September 2, 2025 • 38 mins
Discover how to incorporate existing trees into your landscape design, the importance of consulting an arborist, and the impact of trees on property value and well-being. Learn practical tips for preserving tree health during construction, managing root systems, and navigating the challenges of working with different types of trees. Join Mike and Trey Farley of Farley Pool Designs as they share insights from over 40 years of transforming backyards into luxurious retreats. Plus, get a look into innovative outdoor living features and must-have barbecue equipment.
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00:00 Welcome to Luxury Outdoor Living 01:28 The Importance of Trees in Landscape Design 03:15 Challenges and Benefits of Trees in Your Backyard 05:05 Working with Professional Arborists 09:09 Protecting Trees During Construction 16:18 BBQ Bits: Special Burner 19:12 Innovative Burners for Better Flames 20:01 Understanding Tree Health with Arborists 21:53 Challenges of Growing Trees in Crowded Spaces 24:25 Tree Care During Construction Projects 25:18 Planning Pools Around Trees 27:16 The Importance of Proper Trenching 30:44 Designing Creative Pool Spaces 31:08 The Jungle Lazy River Project 35:29 Incorporating Trees into Pool Designs 37:24 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Intro (00:02):
Welcome to Luxury Outdoor Living Podcast with Mike and Trey
Farley of Farley Pool Designs.
For over 40 years, we've helpedhomeowners turn their backyards
into personal retreats, spaces ofjoy, relaxation and unforgettable
memories, and whether it's a cozy as.
Scape or a resort style oasis.
We design it all.
(00:24):
We know how overwhelming a projectcan feel, and nothing feels worse than
a homeowner having a bad experience.
And that's why after decades of designingand teaching in this industry, we're
here to share our knowledge, helping you.
The process with confidence.
Every week we break down designtrends and insider tips that
turn your vision into reality.
(00:45):
And since this is about creating somethingamazing together, drop a comment.
If you have any questions, ideas, orjust want to be part of the conversation,
if you find this helpful, a like helpsget this out to more people like you.
And if you want to keep upwith what's next, go ahead
and hit that subscribe button.
We'd love to have you along for the ride.
Let's build your paradise together.
Mike (01:12):
afternoon.
This is Mike Farley with Farley PoolDesigns hosting the Luxury Outdoor
Living Podcast with my co-host.
Trey (01:20):
Trey Farley.
Happy to be here.
Happy to be back.
Went on a little vacation, got alittle bit of a suntan and we got
some interesting topics today.
Mike (01:27):
Yeah.
So I love going to Colorado.
Yes, you do.
And part of what I love going toColorado is hiking in the mountains.
I love the pine trees and the sprucetrees and the aspen trees and the
whole setting, walking throughthe wilderness, being in nature.
Yeah.
It's a lot of fun.
So a lot of people call me a tree hugger.
Okay.
(01:48):
I grew up in Lubbock, Texas, and wehad one tree in our yard, so it's
not as bad as a lot of people think.
Trey (01:55):
It wasn't a, a big old pine or spruce.
Mike (01:57):
No, it wasn't a spy or a spruce or an oak.
it was like not a really good tree.
we had one.
But.
I've over the years, worked on a lotof projects and the reason that I've
gotten those projects is because I paidattention to the trees on the property.
Trey (02:14):
Yes, you're very detailed and good at incorporating the trees in the
design and making sure they don't die.
Mike (02:20):
so there's a lot of people that buy their home and one of the
things that attracts them to theirhome that they have is the number
of trees that are on the property.
Yeah.
you know when people value thatthere are clients that I ask,
what's sacred in the backyard?
And they're like, you can'ttake a single tree out.
Trey (02:39):
Then there's jobs where they have a bunch of trees and
it's like, okay, you can take outthese, but this one's my favorite.
Mike (02:44):
Don't mess with that one.
Yeah.
There's key things that, you lookat to try to come up with a nicely
designed space, and a lot of timesthat helps create a certain atmosphere
by, the alternative is taking 'em out.
If you take 'em out, then you'vereduced the amount of privacy that you
have between you and the neighbors.
(03:05):
Yes.
You've reduced the amount of shadethat you've had on the property.
You get less sense of a spacethat you have 'cause you're
just open to all the neighbors.
And there's people that say treesreduce stress and provide, more mental
wellness, which we're into that.
So the flat other thing is toincrease the value of property.
(03:26):
I didn't know that.
Yeah.
So you, interesting.
You can buy a house.
That has a tree on it and you can buy thesame house that doesn't have a tree on it.
People will pay more forthe one with the tree.
Trey (03:36):
It makes sense.
'cause you have to pay money to plant it.
Yeah.
Mike (03:38):
Plus they provide a lot of beauty and enjoyment.
now a hundred percent you do, youget some challenges with trees
Trey (03:45):
also.
It's like.
do you want to be looking at just a fence?
Because like when we have theyards where it's no trees at all.
The background is just a fence, right?
Versus having trees which arein between the fence and it's
creating layers for that backdrop,
Mike (03:57):
It gives you a feeling of more depth that gives you an
edge to the project sometimes.
The other thing you know though,that you get with trees is
in our house is squirrels.
Trey (04:08):
Squirrels.
You have to.
The leaves fall.
There's a lot of different thingsthat tie into trees with maintenance
that people would look at negatively.
There's a lot of people thatdon't want trees at all just
because of the maintenance.
Mike (04:18):
Yeah.
So there's some peoplethat like pave it all.
I don't want any green andgrowers in this backyard at all.
we've got clients that haveput in artificial turf and
they've put in artificial.
Boxwoods and mm-hmm.
plantings.
And we've got an upcomingepisode all on Vista Folia.
Yeah.
cause some people are really into itand we talked about illuminated trees.
(04:41):
Yeah.
Which is a, an artificial tree as well.
There's a lot of
Trey (04:43):
metal trees out there as well.
And just overall artificial fixturesthat kind of replicate those
natural items in the backyard.
Mike (04:50):
But some people are like, I want.
To keep my trees.
Mm-hmm.
So if we've determined that they'resacred, we need to work around them.
There's certain parameters that you wannalook at when you're working around trees.
Yeah.
So the first thing that I tellpeople all the time is, have you
talked to a professional arborist?
Okay.
And the reason why you wanna talkto a professional arborist is.
(05:14):
You may wanna workaround a particular tree.
Let's assess the health of this tree.
Yes.
Because this tree may be on its lastleg and gonna die in two or three years.
Yeah.
And
Trey (05:23):
then you dig the pool and they blame it on you for killing
it when it dies in the next year.
Mike (05:27):
Yeah.
So that's the first thing.
And a lot of times when they build a home.
They don't take a lot ofconsideration of these type things
to protect the trees, and they'vedamaged the tree's on its way out.
And you know, as soon as we dig the pool,then it turns up, it's little leaves
and they all turn brown and fall off.
And then it's like, you killed my tree.
(05:48):
Yeah.
now I'm in trouble.
Trey (05:50):
Is there a way to guarantee that a tree won't die?
Mike (05:52):
No.
Okay.
So I'm not guarantee,I've never told anybody.
I guarantee you we won't kill your tree.
Trey (05:59):
I mean that when you go to the doctor's office and you take
some medicine, they don't guaranteethere's never gonna be any issues.
Right.
Mike (06:05):
So now there's certain trees that are really, really hard to kill.
Yeah.
But you could still kill 'em.
I mean, A crate Myrtle a lot of timesit takes a lot to kill a creek Myrle.
takes a lot to kill a cedar tree.
Yeah.
But, those are moreexceptions than to the rule.
And then there's other things, ifyou look at 'em twice like a post oak
(06:26):
or a blackjack oak which is commonhere in North Texas get anywhere
near them and they're just gonna
Trey (06:32):
die.
And then you also have uncommon treesthat are planted here, like palm trees.
Mike (06:36):
Yes, there are palm trees.
And palm trees are actually pretty easyto work around because the root system's
not that extensive, but the root system iswhere if you're gonna work around it, it's
what everything boils down to is what.
Amount of roots can we keepand keep this tree alive.
So how close can we work to it?
So some people's point of reference isthe drip line, which is basically the
(06:59):
outer edges of the trees leaves mm-hmm.
is the branches branch out, it'sout at the edge of your fingertips
is, and they say that's how far youneed to stay away from the canopy.
The trunk of the tree is the whole canopy.
The drip line.
Now I've worked with arborists innorth Texas, predominantly the tree
(07:20):
that we work around as a post oak.
Yes.
So with a post oak, the arborist'srule of thumb is for every
inch across the tree's trunk.
Okay.
So if you put a ruler up thereand it measures from edge to edge.
12 inches.
Not wrapping it around, but just if youjust stick the ruler straight across there
Trey (07:40):
is that the fattest part of the trunk?
Is that the very base whereit starts to slope up?
So usually
Mike (07:45):
about eye level
Trey (07:47):
up.
Okay.
And now I wonder if you have atree that forks off into two or
three and you have the same trunk.
Mike (07:53):
Oh, that's a great question.
So the rule of thumb that I look at thereis I'm gonna assess the individual trunks.
By themselves.
Trey (08:01):
Individual trees, even though they're tied together
at a base, even though they're
Mike (08:04):
tied together at the base, just because they slammed up against each
other, doesn't make them a 36 inch tree.
If there's three 12 by 12, okay.
Trunks.
So I'm gonna look at it as a 12 inch.
So you measure the incheswe're measuring across there.
I get.
12 inches.
Okay.
The, what the arborist told meto do is multiply that by 10.
(08:24):
Okay.
So now I have 120 inches.
That's the diameter of thespace that I have to protect.
Okay.
So that's 10 feet.
Yeah.
So I like to be a little generous, andso I work with one inch equals one foot.
