Falling in Love with Fire Features

Landscape Construction

Fall is arguably the most beautiful time of year in northern New England, and so it makes sense that many of us want to extend our time outside and enjoy the great weather, beautiful foliage, and cool nights that this season brings.

One way to add to the enjoyment of staying outdoors as the temperatures dip is to add a heating element to your outdoor spaces. You can add a decorative touch as well as a heating option by choosing a fireplace or fire pit. Both are wonderful additions to your outdoor areas and put out about the same amount of heat but have different things you should consider.

A Heated Focal Point

When you install a fireplace or fire pit on your property, it becomes a focal point of your landscape and a natural gathering spot that’s perfect for entertaining and socializing with family and friends. It’s a casual place to hang out and chat or unwind after a long day. It’s easy to sit around a fire and sip cocktails or roast marshmallows to make s’mores (or both!).

A fire element adds warm tones of light to your landscape and provides a good “wall” at the end of a patio or seating area, especially if you install a fireplace. A fire pit can help you create a new seating or conversation area if you want to break up a large expanse of lawn or use a previously unused/underused corner more efficiently. A more permanent fire element, like built-in fireplaces or fire pits, can increase your property value as well.

Fireplaces

By matching or complementing existing masonry to your fireplace addition, you’ll extend your patio and entertainment space. You can opt for a wood-burning fireplace, or if you already have gas as a heating or cooking element in your house, it’s not difficult to have a gas line run outdoors for a fireplace. When installing an outdoor fireplace, just make sure to build one with a large enough chimney to be able to get a good draft for ventilation.

Firepits

Sitting around a fire pit evokes almost the same feelings as gathering around a summer bonfire on the beach or a campfire in the woods. Usually circular or square in design, a fire pit allows people to gather around all sides. Fire pits can be portable or built into patios as a permanent fixture.

Fire pits have several options to fuel their fires. Wood is traditionally used in fire pits and provides a nice flame and heat. With open wood fire pits, wind is a consideration. When placed in a windy location, the smoke produced by traditional wood burning fire pits can shift onto you, your guests, or toward your house at times. Debris and dirt may be more visible, and you may need to drain rainwater from it often. With wood, you’ll need to have storage nearby to keep your wood dry.

Great Fire Pits

If you are warm to the idea of wood-burning fire pits, there are some smoke-free options. Two companies we recommend are:

  • Solo Stove: This portable firepit offers a great burn with almost no smoke. It’s designed to maximize airflow and has air vents placed in strategic areas. You may get a little smoke when lighting or putting out the fire, but that’s about it. The trick is to keep wood below the secondary air vent and not overfill it, then you’ll enjoy a great fire without being bothered by smoke.
    Their stainless-steel design fits well into any décor and allows for easy cleaning. They also offer a lifetime guarantee from any manufacturing defects. Solo Stove also makes a matching pizza oven.
  • Breeo fire pits are another company that offers smokeless, portable fire pits. Breeo’s pits come in several design, glass, and color options. You can even custom design your fire pit on their website, so it’s built to your own specifications. Breeo’s fire pits are smokeless due to raised air vents on the bottom of the pit, enabling oxygen to feed the fire regardless of ash build up. Their double-walled build allows hot air to enter from vents at the bottom and escape at holes in the rim at the top. This escaping air causes a secondary ignition of flames, burning off the rising smoke.

Breeo also offers accessories like fireside furniture and implements you can use to cook directly on the flames themselves. As with all fire pits and fireplaces, make sure to clean all debris, drippings, and food particles completely off before relighting the fire.

Other Fuels for Fire Pits

Propane and gas fire pits are other options for fueling fire pits if you don’t want to bother with wood. Both gas and propane fire pits have instant ignitions, so you don’t have to mess about getting a fire started. And both can be shut down instantly without waiting for flames to die down or embers to cool.

There are no sparks emitted from a gas or propane fireplace, so these types of fire pits can be a safer option. To avoid carbon monoxide build up, both gas and propane fire pits must be used in well-ventilated areas.

We’ve helped many homeowners add a fire and heating element to their landscapes and outdoor entertainment spaces, and we’d love to help you come up with ideas to incorporate a fireplace or fire pit into your property. Please call us at 603.707.0630 or email us to get started.

Let the Music Play

Landscape Design

Now that summer is here, you’ll be spending a lot of time outdoors with your family and friends. From a simple night outside enjoying your property, to hosting parties, barbeques, and other gatherings, one thing that’s always on the menu is music. In this blog, we’ll run down things to consider before adding an outdoor audio system to your property.

