Sometimes, customers want something off the beaten path. Here, we’ll take you through some of the more surprising designs we’ve worked on.
In the past, a customer wanted a compass rose design on their concrete driveway. We even laid it out so that the points of the compass pointed in the correct directions.
Creating this driveway took about two days. First, we had to pick a center point and draw the shape out with a compass (a different kind of compass, this one is used to draw circles) and a straight edge so that the design would be geometric and symmetrical. Then we had to grind down into the concrete to make joints and then color the concrete between the joints. (To learn more about colors of concrete, check out our blog piece on pool decks.)
Another time, a client was interested in installing a Russian/Swedish fireplace (it goes by multiple names). Fun fact: this type of fireplace was developed in Russian and Scandinavian countries when houses did not have central heating—people would bake bread in them and sleep in alcoves on the fireplace to stay warm at night in sub-zero outside temperatures! This is an extremely large type of fireplace. The one we built was 4 by 8 by 12 feet high and was made of 8,000 bricks.
This type of fireplace can play a big role in heating the home. In this case, the fire would heat up the large amount of bricks. The bricks would then act as a thermal mass and help stabilize the temperature of the structure in the winter and keep the occupants of the house more comfortable. This was an early project for us and building this fireplace taught us about the uses and importance of thermal mass.
The fireplace has a multi-directional flue, which means that the flue does not go straight up. It curves up, down, and horizontally before making its way to the top of the house. Having a multi-directional flue prevents creosote buildup. Creosote is a flammable product of wood burning; it’s the material that is not quite burned to ash. It can adhere to fireplace surfaces and cause fires to spread to the rest of the house.
We have built houses on the two extremes of size. We’ve built houses up to 7,000 square feet and with five bedrooms. And we’ve built a few small homes that are 10 by 20 feet or even 10 by 14.
These mini houses have three little rooms—the largest room is a combination kitchen, dining, and living room and the other two rooms are a bathroom and bedroom. People are interested in these tiny homes because they are highly energy-efficient—there simply isn’t much to heat or cool. This can make them very inexpensive.
We have a sister company that creates pools, so we used this expertise to help us create a koi pond for a recent client. The pond itself is made of concrete—we formed the shape with rebar and then sprayed shotcrete (a type of sprayable concrete) over the rebar to create the 8 x 8 foot pond shape.
The 4 x 8 foot water filter is a specific sustainable kind called a bog filter that works like a natural bog in a wetlands environment. Water is pumped into the bottom of the bog filter and then has to filter up through different layers of rocks, starting with large rocks and moving to small at the top. The sediments filter out as the water rises and the cleaned water is returned to the pond. The nitrogen from fish waste is also filtered out, reducing the likelihood of algae growing in the pond, oxygenating the water, and hurting the fish.
We also added LED lights in the four corners of the pond to illuminate the pond even when its dark.
If you have a unique project in mind—reach out to Buildgreen Industries at 843-458-6811 or at buildgreenindustries@gmail.com!