Real simple.
Okay.
So if it's 12 inches,then I'm 12 foot across.
(08:45):
That gives me a littlebit of leeway either way.
Just in case I don't preciselylocate the trunk exactly where it is.
Trey (08:53):
Yeah.
And you also see where people mighthave planned I mean we've walked
other jobs before and you couldtell the guy to dig a certain way.
And stuff happens.
So more is, room for comfort.
Mike (09:06):
Yeah.
So it's nice to have a little cushion.
Yes.
Okay.
So the first thing you have to dois establish where that tree is.
So sometimes people are like I gota tree survey and the tree survey
says this is where all the trees are.
Which is great, but then where's yourhouse in relationship to that tree survey?
Exactly.
And so sometimes they movethe house around a little bit
(09:27):
and it's not exactly there.
I mean, If you move two or threefeet off, this is a big deal.
Trey (09:32):
Yeah.
'cause your design depends on it.
It's not like, oh, you canjust make sure the tree.
Is dug around correctly.
It's tied into the actual designof the pool and where the pool
is located compared to the house.
Mike (09:42):
So all the pieces have to, the puzzle have to fit together.
Mm-hmm.
So, So what we do is we go out, andthis is something I did for decades and.
Now you get to do that.
Trey (09:53):
So much fun.
So much fun.
Mike (09:55):
So especially
Trey (09:55):
in the middle of summer.
Yeah.
Mike (09:56):
At least you got shade.
That
Trey (09:58):
is true.
Mike (09:58):
Most
Trey (09:59):
of the time
Mike (09:59):
with the trees.
At least with the trees.
So we have to locate thattree's location on the property.
Yes.
So in relative to the house.
So once we've located the tree,we have to assess the size.
And then the other thing wehave to figure out is what.
The elevation.
The elevation, yes.
And the reason why is that's probablythe most critical thing is the height
(10:22):
that this tree is at because they'reall gonna be at different heights.
Trey (10:27):
Can you put something over the tree's base?
So if I wanted to pave everything, can Ijust put travertine all the way around it?
Mike (10:34):
All the way.
Are you asking Up to the trunk?
Up to the trunk?
Okay.
No, I know the answer.
Yeah.
Okay.
No.
So we've gotta stay a certaindistance away because what
the tree needs is two things.
Okay.
It needs three things.
Yeah.
So it needs air.
Yes.
Okay.
For the tree to live, it needs air.
The other thing the treeneeds is it needs moisture.
Okay.
(10:54):
Okay.
So there's two things that peoplehave said to me over the years.
What if we bring in more stuff?
Higher than the existingtree grade to begin with.
Is that a problem?
Trey (11:06):
If you're changing the grade of the tree?
Mike (11:08):
If you were changing the grave, the elevation, yeah.
Around the tree.
Yes.
That's the issue.
Okay.
So I just tell people it's likethrowing a blanket over your head.
Let's take all of your air away.
Do you have a problem?
Yes.
Okay.
Yes.
You breathe you can't breathe,and you're gonna pass out or die.
Okay.
And so the tree's gonna do thesame thing if you put a bunch
of stuff on top of its roots.
Trey (11:28):
Okay?
So in the construction process.
What if I have a little catrunning around in the backyard?
Is it okay if the catruns over all the roots?
Mike (11:36):
does your cat have four legs or is it a track cat?
What kind?
Track cat.
Okay.
So not a four-legged cat.
I think that would be fine.
Okay.
Yes.
Usually that's a fine situation.
So we have a bobcat Yes.
That's driving around and it'sdriving over the roots of the tree.
Does that create a problem?
what it can do is it can create compactionto the root system of the tree and
(11:59):
therefore accomplish the same exact thing.
And the fact that now you've limitedthe air and the moisture that's
coming to the root system of that.
Okay, so there's a coupleof things that can be done.
So the first thing.
You want to do to protect the treeis usually put some fencing around
this area that you've determinedmathematically how big it needs to
(12:20):
be and you need to stay outta there.
And that means we don't want guysdriving their pickup trucks underneath
the tree and eat lunch every day.
Yeah.
Okay.
Because great spot to eat though.
It is a great spot to eat.
Have a little siesta.
Yeah.
So this is extremelyhelpful if you do this.
When they're starting theconstruction of the home.
If there's gonna be house as well.
(12:41):
Yeah.
Because they're the main culpritsso you want to protect the roots
of the tree from compaction.
You want to prevent.
Them from having stufflifted on top of it.
You want to prevent them fromcutting the roots as well.
Trey (12:56):
Oh, that's bad.
And you don't wanna cut the root system.
Mike (12:59):
No.
So cutting the root systemis let's cut your arm off.
Ooh.
And see how well you do.
So not good.
No.
not a good thing unless you'reon mighty python and have to
defend yourself or something.
The trees has to have a certainamount of root system to continue
the air and moisture that itneeds, so it performs well.
Now, there's certain times of the year.
(13:21):
That there's gonna be less damage ona tree, and that's when it's dormant.
if you're gonna do construction it'san ideal for trees to do it off season.
But that's generallynot gonna be a choice.
That's gonna be, most peopleare like, I want to do it now.
Because I want it now.
But, you wanna come in and putsome fencing, A lot of times we'll
come in with some orange fenceand put that around the radius.
(13:42):
And one of the things I alwayscracks me up, I've seen people come
in and they've put two by foursup against the trunk of the tree.
Yeah.
And wrapped it around that andsay, oh, I've protected the tree.
Yeah.
Okay.
You have, okay, you'veprotected the trunk.
Mm-hmm.
Which would've been a great thing.
Because once upon a time I builta swimming pool in my personal
(14:03):
backyard and I did not do this.
And I didn't put fencing around allthe trees, root systems to prevent
things to drive through because, therewere so many trees in our backyard.
And so I had to give them some access.
They had a new employeethat was moving some stone.
Yeah.
And
Trey (14:22):
not by hand.
Mike (14:23):
with a bobcat.
Yes.
And he didn't know how todrive the bobcat very well.
Not a good idea.
No.
And he basically bounced off the treetrunks in this area of my backyard
and basically killed three trees.
That were supposed to stay integralto the uh, backyard design.
Trey (14:43):
So in that scenario, the two by fours would've been a good idea.
Mike (14:45):
The two by fours would've been a good idea.
Yeah.
If I had to wrapped 'em around'cause it would've protected them,
you know, and sometimes we've gota real narrow space you're going
through and you may be running just.
Wheelbarrows with concrete or somethinglike that, and they were gonna be right up
against the tree, then it does make senseto put something in there to protect it.
So if somebody's banging up againstthe trunk all day long for three
(15:06):
or four days and they tear allthe bark off on one side, that's
gonna really hurt the tree Yeah.
Over a period of time.
But generally putting two byfours and wrapping the trunk isn't
going to save the tree because theroot system's gonna be damaged.
Yeah.
If it's a continual situation.
Now, if somebody's gonna.
Driving a bobcat across onceor twice, then that's probably
not gonna be as big a deal.
Trey (15:26):
Fencing it off with the orange stuff as well, and creating this radius pretty
much preventing people from touching it.
Typically, unless they're ina tractor going full speed.
it would do the same purposeobviously, of a small access point.
Mike (15:39):
Now I've had projects that have had small access points.
Okay.
And one of the things thatwe've done is we've brought in.
Like a truckload of mulch.
And put that down on the ground.
And basically it acts like a mattress.
Yeah.
And the fact that you coulddrive over the top of it and your
compression isn't on the existingroute, your compression's up higher.
(16:01):
And so after we've done the dig, we'vecleaned the mulch out, and that way we
didn't damage the root system in that.
Critical point that we had to drivethrough repeatedly over a period of time.
So that's something that can be done tohelp preserve tree itself and its roots.
BBQ Intro (16:20):
We are gonna take a break here for a second and get into outdoor living.
So with outdoor living, we like togo to barbecue bits here we're gonna
share some information of everythingthat you may want to consider in
your outdoor living space as far asfeatures, especially for the kitchen.
Hope you enjoy this.
(16:40):
So what is this?
So not being able to see inside of it.
This is a custom made burner.
They're out of Colorado.
It's called Warming Trends, andit's a brass fitting burner.
And if you look at what we call,these are called flutes because
they actually look like a flute.
If you turn it sideways, ithas a, an air mix hole here.
(17:01):
These burners are used in, um,commercial sites, uh, common areas,
n now they've taken into residential,uh, housing, and they're very popular.
Why are they popular?
The flame lift is a lot tallerthan a stainless steel burner.
You don't have to have a lotof pressure with this burner.
(17:23):
So if a customer comes in and says,Hey, Bobby, I'm lacking pressure.
I have a very low flame, thenwhat they can do, they can,
they can put this burner in.
And what happens is it actually, ithas an air mix and, uh, it doesn't
take a lot of, lot of, uh, pressure.
But what happens is, is that it mixeswith the gas and gives a higher flame.
(17:48):
Secret, like we talked about,or you mentioned we don't wanna
load the glass over the burner.
We want to load the glassup to the flutes, so they're
not exposed when you do that.
It just gives a morerobust and warm flame.
So I can use this small pattern, uh,this footprint, sorry, of this burner.
(18:08):
Put it in a vegetable or put it in a.Table fire pit, and the flame is not
three or four, four times greater thanjust a standard stainless steel burner.
Wow.
Previous life here was the issue though.
With this burner, you had to have a lid onit because what would happen is if I did
an automated system or electronic system,it would literally pull water into it.
(18:30):
Now they have, this is a new productthat's about two to three months old.
It's called a WeatherBeater, andit has a diaphragm inside of it.
So the gas, it allows the gas to gothrough the diaphragm, and then the
flap shuts so the water doesn't trapback and fall down into the valve
body system and electronic module.