Bring It Outside

The installation of an outdoor audio system may help you enjoy your outdoor spaces a bit more. Music is a welcome addition to family dinners and will also help pass the time as you work the barbeque grill. Soft background music helps fill in gaps in conversations, and what party is complete without a great playlist? But you can play more than music over outdoor speakers. You can take your workout outside, practice yoga on the lawn, or listen to motivational podcasts as you putter around the yard. You can even be outside and listen to the Patriots or Red Sox games, so you never miss a minute!

Getting Started

As you can imagine, an outdoor audio system is different than an indoor system. An outdoor system usually covers a bigger area, and its components need to withstand the elements. While you may use the system primarily during good weather, it needs to survive outside in all kinds of weather conditions.

To get started, you’ll need to decide:

  1. What kind of sound do you primarily want outside? Do you want music for parties, for soothing background “white noise”, or sports broadcasts? What do you want to be doing outside when you sound to accompany your activities? Of course, you can choose more than one option, but what were you imagining listening to when you began to think of installing an outdoor sound system?
  2. Where do you want to hear the sound? Do you want to primarily hear the sound in a patio area? Or do you want music by the pool, too? How about music around an area of your lawn, or even the entire perimeter?
  3. How do you want to control the sound? Do you want to hook outdoor speakers up to a phone or mobile device, use multimedia applications on a dedicated laptop, use an existing sound system in your house, or a traditional stereo system that showcases your vinyl collection? The quality of the sound depends on the speakers, of course, as well as the source of the music.
  4. Do you want a wired system, a Bluetooth system, or a mixture of both? It really depends on the size of the space you want to have the sound reach, and which type of sound you’ll be listening to.

Map Out Your Plan

Like any addition to a well-maintained landscape, you’ll need to plan where you want to install your equipment. While the controls will remain inside your home or pool house, you’ll need to map out where you would like your outdoor speakers to be located.

It’s very important to note that you cannot use indoor speakers outside; these speakers will not withstand the weather conditions outdoors; you’ll really want to get some designed specifically for outdoor use. Many quality outdoor speakers are made to be rust proof and airtight and deliver great sound amplification for the best sound quality.

Fitting in with the Landscape

Gone are the days of the big black speaker boxes that are obvious wherever you put them. Today’s speakers can be small, wall mounted and can be installed up in the rafters of pavilions and gazebos; small hockey puck sized speakers that can be placed unobtrusively amid the plantings and mulch around your yard, and even bigger speakers that are designed to look like rocks or lamps and can blend in seamlessly with your existing landscaping.

It’s a good idea to create a plan that incorporates a variety of speakers that would work best in your property, depending on their location. You could put speakers high up on the wall of your gazebo so they wouldn’t be readily seen, a couple of speakers in your shrubbery, and some lamp speakers along the pathways, for example. Again, it depends on what sound you want to reach along what parts of your property.

One last consideration—if you have an automated smart home or multi-room music system already installed, you can most likely add controls to your system to bring sound outside. Speak to your installer to see if a program or app can be added; you’ll still need to install speakers outside, of course.

At Stephens Landscaping, we’ve helped many homeowners install outdoor audio systems. We’d love to help you design and install a system that works best for you and your property. Give us a call at 603.707.0630 or reach out over email!

5 Reasons to Add a Landscape Water Feature

Landscape Design

Water features are a great choice for adding visual interest to an outdoor space, and their benefits extend well beyond the aesthetic. Below are our top 5 reasons to consider adding a pond, waterfall or other water feature to your landscape, as well as some popular designs we’re seeing.

1. Invite Relaxation & Stress Relief

Research has found that watching and listening to flowing water helps to relieve stress and create a feeling of calm. The soothing sounds of water in features such as fountains or streams promote peace and relaxation in an environment. Running and splashing water also creates a white noise effect, which can minimize other everyday environmental sounds (like traffic and neighbors) that may be less pleasing.

2. Promote Natural Cooling & Improve Air Quality

Many water features will create a cooling effect in the area around them by adding moisture to the air. Water also helps purify and improve air quality by creating negative ions in the air. Negative ions naturally pull toxins, pollen, and dust from the air. During hot summer days, you’ll enjoy sitting near your water feature, enjoying the cooler temps and pleasant atmosphere.

3. Add Beauty & Style

The addition of a water feature can add a striking focal point to your landscape. It can bring natural, tranquil beauty to an area that had been previously unused and extend your sense of style to the outdoor space. Tie an overall vision of your landscape together by incorporating design details or elements that you’ve used in other places; using the same tiles in a fountain that you’ve used in your walkways or patios, for example.

