If you're thinking about making some home
improvements this year, consider increasing the value
of your home with the addition of a deck. A deck
can give you more living space and bring the feel-
ing of the great outdoors right to your back yard.
Whether you do-it-yourself or hire a pro, a
deck can add long-lasting beauty and richness to
your daily living. For many families, decks are the
place that many memories begin.
Redwood has long been the decking materi-
al of choice because of its unsurpassed natural
beauty -- nothing beats the look and feel of red-
wood for outdoor living! Redwood is also a popu-
lar choice for its classic low maintenance. It's easy
to keep redwood looking like new, or perfectly
okay to virtually ignore it and watch your deck
take on a distinguished, gray weathered look.
Why Redwood?
Redwood has qualities not found in other
woods. Redwood is still less likely to warp, shrink
or crack than other woods, so redwood projects age
beautifully.
Redwood is naturally resistant to insects, decay
and fire. If you want your deck to feature the dis-
tinctive warm red color that attracts many con-
sumers to redwood in the first place, it's easy. A stain
or finish can enhance the color of a redwood deck
while giving additional protection to the wood.
Redwood contains little or no pitch, which means
no other wood takes and holds finishes better.
If you choose to finish your deck, use a prod-
uct that contains a water repellent, a mildewcide and
ultra violet protection. The California Redwood
Association Web site offers tips on finishing red-
wood as well as complete plans for decks, gaze-
bos and outdoor furniture to help make sure all your
back yard projects come out looking great.
By choosing redwood, you'll discover the
advantages of working with a quality building mate-
rial. Redwood is soft and strong, so it's easy to
saw. To avoid splitting, pre-drill holes for nails or
screws at the ends of the decking boards. Always
use top-quality, hot-dipped galvanized, stainless
steel or aluminum hardware to keep nail rust stains
from forming on the deck over time.
Redwood also cleans up easily. Sweep it free
of debris and dirt, and occasionally wash off mildew.
If you like to barbecue, it's a great choice -- grease
comes out with any number of commercially avail-
able products.
Planning the Deck
A beautiful, versatile redwood deck can enhance
your lifestyle and create a perfect environment
for relaxing or entertaining. Equally important, a
deck is a long-term investment that increases the
resale value of your home. Here are some basic plan-
ning, design and building tips for the deck of your
dreams.
Ask yourself some creative questions so you're
sure to get the deck you want. How much sun-
light will your deck receive at different times of the
day and at different times of the year? Do you
want all sun, all shade or a combination of both?
Do you have outdoor furniture that should fit on
the deck? Would you like built in benches? Will there
be room for potted plants or planters? What about
a grill?
Seek deck building ideas and advice from
libraries, book stores and home centers. And
while it is a project you can do on your own, you
may want professional advice. If a deck is over
six feet, you need special bracing; a contractor
can help ensure you meet building and zoning
codes; an electrician can help with wiring and
lighting, should you decide to install it.
Consider the landscape surrounding the deck
area. Shrubs, trees, walkways and ground cover
all play an important role in how the deck functions
and looks. Even raised decks require some sort
of ground cover beneath.
Environmentally Friendly Building Material
Redwood is an excellent choice for green liv-
ing. Redwood is a renewable resource grown and
harvested in accordance with some of the high-
est environmental standards in the world. In fact,
California's redwood forests are managed to help
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and redwood
products store carbon, the most talked about green-
house gas, for hundreds of years.
Old-growth redwoods -- trees that can be
more than 1,000 years old, are protected in public
parks and preserves and roughly 95 percent of
land that was redwood forests when European
settlers arrived on the West Coast is still redwood
forest today. The redwood used for decks and
other outdoor projects comes from younger trees
on privately managed forestlands where state and
federal laws protect water quality, conserve wildlife
habitat, and ensure sustainability -- meaning that
redwood forests will stand tall for generations.
Redwood and other wood products also require
far less energy to produce than alternative build-
ing materials like concrete or plastic, making wood
an excellent choice for green building.
Visit www.calredwood.org for more informa-
tion about building with redwood and easy to fol-
low building plans for Redwood projects.
Courtesy of ARAcontentx
Landscape lighting used to be sim-
ple. A few recessed cans lining the front
path, a couple downlights tucked in the
trees, and you were done. Not anymore.