So now I can sell this without the cover.
We always recommend covers, but if it'sa vegetable that's gonna be perimeter and
(18:55):
you have the big pools that you build.
And you have a half a dozen firepits, and we're not gonna want to go
out there and cover every fire pit.
So these weather beaters havethe diaphragm that I would
recommend that you put in there.
So water doesn't trapinside the burner itself.
Nice.
Yeah.
So we're gonna get a bigger flamewith less margin plan pressure,
(19:16):
less pressure, larger flame.
Uh, and this is a solutionfor our customers.
Who put in a stainless steel burner andjust can't get that flame that they need.
So, and what's warming trends iswarming trends outta Colorado.
Okay.
All custom made.
They can do serpentine burners,they can do linear burners.
They now put burners into fireplaces,but it's more of commercial type,
(19:41):
robust flame for residential.
Awesome.
Well, thank you.
BBQ Ends (19:47):
So I hope you enjoyed the barbecue bits that we just featured today,
and we'll have more coming up next week.
If there's something in particular thatyou're interested for, let us know and
we'll get back into the episode now.
Trey (20:01):
So we've worked with arborists before on projects.
Is there certain things of tellsigns pretty much okay, your
tree's in good shape, it's inbad shape, whatever it might be.
Mike (20:10):
they're gonna look at it and they're gonna assess the canopy
the amount of fage that's in it.
They're gonna look at the bark aroundit, they're gonna look at several things.
Because I had several trees a coupleyears ago and I was like, Ugh.
The bark on these looks really bad.
Yeah.
It's split and it doesn't look good.
And what happened is, he said we hadseveral years with severe freezes.
(20:34):
And it had caused damage to the barkright on the outer edge of the tree.
And that was gonna be fineover a period of time.
It did look different than normal.
Yeah.
So those trees weren't gonna die.
Now.
There's a blight at this point in timethat's affecting post oaks in North Texas,
and some people have said that in 20 yearsthere won't be any post oaks left at all.
(20:58):
Oh, wow.
That they will all dieoff over a period of time.
Which is really gonna be bad forthe barbecue business because
most people in North Texas usepost oak for their barbecue.
Yeah.
From all the, when trees do die.
So
Trey (21:11):
I guess at one point there was gonna be, a lot of wood should be going,
there's gonna be a lot of barbecue,
Mike (21:15):
and then that will be done.
Trey (21:16):
So what's the blight caused by?
Is it just the extremetemperature swings, or,
Mike (21:20):
I don't know what causes a blight.
Interesting to live in a occur.
is.
Some people's theorythat's gonna be the case.
I've got a client right now that'syeah, I've got hundreds of trees and we
have on this 10 acre parcel and there'shalf a dozen that die every year.
And so we're just, replacing 'em withplants that don't have a problem.
(21:41):
Yeah, over a period of timethey're gonna die out, but we'll
have other things to replace 'em.
It's for oxygen and stuff like that.
Yeah.
Like a post oak is a native treethat, was generated from an acorn.
So you have, in north Texas, there's somepost oaks that are very good size, and
usually those are ones that there wasn'ta lot of post oaks around, so it had room
(22:04):
to grow and spread, which is not normal.
No.
Okay.
Most post oaks grow inwhat I call the thicket.
Trey (22:09):
Yeah.
Mike (22:10):
And the thicket means they're, on a half acre such as ours, we had 83 of 'em.
Yeah.
Okay.
So most of 'em are tall and theydon't have a big branching pattern
to 'em because they're crowded.
There's another one five feetaway and six feet from that.
There's another one.
They're all fighting for the
Trey (22:25):
sun.
Mike (22:25):
They're all fighting for the sun.
And so it creates this overall canopythat you have to prune all the time.
It's really tough togrow grass underneath it.
But that's another thing.
You come in, this was native.
You put a whole bunch of grassunderneath it and water it every day.
And now the trees diebecause of root fungus.
So you have to be careful on how andwhat you're gonna use in a space.
(22:49):
we've established, we'vegot a certain diameter.
Yep.
We've got a location of a tree, wehave an elevation of a tree, and so
we locate all these trees on the plan.
And what generally happens is wehave to terrace the project to
follow the grades around these trees.
To have nothing that's too highand nothing that's too low,
(23:12):
and allow things to still live.
And so we've been very successfulat that over a period of time.
And sometimes we've had people also with,trees that have been planted in a yard.
High oaks aren't natural.
To here.
But we have a lot of live oaks,we have a lot of red oaks.
We have people that have plantedall kinds of different trees and so
(23:34):
you want to treat those accordingly.
But you asked the arborist,you just have 'em come out and
do an assessment on the tree.
And one of the things that I found wasI had one that had died and I couldn't
figure out why it all of a sudden died.
And before we cut it down, he's like, ifyou go up about six feet, it's hollow.
Yeah.
And so there wasn't a whole lot ofthere and it just, couldn't handle
(23:58):
all the evaporation that was goingout of the top with the amount
of moisture that was pulling in.
Mm-hmm.
Because it was limited into
Trey (24:05):
the density also.
I remember one job we had and we hadarborists on there, and there was a bunch
of sprouts coming out of the trunk itself.
And that was like a sign that the tree wasaggravated and it was trying to stressed.
Yeah, it was stressed.
And they use like oils andstuff like that for the roots
to help the health in general.
So there's a lot of differenttricks that they can do.
Mike (24:25):
So you could have an arborist come out and one of the things, if you're doing
a major project, you may want to have themcome out and they can recommend pruning.
Both of the canopy and the root systems,they can also recommend fertilization
and certain things to do to help atree through a construction process.
(24:45):
Okay.
So that's always beneficial to do.
On the front end.
So like the people actually wemet today, they were one of the
rare couples that I met with.
They had already met with anarborist when I met with them.
And they had already done theirroot pruning and fertilizing in
the wintertime to prepare for theconstruction that's going to be starting
(25:06):
in August this year shortly, just'cause they've got two huge live oaks
that they're wanting to keep alive.
But.
The arborist can help generate aplan with you to figure this out.
Now what I've seen some people do isthey just come in and, put a pool in and
they think it looks really cool with thetrunk of the trees right by the shell of
(25:28):
the pool and, it's kind of hanging overthe pool and all that type of situation.
But, if you get that close to atree that you're a foot or so away
from it, with the shell of the pool.
Within two or three years, there'snot gonna be any tree there.
Trey (25:42):
It's just not planned for correctly.
Mike (25:43):
Correctly.
Yeah.
So you're gonna damage the root system.
So
Trey (25:47):
you also have trees where they build a spot and they plant a tree in
the middle of the pool, which I thinkare really great aesthetics as well.
Mike (25:55):
That's a cool aesthetic.
And what you have to think about isbecause trees roots can be real invasive.
Now, most of the time.
Tree roots aren't gonna damage theshell of a pool because I, I have
people ask that, but if you putthe wrong tree in there, it could.
Interesting.
So certain trees, like amulberry has real shallow roots.
(26:16):
They're gonna wreak havoc withall kinds of paving and anything
that's, 'cause there's rootsare almost like on the surface.
Yeah.
And then, there's other treeslike willows, which seek water.
That's what they look for.
Okay.
Bald Cyprus is anotherone that seeks water.
They're looking for water.
If you had a leak with a pool just ahairline type situation, or a waterfall
(26:39):
that it's leaking outta the back ofall those roots are gonna grow there,
and the mass of it is going to create,will actually, could structurally
create problems with the pool.
Make the pool unlevel.
That's not unusual.
So the Fort Worth Water Gardens.
They planted bald Cyprusand the water gardens.
And so in between they left gaps in theconcrete and literally the roots come
(27:02):
up in between the paving pieces andthey're sticking up literally inches
above the ground in this whole area.
It's really bizarre from anappearance standpoint, but you've
gotta realize that, the roots couldcreate certain structural problems.
Now the other thing you have to bereally careful about is trenching.
' cause people are like, Ididn't put any deck there.
(27:23):
Yeah.
To hurt the air and moisture.
But then utilities, you know, wecome in and we're gonna cut a trench
through, where the root zone is.
And that's going to basicallychop your tree's arm and leg off.
Yeah.
And so it's going to be hopping aroundand it's gonna roll over and die.
when I was early in the pool business.
I had a tree in Northern California andin Northern California they located trees
(27:46):
and they called them heritage trees.
Okay.
Okay.
So this was a heritage joke.
So it's on your aerial photography so thatwhen you go to pull the permit, they're
like, there's a heritage oak there.
You can't touch it.
You have to stay a certain distance away.
I designed everything accordingly.
No problems at all.
And we go to do the construction.
And we had a guy that had beenon a plumbing crew two days.
(28:10):
Oh boy.
And he was told, here'swhere you cut the trench.
Trey (28:13):
Yeah.
Mike (28:14):
He thought about it and he's if I cut the trench
this direction, it's shorter.
So that must be a better situation.
Trey (28:20):
Yeah.
Mike (28:21):
I can save time.
And we would use less plumbing.
So he took upon himself to cut the trench.
Two feet away from thetrunk of the Heritage Oak.
Trey (28:31):
Yeah.
Mike (28:31):
The people, understandably were a little upset.
Oh, I bet.
So they called an arborist and hadhim assess the value of this tree.
Oh
Trey (28:40):
boy.
Mike (28:41):
Now, this was
Trey (28:42):
30 years ago.
Trees are expensive, especiallywhen they're full grown.
Mike (28:46):
This Heritage Oaks assessed value 30 years ago was $110,000.
Geez,
Trey (28:53):
that's crazy.
So it makes sense though, likeif you're gonna like put in a new
tree and then you hit the, this
Mike (28:59):
tree, the trunk of it was a good 24 inches.