4. Increase Property Value

A beautiful and well-maintained water feature adds visual interest and charm for potential homebuyers and can increase the value of your property by extending living and entertainment spaces.

5. Attract Wildlife

The addition of a water feature to your landscape will attract wildlife almost immediately. Birds and insects of all kinds will be drawn to the water feature. While this can provide a bit of fun and entertainment for you and your family, attracting pollinators will also help your gardens grow healthy and birds will help keep the lawn soil aerated. Even your pets will love being able to trot over and sip water whenever they get heated being outside on hot days.

Types of Water Features

Once you’ve made the decision to add a water feature to your landscape, you’ll need to choose which type to install. Since there are many choices available, selecting one (or a couple) comes down to the size of your property, the outdoor space you have available, and what aesthetic you hope to achieve. Here are a few of the most popular water features we’ve seen and installed.

Ponds and Water Gardens
Ponds have been a classic landscaping choice for years and add a soothing touch of nature to your outdoor living space. Your pond may be a clean and clear body of water and be used as a reflecting pool. A waterfall can be added to generate soothing sounds of splashing water. Some ponds also have added interest like water lilies and other aquatic greenery, or colorful koi fish.

Streams and Waterfalls
Streams can meander through a large part of your property making it look as close to a natural stream as possible. Space permitting, you could add a waterfall as part of your stream if you have a section of property that has a nice pitch or slope. A waterfall can be created with either natural or manufactured stones and can be designed to break up into different pools or flow down a series of steps. The design is based on the size of your property and depth of your imagination.

Fountains
If you’re looking to add a stunning focal point to your landscape, fountains are the way to go. Much like the centers of European city squares, fountains are always the eye-catching center of attention. Fountains can be as simple or as ornate as you’d like them to be. They can be lower to the ground or tiered high and can have a sitting area made around the pool below them. You can even start a wishing-well tradition. Fountains can also be built recessed into walls, to add just the right rustic touch to a patio space. Most fountains run on recycled water, so the impact on the environment and your water bill is minimized.

At Stephens Landscaping, we have a lot of experience in installing and maintaining water features and would love to help you design and install a water feature of your own. Please call us at 603.707.0630 or contact us to start planning your project today!

Lighting Up the Night

Landscape Design · Landscape Lighting

You’ve got a beautiful home, and complementary landscaping which can be enjoyed year-round. How do you showcase these assets? The best way to display your property and surrounding land is to add illumination.

Aesthetic landscape lighting is a wonderful way to accent your home and grounds, provide safety to walkways, entrances and to your property overall, as well as increase the total property value.

With low voltage LED lighting, home illumination systems have become easier to install, use, and maintain. Most systems are custom designed around your particular needs rather than a one-size-fits-all system and are often paired with smart home systems. These systems can be controlled with apps and timers, and can be set for different seasons, and events.

Why Light it Up?

There are several great reasons for adding lighting your home and landscape. First, you’ll be able to add visual interest by highlighting architectural features and points of interest in your landscape, like flowering trees or a water feature.

Lighting your outdoor spaces will allow you to enjoy your property longer in the day and into the evening; you won’t have to head indoors when the sun sets, and you can use more of your property when it’s well illuminated, instead of some areas being dark voids in the periphery.

Security considerations should also be taken into account when contemplating landscape lighting. You can illuminate doors and windows, making it easier for your security system to capture clearer images. Strategic lighting also gives the appearance of someone being home. And, by illuminating pathways and walkways, you can insure safer passage around your property for family and guests alike.

Why Low Voltage LED?

Low voltage LED systems are primarily used in home lighting systems because they’re safe and cost-effective. With low voltage systems, there’s little chance of shock and the installation is quicker and easier. You can install an LED low voltage system on your own, as it’s relatively easy to learn, but for a larger home or a complex system, we suggest hiring a professional installer.

LED fixtures and bulbs use very little power, so the impact on your electricity bill won’t be as great with a low voltage LED system. The bulbs also last longer, so you won’t have to replace them as often.

LED lights come in a wide variety of colors and lenses, so you can design the lighting that works best for you and your home. The days of hot, bright floodlights are over! You can highlight some areas, have other areas softly illuminated, and of course, dimmers and timers on lights can be installed wherever you deem necessary.

Low voltage LED lights don’t get as hot as regular lights, even when they’ve been on for several hours, so they won’t add to the heat during the hot summer nights, nor will they affect any plants you may have surrounding them. And LED lights reduce light pollution, as the light they cast is more focused than regular bulbs.

How Should You Get Started?

