Oct / Nov 2003 - Eleanor & James Virkler (Galena Territory)

ELEMENTS: Brick driveway & walkway, native stone walls, lawn

The Virkler home sits atop a ridge in the SE corner of the Galena Territory. With a long view of a beautiful, undisturbed valley off the back deck, the home is perfectly positioned to take advantage of the hiking trails and wilderness the Galena Territory offers. (Of course, for those of us who will not bow to the tremendous societal pressure to hike or exercise or in any way make an effort to stay in shape, there is a General Store that sells Ben & Jerry's two minutes away.)

The centerpiece of the Virkler's hardscape is a cobble brick driveway. As you can see from the photos, the driveway has almost every imaginable brick installation challenge: sweeping curves, a complex pattern with multiple brick sizes, an 8' circular centerpiece, drainage issues, sharp elevation changes, intricate edge cuts and a slab of shelf rock just a little higher than we would have hoped (or maybe tectonic plate, it was pretty big). Basically, this project was kind of a brick setting SAT. (Note: any job site problems can be blamed on the cultural bias of the test.)

The Virklers chose a color combination (Golden Brown) that picks up the outside colors of the home and roof quite nicely. The brick is a multi sized cobble (6" x 9", 6" x 6" & 6" x 3" if needed) with wavy, rounded edges set into a "I" pattern. That is, the 6" x 9" bricks form "I"s, with the smaller brick filling the gaps. Besides being attractive, the "I" pattern helps distribute car weight much better than a typical running pattern. The entire drive and walk is bordered with the larger brick set in a "soldier row" to give the edge more stability.

The focus of the driveway as you pull down is an eight foot diameter centerpiece. The Virklers wanted something with interest in the large parking / turnaround area. After rejecting a 30' "Timp Landscaping, Inc." symbol (hey, people pay good money for the Nike logo, I thought they might go for it), we settled upon a circle of some size and shape. Once everyone agreed on an 8' diameter for the centerpiece, we tried to place the circle. Of course, since the parking area has no natural center, everyone (Eleanor, Jim, the foreman, the workers, myself) had a different opinion. How was it solved you ask? Basically, all of the men got together and figured out a logical and mathematically precise location. Then we put it where Eleanor said 'cause that looked better.

We would like to thank the Virklers for allowing us to show you their hardscape.

PLEASE CLICK ON PICS TO ENLARGE.