The canopy was probably60 to 70 feet across.
That's
Trey (29:05):
some insane craning to transplant something like that.
Relatively similar.
Mike (29:09):
Whew.
replacement value was notto replace the same size.
Okay.
It's the same size.
Would, they didn't have trees thatbig that you could move and plant?
Not in an oak.
It doesn't seem
Trey (29:19):
even really that realistic at all.
Mike (29:21):
Okay.
So what the client said was, my arboristsaid if this tree lives three years.
That's a critical time period.
Yeah.
If it's gonna die in threeyears, then it's on you.
Okay.
And so they babied that treefor the next three years.
They hired their arborist tofertilize it and prune it and care
(29:41):
for it, and the tree did live.
Oh, wow.
Trenching could cause a real problem.
Yes.
'cause when we cut a trench, it's notlike the trench is 12 inches wide either.
No.
We're doing a plumbing trench for a pool.
Our plumbing trenchesare 4, 5, 6 feet wide.
Because we don't stack pipe.
Okay.
And you're down, 1824 inches deep.
(30:02):
And so you got, a huge swath of.
Trey (30:05):
Root damage.
Yeah.
If you don't have just a pool, yougot a spa in there, you add some water
features, you got a heater, whateverit might be, those lines will stack up.
Mike (30:14):
Yeah.
We don't stack, not
Trey (30:15):
stack up, but they'll add up.
Mike (30:16):
They'll add
Trey (30:16):
up, yes.
Mike (30:17):
Okay.
trenching is critical.
The situation, sometimes that makesit even harder because your plumbing
runs are gonna be more difficult to do.
So when you assess your costsand things like that they.
Understandably, you're gonnabe higher because you're gonna
have to go around the tree.
Versus straight through typesituation that you're looking at.
(30:38):
So now one thing that you also haveto consider, say you have no trees.
Okay.
Okay.
We're going to design a poolspace and we're gonna have some
landscaping, whereas some trees go in.
Okay.
It's critical to understand wherethe plumbing ditches go for that too.
Yes.
'cause I'm gonna come in, it's notlike I can run all the pipe through
(30:59):
here and then I can drive a fivefoot wide root ball right in the
on top of all your plumbing lines.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's not gonna work at all.
Mm-hmm.
We did a project a number of yearsago and it got a lot of press.
It was on HGTV and it was a lazy river.
And we had to dedicate zones inthat backyard to plant the palm
trees and banana trees because therewere literally, it was such a tight
(31:23):
fit in this backyard, and therewere so much plumbing underground.
Literally I tell people youcould barely stick a knife in the
ground without hitting something.
There was stuff all over the place.
Was that the
Trey (31:33):
jungle,
Mike (31:34):
lazy river?
That is the jungle
Trey (31:35):
lazy river.
That's impressive.
Yeah.
Mike (31:37):
And so we had to dedicate.
Circles, no plumbingcould go into this area.
Yeah.
So we could then thereforeplant all the specimens.
And then they decided to add tiki torches.
And when they added the tiki torches, theylost two palms and a banana tree because.
There just wasn't enough
Trey (31:55):
ground.
These tiki torches, I'm assuming, hadplumbing lines attached for gas, right?
Gas lines, yes.
Mike (31:59):
They were done by fire, by design, which is in an earlier
episode we talked to them.
Trey (32:04):
Yeah, that's a lot of tiki torches.
Imagining like manuallylighting 'em every single night.
Yeah, there was, I think.
Mike (32:09):
14 tiki torches on that job.
Yeah.
So, But that's fun features.
So even if you have no trees andyou're gonna plan for trees, you
gotta plan where your plumbinggoes so you can have space left.
'cause if you didn't have plannedfor that, we would've have been
busting pipes all over the place.
Trey (32:25):
It would've been, it would've been a whole different job too.
'cause imagine nothaving all that foliage.
in the whole project and you'rejust putting it on the fence.
Yeah.
It would be completely different.
Mike (32:34):
Yeah.
This job looks if you look up one ofour jobs it's a Colleyville lazy river.
And it looks like ajungle in the backyard.
Trey (32:41):
I imagine it was hard to take pictures of.
'cause you can't really, fromone angle, you're not gonna be
able to see the whole thing.
Mike (32:46):
there's nowhere You can see the whole project.
Yeah.
The last time I was therewas seven, eight years ago.
And I talked to the guy thatmaintains it just the other day
and he says, yeah, it's a jungle.
And it looks, like you're in Maui,which is what they wanted it to
look like in the first place.
Trey (33:01):
I, I think that's one of the best things when you
have a lot of trees like that.
'cause trees will workas anchors for the eye.
it's one of those concepts that's itlures you out more to the backyard.
You wanna understandeverything out there, you know?
Mike (33:12):
there's definitely illusion in that backyard.
'cause you can't see everything.
It disappears around the cornerand it's what's over there?
Mm-hmm.
Well, The crazy thing too is one ofthe reasons that got a lot of attention
is it was a standard-sized backyard.
And most people look at it inthe photographs and they're like,
it's gotta be like five acres.
It's gotta be like five acres.
And then when they walkinto the yard, they're like.
Oh my gosh, you fit all this.
(33:35):
The superintendent, when helaid it out, Bobby was like
you had to have Mismeasured.
This can't fit in here.
And I was like, no, Ipromised you Bobby, it'll fit.
And he's like, no, there's noway this is gonna fit in here.
And I was like, it fit like a glove.
But it did fit.
So those are importantthings to think about.
If you're gonna havetrees on your project.
Yeah.
And this has become a, very big thing.
(33:56):
And like I said, I've literally overthe last 25 years have gotten countless
projects because other guy didn'teven figure out where the tree was.
If it was one tree or multiple trees,or they said you could do this, and
it was the total wrong elevation.
And I showed the client that andthey're like what would happen?
And I'd be the tree would die.
(34:17):
And they're like obviously youunderstand the right thing to do.
I mean, One of the last ones was Mullins.
Yeah.
So they had a spectacular projectwith just, it was a single oak tree,
and that was the driver of the hole.
Base of the project,
Trey (34:31):
Also like when you're designing the designs where they work around
the trees, you don't get thatboring typical rectangle pool.
You get the really creative linesthat still can feel modern at
the same time that are elegant.
I think you do a really good job at that.
Mike (34:44):
Yeah.
So yes, the yard, especially in a tightsituation, has a tendency to play with
a little bit more curves to it than itdoes to fit a rectangle, although some
people it the rectangles what they want.
Yeah.
We.
Just the Pru project just one ofMasters of design and part of it
was, working around all the trees.
(35:06):
We only took six trees outof that whole backyard.
Now that's not a purerectangle though, is it?
Okay.
I was just gonna say thatit wast a pure rectangle.
Okay.
Yeah, but it.
On three sides.
Yes.
It's straight lines.
And then we had one gentle curve on it,which helped us keep a few more trees.
Trey (35:23):
Yeah, it keeps the eye moving too.
Mike (35:24):
I think it was a great sign.
So
Trey (35:26):
real quick before we end, I'm wondering, 'cause I'm just
trying to wrap my head around this.
So if you do wanna plan for havinga tree, being like a centerpiece
or whatever it might be likeincorporated into the pool area.
How deep is that planner?
Is the bottom of this gonna be shotwith gunite or is this like you create
this ring area where it's just goinginto the dirt these are questions
(35:48):
I think that people might have.
Mike (35:49):
So if I'm gonna plant a tree in the center of a. Body of water.
Yeah.
Okay.
I am not going to havea concrete bottom on it.
Okay.
Okay.
I'm gonna have it go all the way down and
'Trey: cause So it's a lazy river so not, not a river, but it's a conceptually Yes.
A donut.
You're building a donut and the reason the whole of the donut has to
go down to grade is 'cause of drainage.
(36:10):
Okay.
That makes sense.
If you put a concrete four onthe bottom of it, how are you
gonna get water out of it?
It's like having a potted plantthat's in too small of a pot and
the thing just doesn't grow yeah.
Okay.
It'll grow for a little bit, butthen it's gonna have problems.
Yeah.
Okay.
So it's better to keepit open at the bottom.
Again, most of your pools, now, I wouldn'tput a weeping willow in that hole.
(36:33):
Yeah.
Okay.
But, and that's where some people haveused illuminated trees successfully.
That'd a good look.
That but then, I've seen other peopleput, things in there and if you
put an olive tree in there and it'sgonna have olives on it, then there's
gonna be a lot of debris in the pool.
Yeah.
Unless you use.
A olive, the desert fruit,which I'm pretty sure exists.
But anyway, one of the
Trey (36:53):
best things about the trees though is the reflection in the
pool and it's just if you don't haveanything like foliage and you're just
getting the reflection of the sky inyour house, it could still look cool.
But having that, just canopy, I just.
It's phenomenal.
Mike (37:07):
other thing that happens with when you have the trees around too, is
your lighting capabilities skyrockets.
Yeah.
You can do so much more with lightingwhich really again, helps the overall
atmosphere that you can create.
Oh
Trey (37:20):
yeah.
Mike (37:21):
That's what we're all about, is creating something
awesome in your backyard.
So that's why we wantedto talk about trees today.
That's fun.
If you got questions let us know.
Send them a message.
Social media we're generallyon Instagram and YouTube.
And if this has been helpfulinformation, share it, pass it on
give us a thumbs up, give us messages.
(37:42):
All those things are greatly helpfulin the, passing on of the information.
Trey (37:46):
Yeah.
If you haven't found arborist yet,probably should look for one and
make sure that if you're, feelingout designs that those trees look
like they're in the right spot.
Yeah.
Mike (37:55):
You guys have a good one.
