Latest from the Blog

Leaving garden structures alone and not prepping until spring is a common practice for many people. In many cases, there isn’t a lot of harm that comes from this. However, winter damage comes from the slow and cumulative nature of the season. Over winter the structures will get moisture collecting in the joints, hairline cracks…

Metal railings are often ignored during the planning phase of a project in favor of gates. This is reasonable as gates are the part that gets used most and perhaps deserve more attention. However, railings to the side of the gate are an afterthought and are specified, if at all, as a last minute requirement.…

The practical distinctions between different types of awnings is important to understand when making a purchasing decision. This is especially the case with cassettes vs. open-roll awnings since in many ways the choice made will shape the consumer’s experience with the awning for its entire lifespan. Because of the decision’s permanency, open-roll awnings should be…

How we approach the boundary of our property lines has completely transformed over the years with contemporary design thinking. Gone are the days of selecting and installing mass produced gates and never thinking about it again. We are now more highly involved in the design process. Here’s the latest thinking on the subject.   Modern…

The answer you will get from most manufacturers is twenty-five years, sometimes more. That figure is not dishonest, but it describes performance under fairly specific conditions that do not always match what a fence actually faces once it is installed. Understanding what drives longevity — and what shortens it — is more useful than treating…

Heat treatment of timber is an age-old technique we see in some tricks of Scandinavian construction. More recently in the past decades, this technique has taken the UK/Central Europe by storm. Because of its prevalence, garden designers, decking installers and manufacturers have jumped on the bandwagon. Sometimes, this enthusiasm is warranted, and other times it…

Manufacturers typically provide a 25-plus year lifespan estimate. While such claims are not completely falsified, they only reflect optimism under specific, rare conditions. There are plenty of external conditions beyond the manufacturers’ control that negatively impact a fence. For the consumer’s benefit, time estimates on lifespan are not guarantees. It’s more useful to assess fence…

If you’ve ever wondered why tongue and groove cladding is still being used in everything from garden rooms to commercial fit-outs, the reason is simple: it works! And it works subtly. Tongue and groove is cleverly designed to work with the way wood naturally wants to expand and contract. It does this by allowing one…

One version of this article straight up says wrought iron gates are worth the expense. Another version says modern steel gates are a worthy substitute. Yet another version says wrought iron is antiquated and steel gates are superior. The truth is neither of those versions are correct. Both materials present a strong argument, and the…

One of the great frustrations associated with owning a beautifully crafted wooden gate is knowing that you will spend a decade or more maintaining it by repainting, re-staining, and/or watching as it slowly decays and splits despite your best efforts. Composite gates were designed as a solution to these problems by offering materials that mimic…