Springlake Patio

Call us: 410-667-8900

Timonium, MD

Project Summary

The Springlake Community of Timonium Maryland is a charming neighborhood filled with young families, a community pond and highly rated schools within walking distance. It is a great neighborhood for families.

Client Needs

Recently purchasing this home within the last 5 years, our clients had previously completed a few interior renovations for entertaining their family and friends, but also wanted to create more of an outdoor entertaining space as the interior of the house totaled only 1,600 S.F. Helping them initially establish a budget, our clients were able to create their 1,000 S.F. dream outdoor living space for under $50,000

Design Phase

Understanding our clients needs for more entertaining space, we knew adding features like a costly built in fire pit or outdoor kitchen were unnecessary and would totally blow their budget. We instead shifted our focus towards more space overall by designing a clean rectangular entertaining area with multiple spaces of use and incorporating retaining walls at seat height to maximize seating. In total, they now have 48 feet of seating space in retaining walls.

Construction Challenges

Installing a patio on a slope has a few challenges. This particular backyard was sloped toward the back of the home where an existing covered patio was present. It was essential to adapt our construction methods to the site conditions.

Engineering was meticulously performed to establish precise elevations for the new patio and retaining walls.

We were also able to add a French drain behind the new wall of the covered patio to help mitigate drainage. The sub-base of clay soil was excavated to a depth to allow for a geo-textile fabric to be installed for ground stability to prevent future shifting. A level layer of large #2 stone was added across the base of the patio before installing the normal 4 inches of crushed stone for the paver patio base.

Features in This Project:

Incorporating North American Natives to the Landscape

Along with retaining a few existing plants, the client wanted to incorporate native plants into the design.

The final design featured a landscape composed of approximately 80% plants native to North America. Because natives have naturally evolved to grow in our area, they are used to out “Crazy Maryland Weather” and are therefore prepared for the potential of a late or early frost. This readiness for the swings in temperatures make natives lower maintenance than other ornamental plants. Native plants are less susceptible to pests and disease as they are naturally occurring in our geographical area. Being more resistant to pests and disease limits the need for harmful insecticides and pesticides.

Finally, birds, butterflies and pollinators in our area have co-evolved with native plants and have therefore developed a mutually beneficial food web. The flowers and berries of native plants produce more nectars and sugars than ornamental plants and are therefore more valuable to wildlife.

Composing a landscape with native plants is an easy, effective and beautiful way to help restore the environment.

Creating a Warm and Inviting Atmosphere

For this project, the client wanted a warm rustic style patio that seamlessly blended with their current landscape backdrop we created for them the year before. We achieved this by using different rustic textures and pops of warm color.

The landscape design offers curved garden beds that add geometric texture that blends with the sleek lines of patio. We used 80% native plants for this project to help absorb water, while also incorporating a rose hedge behind the new seat wall that has a max growth height of 24”, which will become slightly higher than the seat wall and visible from all seating areas.

The hardscape was particularly fun to design as we incorporated rustic natural bluestone with our Techo-Bloc BLU 60 slate slabs. The slate texture provides depth in creating the clients warm rustic space.

The curved sidewalk of irregular Antika pavers creates a nice contrast to the cleaned lined BLU 60 pavers and Architectural wall. Gray polymeric sand between the brown Antika pavers add depth along with the finishing touches of thermaled natural bluestone pillar caps.

All of these products were chosen to help create a beautiful space for our clients to relax, entertain and enjoy the outdoors!