Outro (37:57):
This show is all about helping you become a better buyer, a better pool
owner, and hopefully you're gonna findsome insights into how to enjoy your pool
even more so how to help your friends,your family, anybody looking to buy a
pool in the future or that want to remodeltheir backyard, add an outdoor fireplace,
fire pit, add an outdoor kitchen area, addsome shade cells, or whatever else it is.
(38:20):
We wanna be that resource for you, andthat's the end goal here, and we promise.
That there's gonna bea ton of information.
We'll try to go through it, youknow, as relatively quickly, but
also slow so people can understand.
But the intent of the show, thereason Mike and I are doing this
is because we just got a lot inour heads and we wanna share it.
So we hope to see youhere every single week.
Thanks for listening.
Welcome to Luxury Outdoor Living Podcast with Mike and Trey
Farley of Farley Pool Designs.
For over 40 years, we've helpedhomeowners turn their backyards
into personal retreats, spaces ofjoy, relaxation and unforgettable
memories, and whether it's a cozy as.
Scape or a resort style oasis.
We design it all.
(00:24):
We know how overwhelming a projectcan feel, and nothing feels worse than
a homeowner having a bad experience.
And that's why after decades of designingand teaching in this industry, we're
here to share our knowledge, helping you.
The process with confidence.
Every week we break down designtrends and insider tips that
turn your vision into reality.
(00:45):
And since this is about creating somethingamazing together, drop a comment.
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And if you want to keep upwith what's next, go ahead
and hit that subscribe button.
We'd love to have you along for the ride.
Let's build your paradise together.
Mike (01:12):
afternoon.
This is Mike Farley with Farley PoolDesigns hosting the Luxury Outdoor
Living Podcast with my co-host.
Trey (01:20):
Trey Farley.
Happy to be here.
Happy to be back.
Went on a little vacation, got alittle bit of a suntan and we got
some interesting topics today.
Mike (01:27):
Yeah.
So I love going to Colorado.
Yes, you do.
And part of what I love going toColorado is hiking in the mountains.
I love the pine trees and the sprucetrees and the aspen trees and the
whole setting, walking throughthe wilderness, being in nature.
Yeah.
It's a lot of fun.
So a lot of people call me a tree hugger.
Okay.
(01:48):
I grew up in Lubbock, Texas, and wehad one tree in our yard, so it's
not as bad as a lot of people think.
Trey (01:55):
It wasn't a, a big old pine or spruce.
Mike (01:57):
No, it wasn't a spy or a spruce or an oak.
it was like not a really good tree.
we had one.
But.
I've over the years, worked on a lotof projects and the reason that I've
gotten those projects is because I paidattention to the trees on the property.
Trey (02:14):
Yes, you're very detailed and good at incorporating the trees in the
design and making sure they don't die.
Mike (02:20):
so there's a lot of people that buy their home and one of the
things that attracts them to theirhome that they have is the number
of trees that are on the property.
Yeah.
you know when people value thatthere are clients that I ask,
what's sacred in the backyard?
And they're like, you can'ttake a single tree out.
Trey (02:39):
Then there's jobs where they have a bunch of trees and
it's like, okay, you can take outthese, but this one's my favorite.
Mike (02:44):
Don't mess with that one.
Yeah.
There's key things that, you lookat to try to come up with a nicely
designed space, and a lot of timesthat helps create a certain atmosphere
by, the alternative is taking 'em out.
If you take 'em out, then you'vereduced the amount of privacy that you
have between you and the neighbors.
(03:05):
Yes.
You've reduced the amount of shadethat you've had on the property.
You get less sense of a spacethat you have 'cause you're
just open to all the neighbors.
And there's people that say treesreduce stress and provide, more mental
wellness, which we're into that.
So the flat other thing is toincrease the value of property.
(03:26):
I didn't know that.
Yeah.
So you, interesting.
You can buy a house.
That has a tree on it and you can buy thesame house that doesn't have a tree on it.
People will pay more forthe one with the tree.
Trey (03:36):
It makes sense.
'cause you have to pay money to plant it.
Yeah.
Mike (03:38):
Plus they provide a lot of beauty and enjoyment.
now a hundred percent you do, youget some challenges with trees
Trey (03:45):
also.
It's like.
do you want to be looking at just a fence?
Because like when we have theyards where it's no trees at all.
The background is just a fence, right?
Versus having trees which arein between the fence and it's
creating layers for that backdrop,
Mike (03:57):
It gives you a feeling of more depth that gives you an
edge to the project sometimes.
The other thing you know though,that you get with trees is
in our house is squirrels.
Trey (04:08):
Squirrels.
You have to.
The leaves fall.
There's a lot of different thingsthat tie into trees with maintenance
that people would look at negatively.
There's a lot of people thatdon't want trees at all just
because of the maintenance.
Mike (04:18):
Yeah.
So there's some peoplethat like pave it all.
I don't want any green andgrowers in this backyard at all.
we've got clients that haveput in artificial turf and
they've put in artificial.
Boxwoods and mm-hmm.
plantings.
And we've got an upcomingepisode all on Vista Folia.
Yeah.
cause some people are really into itand we talked about illuminated trees.
(04:41):
Yeah.
Which is a, an artificial tree as well.
There's a lot of
Trey (04:43):
metal trees out there as well.
And just overall artificial fixturesthat kind of replicate those
natural items in the backyard.
Mike (04:50):
But some people are like, I want.
To keep my trees.
Mm-hmm.
So if we've determined that they'resacred, we need to work around them.
There's certain parameters that you wannalook at when you're working around trees.
Yeah.
So the first thing that I tellpeople all the time is, have you
talked to a professional arborist?
Okay.
And the reason why you wanna talkto a professional arborist is.
(05:14):
You may wanna workaround a particular tree.
Let's assess the health of this tree.
Yes.
Because this tree may be on its lastleg and gonna die in two or three years.
Yeah.
And
Trey (05:23):
then you dig the pool and they blame it on you for killing
it when it dies in the next year.
Mike (05:27):
Yeah.
So that's the first thing.
And a lot of times when they build a home.
They don't take a lot ofconsideration of these type things
to protect the trees, and they'vedamaged the tree's on its way out.
And you know, as soon as we dig the pool,then it turns up, it's little leaves
and they all turn brown and fall off.
And then it's like, you killed my tree.
(05:48):
Yeah.
now I'm in trouble.
Trey (05:50):
Is there a way to guarantee that a tree won't die?
Mike (05:52):
No.
Okay.
So I'm not guarantee,I've never told anybody.
I guarantee you we won't kill your tree.
Trey (05:59):
I mean that when you go to the doctor's office and you take
some medicine, they don't guaranteethere's never gonna be any issues.
Right.
Mike (06:05):
So now there's certain trees that are really, really hard to kill.
Yeah.
But you could still kill 'em.
I mean, A crate Myrtle a lot of timesit takes a lot to kill a creek Myrle.
takes a lot to kill a cedar tree.
Yeah.
But, those are moreexceptions than to the rule.
And then there's other things, ifyou look at 'em twice like a post oak
(06:26):
or a blackjack oak which is commonhere in North Texas get anywhere
near them and they're just gonna
Trey (06:32):
die.
And then you also have uncommon treesthat are planted here, like palm trees.
Mike (06:36):
Yes, there are palm trees.
And palm trees are actually pretty easyto work around because the root system's
not that extensive, but the root system iswhere if you're gonna work around it, it's
what everything boils down to is what.
Amount of roots can we keepand keep this tree alive.
So how close can we work to it?
So some people's point of reference isthe drip line, which is basically the
(06:59):
outer edges of the trees leaves mm-hmm.
is the branches branch out, it'sout at the edge of your fingertips
is, and they say that's how far youneed to stay away from the canopy.
The trunk of the tree is the whole canopy.
The drip line.
Now I've worked with arborists innorth Texas, predominantly the tree
(07:20):
that we work around as a post oak.
Yes.
So with a post oak, the arborist'srule of thumb is for every
inch across the tree's trunk.
Okay.
So if you put a ruler up thereand it measures from edge to edge.
12 inches.
Not wrapping it around, but just if youjust stick the ruler straight across there
Trey (07:40):
is that the fattest part of the trunk?
Is that the very base whereit starts to slope up?
So usually
Mike (07:45):
about eye level
Trey (07:47):
up.
Okay.
And now I wonder if you have atree that forks off into two or
three and you have the same trunk.
Mike (07:53):
Oh, that's a great question.
So the rule of thumb that I look at thereis I'm gonna assess the individual trunks.
By themselves.
Trey (08:01):
Individual trees, even though they're tied together
at a base, even though they're
Mike (08:04):
tied together at the base, just because they slammed up against each
other, doesn't make them a 36 inch tree.
If there's three 12 by 12, okay.
Trunks.
So I'm gonna look at it as a 12 inch.
So you measure the incheswe're measuring across there.
I get.
12 inches.
Okay.
The, what the arborist told meto do is multiply that by 10.
(08:24):
Okay.
So now I have 120 inches.
That's the diameter of thespace that I have to protect.
Okay.
So that's 10 feet.
Yeah.
So I like to be a little generous, andso I work with one inch equals one foot.
Real simple.
Okay.
So if it's 12 inches,then I'm 12 foot across.
(08:45):
That gives me a littlebit of leeway either way.
Just in case I don't preciselylocate the trunk exactly where it is.
Trey (08:53):
Yeah.
And you also see where people mighthave planned I mean we've walked
other jobs before and you couldtell the guy to dig a certain way.
And stuff happens.
So more is, room for comfort.
Mike (09:06):
Yeah.
So it's nice to have a little cushion.
Yes.
Okay.
So the first thing you have to dois establish where that tree is.
So sometimes people are like I gota tree survey and the tree survey
says this is where all the trees are.
