I'm not getting any sense as to where in your yard this proposed installation is going to be other than next to a pine tree. Does your house factor in somewhere? Will the patio be between the house and the pine tree? Is the tree the dominant or only feature of your space? In my round about way, I'm asking if perhaps there isn't a better spot to put a flat surface on which to place lawn chairs. Not all patios have to be square or rectangular- could be a semi-circle or a soft s-curve. But I somehow think of patios in terms of being connected to a house rather than a tree. I have a patio that I can access either from the back door of my garage or from the basement stair landing. I also have huge old spruce trees in my back yard; the understory of a few that have been limbed up is a good spot for ferns, wild flower escapes and my compost pile - I don't want to sit under there.

Thanks Karin for the heads up that we were given the right information...to keep the rocks away from the plants base. And hanging head on the sand cherry we most likely killed...It was fairly large...my husband got a decent size root ball but I felt he could have taken more. We did NOT trim the plant back so the volume of the top matched the volume of the roots. Once moved I've given it miracle grow and watered deep...But again we had it smothered with rocks up high on it's main base. Would it pay to trim the shrub shorter to after planted to help counter that we hadn't done it before transplanting? Thanks on the kind words of the waterfall...I was really trying to go with the "natural" look...then that weeping maple suckered me into purchasing it. We vacation around waterfall trails and have for years. So when I suggested a water fountain feature in the backyard...my son who was 11yrs. old at the time commented he felt that a waterfall would be more appropriate. And that is how it all started. I originally wanted a horseshoe of rocks placed so that a larger rock/bolder could sit a top. And have the bolder drilled and water come down over it. Which sort of reminded me of a smaller version waterfall called "Ash Cave" down in Hocking Hills area of Ohio. But the kit we purchased was HUGE...and the man working the bobcat and my husband felt we were going to be wasting so much materials by making as such...and it went from there. I do love it and the sound it makes. It's built into a hill so I really don't have a "HUGE" pile of rocks coming up unnaturally from the ground to form it. Our neighbors who walk by complain because you can't really see it from the road...but only hear it. But to make it any other way would of made it look more unnatural. On the corner from us the previous owners made a rock garden of large rocks...so what rocks you do see from our backyard when not viewing the waterfall...looks natural to the area I think because of what the previous neighbors did. One neighbor came by and visited...and teased that HGTV called and wants their waterfall back. lol We also have a porch swing back there along with a few chairs on the back patio. And off the other patio where we have a picnic table you can view the waterfall as well. So it's ideally placed for our own enjoyment... No one can get over the size rocks used to make this waterfall. I think that alone helps make it look more natural than using just smaller ones that one can lift with their hands. Big project took most of the summer. But well worth it.

Davemartin88 Â I too was faced with the dilemma of having 2 different approaches recommended to handle all the leaves that I will be fighting this fall. Below is a picture of our newly completed poolÂas you can see there will be lots of leaves! The approach that made the most sense to me was to include a negative edge in the pool design. This negative edge is 16 feet wide and basically a big skimmer for the pool when the negative edge pump is on. Since we opened the pool 2 weeks ago most of the leaves and other surface debris has end up in the negative edge pit rather than the skimmer basket or filter pump. The negative edge pit is 16 feet long by 3 feet wide by 3 feet deep (picture below) and easy enough to hand skim and pick up leaves from the bottom. I plan to build a leaf net this fall to cover this 16x3 pit to let water through but catch the leaves for even easier leaf removal. I also have a floor cleaning system in the main pool which does a good job with smaller debris and the small amount of leaves so far, but I can see this system struggling with any large volume of leaves that IÂll certainly have later this year. Hope this helps.

Suz, we are in Cypress as well and have been having one heck of a time with our PB. May I ask you who is building yours? Two weeks ago I came home and caught the tile guy just about to put in the WRONG tile. He assured me it is what I had picked but luckily for me I had taken photos of the sample and the numbers to the tile. We called the PB directly and I had to read the number to him before he agreed they had sent the wrong tile. Just yesterday, the plasterers came. I only found out when I got home. Guess what? Wrong plaster. So now, instead of chipping it all out, they only chipped out the incorrect plaster just below the water line and are going to bond the CORRECT pebbletec on over. I'm thinking they should chip all of the incorrect plaster out so that we don't have 2 coats w/the possibility of delamination but haven't heard back from them. They're scheduled to come tomorrow. :/ I will never recommend our PB!!