Advice & guides — Lake Norman, NC

Notes from the jobsite.

Practical guidance on materials, drainage, walls and maintenance, written from what we actually run into on Lake Norman properties.

Est. 2018Locally owned

8 guidesWritten by our crew

Lake NormanLocal conditions

(01) All articles

Everything we have written down.

Costs & planning · 6 min read

Two patios the same size can differ enormously in price. Here is what moves the number, and which savings cost you more later.

Materials · 5 min read

Both work here. But our clay and our freeze-thaw cycles push the answer one way more often than the other.

Retaining walls · 7 min read

Almost every failed wall we are called to has the same three causes. None of them is the block.

Materials · 7 min read

Heat underfoot, freeze-thaw, shade and algae. Five surfaces, and what each is genuinely good and bad at here.

Drainage · 6 min read

Water is the most common thing we are called about, and the most commonly mis-diagnosed. Start with where it comes from, not where it sits.

Outdoor living · 6 min read

The ones that go unused are rarely under-equipped. They are usually badly placed, short on counter, or dark by eight o'clock.

Maintenance · 5 min read

Sealing is worth doing and easy to do badly. Timing, frequency, and the mistake that turns a patio cloudy.

Lakefront · 7 min read

Slope, access and permitting all change when the lake is at the bottom of the garden. Here is what a shoreline project really involves.

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