Which is great, but then where's yourhouse in relationship to that tree survey?
Exactly.
And so sometimes they movethe house around a little bit
(09:27):
and it's not exactly there.
I mean, If you move two or threefeet off, this is a big deal.
Trey (09:32):
Yeah.
'cause your design depends on it.
It's not like, oh, you canjust make sure the tree.
Is dug around correctly.
It's tied into the actual designof the pool and where the pool
is located compared to the house.
Mike (09:42):
So all the pieces have to, the puzzle have to fit together.
Mm-hmm.
So, So what we do is we go out, andthis is something I did for decades and.
Now you get to do that.
Trey (09:53):
So much fun.
So much fun.
Mike (09:55):
So especially
Trey (09:55):
in the middle of summer.
Yeah.
Mike (09:56):
At least you got shade.
That
Trey (09:58):
is true.
Mike (09:58):
Most
Trey (09:59):
of the time
Mike (09:59):
with the trees.
At least with the trees.
So we have to locate thattree's location on the property.
Yes.
So in relative to the house.
So once we've located the tree,we have to assess the size.
And then the other thing wehave to figure out is what.
The elevation.
The elevation, yes.
And the reason why is that's probablythe most critical thing is the height
(10:22):
that this tree is at because they'reall gonna be at different heights.
Trey (10:27):
Can you put something over the tree's base?
So if I wanted to pave everything, can Ijust put travertine all the way around it?
Mike (10:34):
All the way.
Are you asking Up to the trunk?
Up to the trunk?
Okay.
No, I know the answer.
Yeah.
Okay.
No.
So we've gotta stay a certaindistance away because what
the tree needs is two things.
Okay.
It needs three things.
Yeah.
So it needs air.
Yes.
Okay.
For the tree to live, it needs air.
The other thing the treeneeds is it needs moisture.
Okay.
(10:54):
Okay.
So there's two things that peoplehave said to me over the years.
What if we bring in more stuff?
Higher than the existingtree grade to begin with.
Is that a problem?
Trey (11:06):
If you're changing the grade of the tree?
Mike (11:08):
If you were changing the grave, the elevation, yeah.
Around the tree.
Yes.
That's the issue.
Okay.
So I just tell people it's likethrowing a blanket over your head.
Let's take all of your air away.
Do you have a problem?
Yes.
Okay.
Yes.
You breathe you can't breathe,and you're gonna pass out or die.
Okay.
And so the tree's gonna do thesame thing if you put a bunch
of stuff on top of its roots.
Trey (11:28):
Okay?
So in the construction process.
What if I have a little catrunning around in the backyard?
Is it okay if the catruns over all the roots?
Mike (11:36):
does your cat have four legs or is it a track cat?
What kind?
Track cat.
Okay.
So not a four-legged cat.
I think that would be fine.
Okay.
Yes.
Usually that's a fine situation.
So we have a bobcat Yes.
That's driving around and it'sdriving over the roots of the tree.
Does that create a problem?
what it can do is it can create compactionto the root system of the tree and
(11:59):
therefore accomplish the same exact thing.
And the fact that now you've limitedthe air and the moisture that's
coming to the root system of that.
Okay, so there's a coupleof things that can be done.
So the first thing.
You want to do to protect the treeis usually put some fencing around
this area that you've determinedmathematically how big it needs to
(12:20):
be and you need to stay outta there.
And that means we don't want guysdriving their pickup trucks underneath
the tree and eat lunch every day.
Yeah.
Okay.
Because great spot to eat though.
It is a great spot to eat.
Have a little siesta.
Yeah.
So this is extremelyhelpful if you do this.
When they're starting theconstruction of the home.
If there's gonna be house as well.
(12:41):
Yeah.
Because they're the main culpritsso you want to protect the roots
of the tree from compaction.
You want to prevent.
Them from having stufflifted on top of it.
You want to prevent them fromcutting the roots as well.
Trey (12:56):
Oh, that's bad.
And you don't wanna cut the root system.
Mike (12:59):
No.
So cutting the root systemis let's cut your arm off.
Ooh.
And see how well you do.
So not good.
No.
not a good thing unless you'reon mighty python and have to
defend yourself or something.
The trees has to have a certainamount of root system to continue
the air and moisture that itneeds, so it performs well.
Now, there's certain times of the year.
(13:21):
That there's gonna be less damage ona tree, and that's when it's dormant.
if you're gonna do construction it'san ideal for trees to do it off season.
But that's generallynot gonna be a choice.
That's gonna be, most peopleare like, I want to do it now.
Because I want it now.
But, you wanna come in and putsome fencing, A lot of times we'll
come in with some orange fenceand put that around the radius.
(13:42):
And one of the things I alwayscracks me up, I've seen people come
in and they've put two by foursup against the trunk of the tree.
Yeah.
And wrapped it around that andsay, oh, I've protected the tree.
Yeah.
Okay.
You have, okay, you'veprotected the trunk.
Mm-hmm.
Which would've been a great thing.
Because once upon a time I builta swimming pool in my personal
(14:03):
backyard and I did not do this.
And I didn't put fencing around allthe trees, root systems to prevent
things to drive through because, therewere so many trees in our backyard.
And so I had to give them some access.
They had a new employeethat was moving some stone.
Yeah.
And
Trey (14:22):
not by hand.
Mike (14:23):
with a bobcat.
Yes.
And he didn't know how todrive the bobcat very well.
Not a good idea.
No.
And he basically bounced off the treetrunks in this area of my backyard
and basically killed three trees.
That were supposed to stay integralto the uh, backyard design.
Trey (14:43):
So in that scenario, the two by fours would've been a good idea.
Mike (14:45):
The two by fours would've been a good idea.
Yeah.
If I had to wrapped 'em around'cause it would've protected them,
you know, and sometimes we've gota real narrow space you're going
through and you may be running just.
Wheelbarrows with concrete or somethinglike that, and they were gonna be right up
against the tree, then it does make senseto put something in there to protect it.
So if somebody's banging up againstthe trunk all day long for three
(15:06):
or four days and they tear allthe bark off on one side, that's
gonna really hurt the tree Yeah.
Over a period of time.
But generally putting two byfours and wrapping the trunk isn't
going to save the tree because theroot system's gonna be damaged.
Yeah.
If it's a continual situation.
Now, if somebody's gonna.
Driving a bobcat across onceor twice, then that's probably
not gonna be as big a deal.
Trey (15:26):
Fencing it off with the orange stuff as well, and creating this radius pretty
much preventing people from touching it.
Typically, unless they're ina tractor going full speed.
it would do the same purposeobviously, of a small access point.
Mike (15:39):
Now I've had projects that have had small access points.
Okay.
And one of the things thatwe've done is we've brought in.
Like a truckload of mulch.
And put that down on the ground.
And basically it acts like a mattress.
Yeah.
And the fact that you coulddrive over the top of it and your
compression isn't on the existingroute, your compression's up higher.
(16:01):
And so after we've done the dig, we'vecleaned the mulch out, and that way we
didn't damage the root system in that.
Critical point that we had to drivethrough repeatedly over a period of time.
So that's something that can be done tohelp preserve tree itself and its roots.
BBQ Intro (16:20):
We are gonna take a break here for a second and get into outdoor living.
So with outdoor living, we like togo to barbecue bits here we're gonna
share some information of everythingthat you may want to consider in
your outdoor living space as far asfeatures, especially for the kitchen.
Hope you enjoy this.
(16:40):
So what is this?
So not being able to see inside of it.
This is a custom made burner.
They're out of Colorado.
It's called Warming Trends, andit's a brass fitting burner.
And if you look at what we call,these are called flutes because
they actually look like a flute.
If you turn it sideways, ithas a, an air mix hole here.
(17:01):
These burners are used in, um,commercial sites, uh, common areas,
n now they've taken into residential,uh, housing, and they're very popular.
Why are they popular?
The flame lift is a lot tallerthan a stainless steel burner.
You don't have to have a lotof pressure with this burner.
(17:23):
So if a customer comes in and says,Hey, Bobby, I'm lacking pressure.
I have a very low flame, thenwhat they can do, they can,
they can put this burner in.
And what happens is it actually, ithas an air mix and, uh, it doesn't
take a lot of, lot of, uh, pressure.
But what happens is, is that it mixeswith the gas and gives a higher flame.
(17:48):
Secret, like we talked about,or you mentioned we don't wanna
load the glass over the burner.
We want to load the glassup to the flutes, so they're
not exposed when you do that.
It just gives a morerobust and warm flame.
So I can use this small pattern, uh,this footprint, sorry, of this burner.
(18:08):
Put it in a vegetable or put it in a.Table fire pit, and the flame is not
three or four, four times greater thanjust a standard stainless steel burner.
Wow.
Previous life here was the issue though.
With this burner, you had to have a lid onit because what would happen is if I did
an automated system or electronic system,it would literally pull water into it.
(18:30):
Now they have, this is a new productthat's about two to three months old.
It's called a WeatherBeater, andit has a diaphragm inside of it.
So the gas, it allows the gas to gothrough the diaphragm, and then the
flap shuts so the water doesn't trapback and fall down into the valve
body system and electronic module.
So now I can sell this without the cover.
We always recommend covers, but if it'sa vegetable that's gonna be perimeter and
(18:55):
you have the big pools that you build.
And you have a half a dozen firepits, and we're not gonna want to go
out there and cover every fire pit.
So these weather beaters havethe diaphragm that I would
recommend that you put in there.
So water doesn't trapinside the burner itself.
Nice.
Yeah.
So we're gonna get a bigger flamewith less margin plan pressure,
(19:16):
less pressure, larger flame.
Uh, and this is a solutionfor our customers.
Who put in a stainless steel burner andjust can't get that flame that they need.