When it comes to the great outdoors,
homeowners have seen the light.
"Today, people aren't just lighting
up the walkways so they can see their way
to the door at night, and putting floods
near the garage. They're finding ways to
illuminate the landscaping they've spent
so much time and money on so they
can enjoy it at night," says Joe Rey-Bar-
reau, education consultant for the Amer-
ican Lighting Association (ALA) and
associate professor at the University of
Kentucky.
Rey-Barreau tracks the latest trends
among lighting dealers and designers and
says, "This spring, we're going to see a
lot of changes in outdoor lighting prac-
tices. Landscape lighting is now being
used as a means to extend living space
so people can enjoy the best of both the
inside and outside worlds. I see the focus
this spring being on techniques that
bring light closer to the house, and make
the space more aesthetically pleasing
in an unobtrusive manner," he says.
Gone are the days of the big, bold
lanterns that used to line people's walks.
Rey-Barreau says this year, the hottest
trend will be to instead decorate with
light from non-visible sources. Among
the options for this: uplighting, down-
lighting and shadowing.
Uplighting is produced by shining
a light up on a tree, statue or bench in
the yard to highlight to give it defini-
tion, texture or even dimensionality.
Downlighting is created by hanging the
light source in the trees or from the
rooftop and shining it on the area below.
This technique is often used to improve
visibility for security reasons. And with
shadowing you use spot or flood lights
placed at ground level, or in-ground fix-
tures placed in front of an object to throw
its shadow on a wall behind it as a dec-
orative feature.
Richard Lentz, president of Lentz
Landscape Lighting in Dallas, Texas,
says people's desire to enhance their
outdoor living space has played a big
role in his business in recent years. "Peo-
ple have come to realize it's a shame to
just ignore all those great spaces they've
created outdoors because it's dark out-
side, so they're hiring us to come up
with ways to incorporate the landscape
into their night life," says Lentz.
Two examples of how Lentz uses
lighting to transform a space for his
clients:
· Moonlighting Effect
For a courtyard off the dining room,
kitchen or even a bedroom, it is possible
to create a moonlight effect that makes
it seem like the courtyard is part of the
space. "In this situation, we would install
a Mercury Vapor light that casts cool
light high in a tree to create the effect of
moonlight, and complement it with a
halogen lamp that lights up a fountain,
sculpture or bench in the courtyard,"
says Lentz.
· Lighting a Walkway
One of the most popular ways to light
a walkway is with a runway effect where
there are lights on both sides of the
path, but Lentz says that distracts from
the environment. "I prefer to filter light
through the trees above to light up a
sidewalk or steps. It gives you a real
nice, natural effect."
While expanding living space and
decorating with lighting are popular
reasons to put in landscape lighting,
security is also an important factor.
Chris Primous, product manager for
Progress Lighting says he's seeing a
trend towards people installing light-
ing that will keep their homes bright
and visible from the road.
"Just because the purpose of the
light is security doesn't mean it should-
n't be decorative," Primous says. "You
can use spotlights and flood lights to
both light the area and accent preva-
lent architectural features of the home's
structure or notable landscaping ele-
ments."
For instance, if the home has a beau-
tiful stone facade, a grazing technique
with carefully placed accent fixtures
(ideally six to twelve inches from the sur-
face) will bring out the texture to cre-
ate a visually stunning picture from the
curb. Similarly, tall columns can be high-
lighted by using closely placed ground-
mounted spotlights or in-grade fixtures
with very narrow sources that will real-
ly bring out the height and showcase
the architectural features of the column.
Jeff Dross of Kichler Lighting points
out, "People have come to realize that if
you want your home's lighting job done
right, you need to bring in a professional.
As you get more creative people involved,
it leads to more creative solutions and a
better result. We're seeing a definite
maturing of the field."
To learn more about landscape light-
ing, or to find a licensed lighting pro-
fessional in your area who can help you
take advantage of the latest technolo-
gy, go to www.AmericanLightingAs-
soc.com or call (800) BRIGHT IDEA
(800-274-4484).
Courtesy of ARAcontent
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8
Saturday, June 30, 2007
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Today's Home
Saturday, June 30, 2007
5
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