overlooked is the home’s architectural style. “I think about building material for the front and I always want to use the nicest material that the client chooses to afford. When you look at all the ILCA gold award winners, they’ve all figured that out.”

Whether it’s bluestone, limestone, granite or another material, it comes down to the client’s taste and budget. “Around here, especially north of Chicago, there’s a demand for lannon, chilton, eden and Fon du Lac stone,” Larson said. “A few years ago, everyone wanted Indiana limestone and it’s very versatile. But, there’s a real shift to full color where clients want to see where the buff and grey run together.”

Challenges

Hursthouse tends to favor and work with natural products, saying that’s his firm’s niche. He notes that any vertical wall should be done on an appropriate foundation—in other words, don’t skimp on prep. “I replace a lot [of walls] that are listing. You’re putting a lot of work underground and the clients are paying for something they can’t really see, but it’s important.”

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Like building a house, a stone element must have a sturdy foundation. “The base product is crucial to the longevity of the project,” Johnson said. “That’s how it will stand the test of time. If you’re doing a retaining wall installation, you need proper drainage and backfill behind the wall. For taller walls, you need products that provide stabilization—like geotextile vertical reinforcement. StrataGrid (https://www.geogrid. com/en-us/products/stratagrid) is one that comes to mind. There’s a lot of pressure at the base of the wall. When they fail, they’ll push out from the bottom. It’s not always the case, but you do need reinforcement for taller walls.”

“Some of the challenges working with natural stone is the range of irregularity,” Johnson said. “You’re marrying colors, textures and dimensions. And, oftentimes it can be like constructing a puzzle on the job site and it can be time consuming.” Proper drainage behind the wall means adding a corrugated or solid pipe to collect water and move it away from behind the wall. “The backfill I commonly recommend or experience is 3/4 clear, clean gravel so water can drain through.” (Clear means there are no gravel fines in the mix.)

Maintenance

“You can go two ways,” Johnson said. “Some people install natural stone so they don’t have to do much to it and others will go out with a pressure washer every year. I don’t sell a specific cleaning product, but Simple Green or Dawn dish soap could be used before you introduce an acid- or sodium-based cleaner, which can be a bit abrasive.”

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Food for Thought

Daniel Wood offers these considerations for Site and Logistics:

1. Job location, site issues, grades, utilities/systems (irrigation, lighting, dog fence, gas lines to grills or fire pits, site access, material storage capacity, canopy issues, tree or existing landscape protection (will an arborist be required to provide any advance treatments, prior to construction), local weight restriction issues, permits required, drainage and silt fencing.

2. What other work will be going on at the site at other times or at the same time?

3. Will the owners be in the home/structure during construction? If so, are there specific times that they will be coming and going?

4. Environmental, traffic and community impacts, flows and effects throughout the year.

5. Will you need to match any existing materials?

6. Shipment, scheduling, receiving materials and inspection, sequencing to the site.

7. Unloading needs and capabilities.

8. Are there any local or seasonal weight or access restrictions?

9. Required equipment, specific staging locations onsite, and package labeling.

10. What is our procedure if something arrives incorrectly or damaged, how do we document and report this and to whom?