So, and what's warming trends iswarming trends outta Colorado.
Okay.
All custom made.
They can do serpentine burners,they can do linear burners.
They now put burners into fireplaces,but it's more of commercial type,
(19:41):
robust flame for residential.
Awesome.
Well, thank you.
BBQ Ends (19:47):
So I hope you enjoyed the barbecue bits that we just featured today,
and we'll have more coming up next week.
If there's something in particular thatyou're interested for, let us know and
we'll get back into the episode now.
Trey (20:01):
So we've worked with arborists before on projects.
Is there certain things of tellsigns pretty much okay, your
tree's in good shape, it's inbad shape, whatever it might be.
Mike (20:10):
they're gonna look at it and they're gonna assess the canopy
the amount of fage that's in it.
They're gonna look at the bark aroundit, they're gonna look at several things.
Because I had several trees a coupleyears ago and I was like, Ugh.
The bark on these looks really bad.
Yeah.
It's split and it doesn't look good.
And what happened is, he said we hadseveral years with severe freezes.
(20:34):
And it had caused damage to the barkright on the outer edge of the tree.
And that was gonna be fineover a period of time.
It did look different than normal.
Yeah.
So those trees weren't gonna die.
Now.
There's a blight at this point in timethat's affecting post oaks in North Texas,
and some people have said that in 20 yearsthere won't be any post oaks left at all.
(20:58):
Oh, wow.
That they will all dieoff over a period of time.
Which is really gonna be bad forthe barbecue business because
most people in North Texas usepost oak for their barbecue.
Yeah.
From all the, when trees do die.
So
Trey (21:11):
I guess at one point there was gonna be, a lot of wood should be going,
there's gonna be a lot of barbecue,
Mike (21:15):
and then that will be done.
Trey (21:16):
So what's the blight caused by?
Is it just the extremetemperature swings, or,
Mike (21:20):
I don't know what causes a blight.
Interesting to live in a occur.
is.
Some people's theorythat's gonna be the case.
I've got a client right now that'syeah, I've got hundreds of trees and we
have on this 10 acre parcel and there'shalf a dozen that die every year.
And so we're just, replacing 'em withplants that don't have a problem.
(21:41):
Yeah, over a period of timethey're gonna die out, but we'll
have other things to replace 'em.
It's for oxygen and stuff like that.
Yeah.
Like a post oak is a native treethat, was generated from an acorn.
So you have, in north Texas, there's somepost oaks that are very good size, and
usually those are ones that there wasn'ta lot of post oaks around, so it had room
(22:04):
to grow and spread, which is not normal.
No.
Okay.
Most post oaks grow inwhat I call the thicket.
Trey (22:09):
Yeah.
Mike (22:10):
And the thicket means they're, on a half acre such as ours, we had 83 of 'em.
Yeah.
Okay.
So most of 'em are tall and theydon't have a big branching pattern
to 'em because they're crowded.
There's another one five feetaway and six feet from that.
There's another one.
They're all fighting for the
Trey (22:25):
sun.
Mike (22:25):
They're all fighting for the sun.
And so it creates this overall canopythat you have to prune all the time.
It's really tough togrow grass underneath it.
But that's another thing.
You come in, this was native.
You put a whole bunch of grassunderneath it and water it every day.
And now the trees diebecause of root fungus.
So you have to be careful on how andwhat you're gonna use in a space.
(22:49):
we've established, we'vegot a certain diameter.
Yep.
We've got a location of a tree, wehave an elevation of a tree, and so
we locate all these trees on the plan.
And what generally happens is wehave to terrace the project to
follow the grades around these trees.
To have nothing that's too highand nothing that's too low,
(23:12):
and allow things to still live.
And so we've been very successfulat that over a period of time.
And sometimes we've had people also with,trees that have been planted in a yard.
High oaks aren't natural.
To here.
But we have a lot of live oaks,we have a lot of red oaks.
We have people that have plantedall kinds of different trees and so
(23:34):
you want to treat those accordingly.
But you asked the arborist,you just have 'em come out and
do an assessment on the tree.
And one of the things that I found wasI had one that had died and I couldn't
figure out why it all of a sudden died.
And before we cut it down, he's like, ifyou go up about six feet, it's hollow.
Yeah.
And so there wasn't a whole lot ofthere and it just, couldn't handle
(23:58):
all the evaporation that was goingout of the top with the amount
of moisture that was pulling in.
Mm-hmm.
Because it was limited into
Trey (24:05):
the density also.
I remember one job we had and we hadarborists on there, and there was a bunch
of sprouts coming out of the trunk itself.
And that was like a sign that the tree wasaggravated and it was trying to stressed.
Yeah, it was stressed.
And they use like oils andstuff like that for the roots
to help the health in general.
So there's a lot of differenttricks that they can do.
Mike (24:25):
So you could have an arborist come out and one of the things, if you're doing
a major project, you may want to have themcome out and they can recommend pruning.
Both of the canopy and the root systems,they can also recommend fertilization
and certain things to do to help atree through a construction process.
(24:45):
Okay.
So that's always beneficial to do.
On the front end.
So like the people actually wemet today, they were one of the
rare couples that I met with.
They had already met with anarborist when I met with them.
And they had already done theirroot pruning and fertilizing in
the wintertime to prepare for theconstruction that's going to be starting
(25:06):
in August this year shortly, just'cause they've got two huge live oaks
that they're wanting to keep alive.
But.
The arborist can help generate aplan with you to figure this out.
Now what I've seen some people do isthey just come in and, put a pool in and
they think it looks really cool with thetrunk of the trees right by the shell of
(25:28):
the pool and, it's kind of hanging overthe pool and all that type of situation.
But, if you get that close to atree that you're a foot or so away
from it, with the shell of the pool.
Within two or three years, there'snot gonna be any tree there.
Trey (25:42):
It's just not planned for correctly.
Mike (25:43):
Correctly.
Yeah.
So you're gonna damage the root system.
So
Trey (25:47):
you also have trees where they build a spot and they plant a tree in
the middle of the pool, which I thinkare really great aesthetics as well.
Mike (25:55):
That's a cool aesthetic.
And what you have to think about isbecause trees roots can be real invasive.
Now, most of the time.
Tree roots aren't gonna damage theshell of a pool because I, I have
people ask that, but if you putthe wrong tree in there, it could.
Interesting.
So certain trees, like amulberry has real shallow roots.
(26:16):
They're gonna wreak havoc withall kinds of paving and anything
that's, 'cause there's rootsare almost like on the surface.
Yeah.
And then, there's other treeslike willows, which seek water.
That's what they look for.
Okay.
Bald Cyprus is anotherone that seeks water.
They're looking for water.
If you had a leak with a pool just ahairline type situation, or a waterfall
(26:39):
that it's leaking outta the back ofall those roots are gonna grow there,
and the mass of it is going to create,will actually, could structurally
create problems with the pool.
Make the pool unlevel.
That's not unusual.
So the Fort Worth Water Gardens.
They planted bald Cyprusand the water gardens.
And so in between they left gaps in theconcrete and literally the roots come
(27:02):
up in between the paving pieces andthey're sticking up literally inches
above the ground in this whole area.
It's really bizarre from anappearance standpoint, but you've
gotta realize that, the roots couldcreate certain structural problems.
Now the other thing you have to bereally careful about is trenching.
' cause people are like, Ididn't put any deck there.
(27:23):
Yeah.
To hurt the air and moisture.
But then utilities, you know, wecome in and we're gonna cut a trench
through, where the root zone is.
And that's going to basicallychop your tree's arm and leg off.
Yeah.
And so it's going to be hopping aroundand it's gonna roll over and die.
when I was early in the pool business.
I had a tree in Northern California andin Northern California they located trees
(27:46):
and they called them heritage trees.
Okay.
Okay.
So this was a heritage joke.
So it's on your aerial photography so thatwhen you go to pull the permit, they're
like, there's a heritage oak there.
You can't touch it.
You have to stay a certain distance away.
I designed everything accordingly.
No problems at all.
And we go to do the construction.
And we had a guy that had beenon a plumbing crew two days.
(28:10):
Oh boy.
And he was told, here'swhere you cut the trench.
Trey (28:13):
Yeah.
Mike (28:14):
He thought about it and he's if I cut the trench
this direction, it's shorter.
So that must be a better situation.
Trey (28:20):
Yeah.
Mike (28:21):
I can save time.
And we would use less plumbing.
So he took upon himself to cut the trench.
Two feet away from thetrunk of the Heritage Oak.
Trey (28:31):
Yeah.
Mike (28:31):
The people, understandably were a little upset.
Oh, I bet.
So they called an arborist and hadhim assess the value of this tree.
Oh
Trey (28:40):
boy.
Mike (28:41):
Now, this was
Trey (28:42):
30 years ago.
Trees are expensive, especiallywhen they're full grown.
Mike (28:46):
This Heritage Oaks assessed value 30 years ago was $110,000.
Geez,
Trey (28:53):
that's crazy.
So it makes sense though, likeif you're gonna like put in a new
tree and then you hit the, this
Mike (28:59):
tree, the trunk of it was a good 24 inches.
The canopy was probably60 to 70 feet across.
That's
Trey (29:05):
some insane craning to transplant something like that.
Relatively similar.
Mike (29:09):
Whew.
replacement value was notto replace the same size.
Okay.
It's the same size.
Would, they didn't have trees thatbig that you could move and plant?
Not in an oak.
It doesn't seem
Trey (29:19):
even really that realistic at all.
Mike (29:21):
Okay.
So what the client said was, my arboristsaid if this tree lives three years.
That's a critical time period.
Yeah.
If it's gonna die in threeyears, then it's on you.
Okay.
And so they babied that treefor the next three years.
