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Well, at the NHI Dream Home, it’s pretty darn green on all sides, thanks to John Doughty and his crew at Doughty Landscape Construction LLC in Durham. Doughty’s group brought to life the tropical-themed landscape design created by Julie Carlson of Carlson Designs in Raleigh. They planted greenery; installed drainage and irrigation systems; and constructed all the hardscape features, including a circular drive, a driveway across the entryway bridge, back porches and patios, and steps leading down to the pool area. The driveways, porches and patios were paved using Belgard interlocking concrete pavers manufactured by Oldcastle Architectural Products Group and supplied by Goria Enterprises in Greensboro. Belgard products—the “walls and floors for your outdoors,” according to the company slogan—are the best available, insists Doughty. “I don’t use anything other than Belgard,” he says, adding that the steps he used are also a Belgard product. Belgard pavers come in many styles and colors. A terra-cotta colored Mega-Bergerac style was chosen for the driveways, porches and patios on this project. According to Doughty, it is a large stone that balances the size of the house. Also, he adds, “it has a tumbled antique look, like an old, cobbled road,” which complements the NHI Dream Home’s style. As for the terra-cotta color, Doughty notes that it contrasts nicely with the stone on the house, while playing up the red in the roof.
Proper installation of Belgard pavers is the key to a great looking, long-lasting surface, says Patterson, noting, “We spend a tremendous amount of time educating the contractors to make sure they meet our quality installation standard.” To become an authorized Belgard contractor (as Doughty is), a contractor must: hold an ICPI (Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute) certification; allow a Belgard representative to inspect a minimum of 10 jobs in which the contractor uses different products installed in different patterns over a period of at least one year; and, offer a guarantee on workmanship for five years, with Belgard guaranteeing the product for the lifetime of the home. While the NHI Dream Home offered an opportunity for Belgard products to be showcased, the company’s involvement in the project served another, perhaps even more important, purpose. “We want to be as generous back to the community as we possibly can,” says Patterson.
Other companies contributing to the NHI Dream Home’s
landscape were John Deere Landscapes in Apex, which supplied the plants,
and Hunter Industries in Cary, which supplied the irrigation product. ▪
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Doughty
points out that one of the advantages of choosing interlocking pavers over
an ordinary concrete driveway is that pavers are installed so that the
surface is flexible and therefore resists cracking. Also, he adds, if an
individual paver does get damaged, it can be removed and replaced without
disturbing the integrity of the surrounding pavement. Another factor to
consider, says Billy Patterson, sales manager with Goria Enterprises, is
that the compressive strength of a typical residential driveway made of
interlocking pavers is 8,000 psi, compared with 3,000 psi for the average
concrete driveway.