After deciding to add lighting to your property, the first thing you’ll want to do is to create a landscape lighting plan:

  • First, decide what you want to light or showcase. Include any or all doors, windows, garage doors, pathways, and sidewalks to and from your house. Are there any areas in your yard or landscaping to which you’d like to draw attention? Flowering trees, decorative shrubbery, fountains and water features are popular choices, as are beaches, pools, and retaining walls.
  • Select the appropriate lighting techniques. Most plans have a good mixture of several techniques. You can: highlight a feature; create shadows; place a light a few feet away to “wash” the object in light; uplight or downlight with more directed beams of light; “moonlight” an area by placing a feature high up in a tree or light pole, and have soft light come down on the area; light up your path with lights running alongside walkways and drives; and place lighting in surfaces themselves, like stone walls or steps.
  • Choose the fixtures, bulbs and accessories that give you the desired effect. Again, this should be a good combination of several different items customized to your individual needs. Choices include spotlights, path lights, wall mounted lights, lights with motion sensors and/or dimmers, ground lights, and hanging lights.
  • Connect it to your smart home system and apps and set up a schedule for daily/nightly use, as well as vacations or other times away.

At Stephens Landscaping, we can work with you to create a lighting plan and install low voltage LED lighting systems that will fit your property’s needs and unique aesthetic. To get started, give us a call at 603.707.0630 or email info@stephenslandscaping.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keeping Your Driveway Snow & Ice Free

Landscape Construction

Winter is a wonderful time to enjoy all that New England has to offer. Our abundant snowfall allows for all sorts of fun outdoor activities. But with the quiet beauty of snowfall comes something less enjoyable: clearing driveways and walkways full of snow.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you didn’t have to worry about clearing your passageways at all? You can have a driveway and sidewalk that stays clear of snow and ice by installing a radiant heating system under their surfaces. Many new houses are built incorporating heated driveways into their design, but installation can be done at existing homes as well.

Heating System Options

There are several options available to keep your driveway and walkways clear of snow: portable mats, a hydroponic (hot water) built-in system, and an electrical (wire grid) built-in system. We breakdown these systems, including installation details below:

Portable mats: These are the easiest and least expensive to install. It consists of portable mats that you lay down before any storm, wherever you want to keep snow from sticking and piling up. They come in a multitude of lengths and widths, so you can purchase mats to best fit your space requirements.

These are a good way to try out a heated driveway before committing to the time and expense of an installed system. The downside is that these mats must be placed before the snow comes and removed after the storm. They should be stored somewhere before the next use.

Hydroponic systems: If you are having a house built, the ideal time to install this system is before the driveway or walkway is laid. If you are adding this to an existing property, the driveway or walkway will have to be torn up, system installed and passageway redone.

This system uses tubing that is installed under the surface of your driveway and/or walkway. A warm, non-freezing water solution gets circulated through this series of tubes, and this solution is heated by a boiler that is usually located in the garage. This system is controlled by an automatic sensor or can be controlled manually. The driveway is then laid on top of this tube.

Electrical (wire grid) systems: Like the portable mats, these are a series of electrical wires that are meshed together in a grid pattern. These mats are embedded into the soil beneath the driveway, then paved over. Again, this is best done before the driveway is laid, but can be done to existing driveways if the driveway is torn up. Grids can be connected to cover the driveway completely, and this system is also controlled by a sensor that can be controlled manually or automatically.

Things to Consider

Apart from the initial purchase and installation costs, you should also be aware that heated driveways and walkways will incur operating costs each year as well. The boiler for the hydroponic system will use additional electricity or gas (however you heat your home) and the electrical grid system will increase your electricity usage.

If you install the hydroponic system, you’ll need to have the boiler inspected each year before the winter season begins, to keep your system in the best working order. While each system will likely give you 20 or so years of use, like any other mechanical system, breakdowns do happen, and you may need to do small repairs and maintenance over the years. If something really goes wrong, you may need to tear out part or all your driveway or walkway to repair the problem.

However, in weighing the pros and cons, having a heated driveway/walkway system to combat the snowiness of a typical New England winter is an absolutely excellent idea. Installing a heated driveway and walkways are wonderful ways to ensure the safety of your family and your visitors around your property this winter and will take away a lot of worry and fuss. You won’t have to find and rely on someone to plow and clear your property, and your driveway will be ready for you whenever you need to use it. You’ll increase the life of your driveway by not exposing it to great variations in temperature, or by being scraped by snowplows and shovels or corroding chemicals to melt ice and snow. And, you’ll increase the property value of your home.

We’d love to discuss the possibility of adding a heated driveway/walkway system to your home. Contact us, or give us a call at 603.707.0630.