They hired their arborist tofertilize it and prune it and care
(29:41):
for it, and the tree did live.
Oh, wow.
Trenching could cause a real problem.
Yes.
'cause when we cut a trench, it's notlike the trench is 12 inches wide either.
No.
We're doing a plumbing trench for a pool.
Our plumbing trenchesare 4, 5, 6 feet wide.
Because we don't stack pipe.
Okay.
And you're down, 1824 inches deep.
(30:02):
And so you got, a huge swath of.
Trey (30:05):
Root damage.
Yeah.
If you don't have just a pool, yougot a spa in there, you add some water
features, you got a heater, whateverit might be, those lines will stack up.
Mike (30:14):
Yeah.
We don't stack, not
Trey (30:15):
stack up, but they'll add up.
Mike (30:16):
They'll add
Trey (30:16):
up, yes.
Mike (30:17):
Okay.
trenching is critical.
The situation, sometimes that makesit even harder because your plumbing
runs are gonna be more difficult to do.
So when you assess your costsand things like that they.
Understandably, you're gonnabe higher because you're gonna
have to go around the tree.
Versus straight through typesituation that you're looking at.
(30:38):
So now one thing that you also haveto consider, say you have no trees.
Okay.
Okay.
We're going to design a poolspace and we're gonna have some
landscaping, whereas some trees go in.
Okay.
It's critical to understand wherethe plumbing ditches go for that too.
Yes.
'cause I'm gonna come in, it's notlike I can run all the pipe through
(30:59):
here and then I can drive a fivefoot wide root ball right in the
on top of all your plumbing lines.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's not gonna work at all.
Mm-hmm.
We did a project a number of yearsago and it got a lot of press.
It was on HGTV and it was a lazy river.
And we had to dedicate zones inthat backyard to plant the palm
trees and banana trees because therewere literally, it was such a tight
(31:23):
fit in this backyard, and therewere so much plumbing underground.
Literally I tell people youcould barely stick a knife in the
ground without hitting something.
There was stuff all over the place.
Was that the
Trey (31:33):
jungle,
Mike (31:34):
lazy river?
That is the jungle
Trey (31:35):
lazy river.
That's impressive.
Yeah.
Mike (31:37):
And so we had to dedicate.
Circles, no plumbingcould go into this area.
Yeah.
So we could then thereforeplant all the specimens.
And then they decided to add tiki torches.
And when they added the tiki torches, theylost two palms and a banana tree because.
There just wasn't enough
Trey (31:55):
ground.
These tiki torches, I'm assuming, hadplumbing lines attached for gas, right?
Gas lines, yes.
Mike (31:59):
They were done by fire, by design, which is in an earlier
episode we talked to them.
Trey (32:04):
Yeah, that's a lot of tiki torches.
Imagining like manuallylighting 'em every single night.
Yeah, there was, I think.
Mike (32:09):
14 tiki torches on that job.
Yeah.
So, But that's fun features.
So even if you have no trees andyou're gonna plan for trees, you
gotta plan where your plumbinggoes so you can have space left.
'cause if you didn't have plannedfor that, we would've have been
busting pipes all over the place.
Trey (32:25):
It would've been, it would've been a whole different job too.
'cause imagine nothaving all that foliage.
in the whole project and you'rejust putting it on the fence.
Yeah.
It would be completely different.
Mike (32:34):
Yeah.
This job looks if you look up one ofour jobs it's a Colleyville lazy river.
And it looks like ajungle in the backyard.
Trey (32:41):
I imagine it was hard to take pictures of.
'cause you can't really, fromone angle, you're not gonna be
able to see the whole thing.
Mike (32:46):
there's nowhere You can see the whole project.
Yeah.
The last time I was therewas seven, eight years ago.
And I talked to the guy thatmaintains it just the other day
and he says, yeah, it's a jungle.
And it looks, like you're in Maui,which is what they wanted it to
look like in the first place.
Trey (33:01):
I, I think that's one of the best things when you
have a lot of trees like that.
'cause trees will workas anchors for the eye.
it's one of those concepts that's itlures you out more to the backyard.
You wanna understandeverything out there, you know?
Mike (33:12):
there's definitely illusion in that backyard.
'cause you can't see everything.
It disappears around the cornerand it's what's over there?
Mm-hmm.
Well, The crazy thing too is one ofthe reasons that got a lot of attention
is it was a standard-sized backyard.
And most people look at it inthe photographs and they're like,
it's gotta be like five acres.
It's gotta be like five acres.
And then when they walkinto the yard, they're like.
Oh my gosh, you fit all this.
(33:35):
The superintendent, when helaid it out, Bobby was like
you had to have Mismeasured.
This can't fit in here.
And I was like, no, Ipromised you Bobby, it'll fit.
And he's like, no, there's noway this is gonna fit in here.
And I was like, it fit like a glove.
But it did fit.
So those are importantthings to think about.
If you're gonna havetrees on your project.
Yeah.
And this has become a, very big thing.
(33:56):
And like I said, I've literally overthe last 25 years have gotten countless
projects because other guy didn'teven figure out where the tree was.
If it was one tree or multiple trees,or they said you could do this, and
it was the total wrong elevation.
And I showed the client that andthey're like what would happen?
And I'd be the tree would die.
(34:17):
And they're like obviously youunderstand the right thing to do.
I mean, One of the last ones was Mullins.
Yeah.
So they had a spectacular projectwith just, it was a single oak tree,
and that was the driver of the hole.
Base of the project,
Trey (34:31):
Also like when you're designing the designs where they work around
the trees, you don't get thatboring typical rectangle pool.
You get the really creative linesthat still can feel modern at
the same time that are elegant.
I think you do a really good job at that.
Mike (34:44):
Yeah.
So yes, the yard, especially in a tightsituation, has a tendency to play with
a little bit more curves to it than itdoes to fit a rectangle, although some
people it the rectangles what they want.
Yeah.
We.
Just the Pru project just one ofMasters of design and part of it
was, working around all the trees.
(35:06):
We only took six trees outof that whole backyard.
Now that's not a purerectangle though, is it?
Okay.
I was just gonna say thatit wast a pure rectangle.
Okay.
Yeah, but it.
On three sides.
Yes.
It's straight lines.
And then we had one gentle curve on it,which helped us keep a few more trees.
Trey (35:23):
Yeah, it keeps the eye moving too.
Mike (35:24):
I think it was a great sign.
So
Trey (35:26):
real quick before we end, I'm wondering, 'cause I'm just
trying to wrap my head around this.
So if you do wanna plan for havinga tree, being like a centerpiece
or whatever it might be likeincorporated into the pool area.
How deep is that planner?
Is the bottom of this gonna be shotwith gunite or is this like you create
this ring area where it's just goinginto the dirt these are questions
(35:48):
I think that people might have.
Mike (35:49):
So if I'm gonna plant a tree in the center of a. Body of water.
Yeah.
Okay.
I am not going to havea concrete bottom on it.
Okay.
Okay.
I'm gonna have it go all the way down and
'Trey: cause So it's a lazy river so not, not a river, but it's a conceptually Yes.
A donut.
You're building a donut and the reason the whole of the donut has to
go down to grade is 'cause of drainage.
(36:10):
Okay.
That makes sense.
If you put a concrete four onthe bottom of it, how are you
gonna get water out of it?
It's like having a potted plantthat's in too small of a pot and
the thing just doesn't grow yeah.
Okay.
It'll grow for a little bit, butthen it's gonna have problems.
Yeah.
Okay.
So it's better to keepit open at the bottom.
Again, most of your pools, now, I wouldn'tput a weeping willow in that hole.
(36:33):
Yeah.
Okay.
But, and that's where some people haveused illuminated trees successfully.
That'd a good look.
That but then, I've seen other peopleput, things in there and if you
put an olive tree in there and it'sgonna have olives on it, then there's
gonna be a lot of debris in the pool.
Yeah.
Unless you use.
A olive, the desert fruit,which I'm pretty sure exists.
But anyway, one of the
Trey (36:53):
best things about the trees though is the reflection in the
pool and it's just if you don't haveanything like foliage and you're just
getting the reflection of the sky inyour house, it could still look cool.
But having that, just canopy, I just.
It's phenomenal.
Mike (37:07):
other thing that happens with when you have the trees around too, is
your lighting capabilities skyrockets.
Yeah.
You can do so much more with lightingwhich really again, helps the overall
atmosphere that you can create.
Oh
Trey (37:20):
yeah.
Mike (37:21):
That's what we're all about, is creating something
awesome in your backyard.
So that's why we wantedto talk about trees today.
That's fun.
If you got questions let us know.
Send them a message.
Social media we're generallyon Instagram and YouTube.
And if this has been helpfulinformation, share it, pass it on
give us a thumbs up, give us messages.
(37:42):
All those things are greatly helpfulin the, passing on of the information.
Trey (37:46):
Yeah.
If you haven't found arborist yet,probably should look for one and
make sure that if you're, feelingout designs that those trees look
like they're in the right spot.
Yeah.
Mike (37:55):
You guys have a good one.
Outro (37:57):
This show is all about helping you become a better buyer, a better pool
owner, and hopefully you're gonna findsome insights into how to enjoy your pool
even more so how to help your friends,your family, anybody looking to buy a
pool in the future or that want to remodeltheir backyard, add an outdoor fireplace,
fire pit, add an outdoor kitchen area, addsome shade cells, or whatever else it is.
(38:20):
We wanna be that resource for you, andthat's the end goal here, and we promise.
That there's gonna bea ton of information.
We'll try to go through it, youknow, as relatively quickly, but
also slow so people can understand.
But the intent of the show, thereason Mike and I are doing this
is because we just got a lot inour heads and we wanna share it.
So we hope to see youhere every single week.
Thanks for listening.
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