General Contractor-Insured-Home Improvement License-EPA Renovation firm & Technician
Retaining Wall and Patio
This courtyard area had long term water issues; runoff and dirt had piled up against the lower portion of the home for many years. The new retaining wall provided an opportunity to turn what had been a dirt slope into a private patio area off the master bedroom.
Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
I poured a 4' steel reinforced concrete backing to the retaining wall blocks to strengthen them.
I backfilled with crushed rock, then put down a layer of sand to bed the paving stones into.
I used these large pieces of Pennsylvania Blue Stone to pave the patio.
I traced each one onto some landscaping cloth, and used those pieces to plan my layout.
I had to carefully adjust the sand bedding underneath each piece.
I still had to make some cuts. I tried to make them look natural.
Chiarucci Construction LLC
Brick Wall to Hide The Bins
I built this brick wall to hide the unsightly collection of garbage cans and recycling bins at these clients home. I studied a number of brick walls and settled on this design with an open webbing in the center and a few other classic details. Chapel Hill, North Carolina
North Carolina, where this wall is located has a long history of manufacturing bricks for the east coast due to a fortuitous intersection of large clay deposits and large sand deposits -- the two key brick making ingredients, along with coal or wood. Interestingly there is a sand deposit of extraordinarily pure quartz in North Carolina out of which almost all of the high temperature crucibles in which silicon crystals are grown for the chip manufacturing industry are made.
Deck Project
This Deck has a pressure treated wood substructure with very durable Ipe deck boards as the surface. They are attached to the framing with hidden fasteners on the edges of the boards. The railing and the arbor are made from cedar, which is another durable outdoor wood. Burlington, Vermont
I built a stone retaining wall to create a flat area next to the deck.
Barbecue Table
I built this table for a barbecue eatery in Taos, New Mexico. The Douglas Fir was harvested from the surrounding mountains by a local sawmill, which happened to have on hand some of the chunks of bark covered log which I used in parts of this project.
Wood Shed
These clients burned an efficient Swedish wood stove to heat their home. I built this wood shed for their firewood. This pressure treated wood shed has a galvanized tin roof with a generous overhang and is carefully raised off the forested floor on concrete pads to maximize its lifespan.
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
I minimized the impact of the structure on the roots and trees around it.
Screen Porch
This screen porch has a regular reinforced concrete foundation supporting it. The screen porch is south facing. Carborro, North Carolina.
I built a regular foundation with an above grade stem wall, which would allow it easily be converted to a regular living space if the client ever wants to.
The block wall has been filled with concrete and stuccoed,
and gravel placed under the new structure.
I added these two large skylights to let natural light into the interior of the home through the two glass doors.
I used a tongue and groove pressure treated wood flooring for the porch, nailed down with stainless steel flooring cleats. I sealed and sanded it with multiple coats of exterior spar urethane. I put one coat on the underside of the floor, to slow and even out the moisture absorption from the outdoor air.
You can see that the screens go continuously from post to post. I used a great aluminum channel product called, 'Screen- EZ'. On the roof line I matched the eave design and dimensions with the existing house detail for a seamless blended look.
We initially just put the two larger rails in, but the city ended up requiring the full railing set up, for standard safety reasons.
Truck Storage Box
This was one of my work trucks, from some years ago. I built this box for tool storage. I could compare it to a wooden boat; its probably more work than you would have wished, requires more upkeep than you would like, and is heavier too. Is this an outdoor project? technically it is. Thank you for looking through my outdoor projects page.
