Designing Concrete Slabs

The Coastal Gardener: Environmental habits are constantly evolving

In case I forget for a mere nanosecond, my two daughters will quickly remind me that my plaid shorts are a bad choice.

When Adam Lambert comes on the car radio, the channel is quickly switched. Facebook sure, MySpace, not so much. What was in favor yesterday might be frowned upon or unacceptable today. Sometimes it's hard to keep up with the changes.

Gardening and landscape design is much about fashion and trends, overlaid by what is socially acceptable. Colors evolve from "hot" to "not" in a matter of a couple of years. Pottery styles are always evolving. Product brands come and go faster than a pot of blooming tulips. Of course, our gardens also reflect a certain level of what is accepted within our community.

Unlike the colors of flowers and finishes of pottery, some garden traditions and practices are not fashion driven, they're a result of different influences. Change is difficult for some people. A few will resist, ignoring or misinterpreting what is happening around them. Nonetheless, some activities and traditions in our gardens are well past their time.

Many archaic gardening rituals are blatantly wasteful and inconsiderate. They ignore the new reality that our gardens and our gardening practices ought to be thoughtful and respectful of our resources and our environment. Although some will resist, these outdated practices should be buried forever.

Leading off the list of obsolescence in a garden might be thirsty, water-guzzling things.

Big, green, lush lawns in full display at the front of a house say to the community "We don't care, we're going to use as much of your precious water as we want."

Sprinklers gushing and mower blaring, this is a scene from our past, not our future.

It's impossible to deny that water-wasting plants are out; but plants adapted to our climate are in. One of the most popular questions today around nursery aisles or at landscape design meetings is now "how much water will it need." Great question — keep asking.

Today, chemicals in the garden are like illegal drugs. Natural controls are in, ladybugs are in, tolerance is in. Organics in a garden are the standard, rather than the exception. Turf Builder, Miracle Gro, Super Bloom, Snarol and Ortho are done, hardly hip any longer. Addictions to malathion, diazinon, orthene, dursban, ammonia sulfate, 2-4-D and metaldyhyde have been cured.

Ignorant clock-driven irrigation controllers are going the way of eight-tracks and VCRs … and not soon enough. Smart controllers that control your irrigation system by constantly reading the changing weather and adjusting irrigations accordingly are the new standard.

Repair of Subcontractor's Defective Work on Concrete Slab not ...

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Prime contractor’s commercial general liability (CGL) policy was held to clearly and unambiguously exclude coverage for faulty workmanship performed by a subcontractor.   Prime contractor, Greer Construction, was hired by the project owner for construction of an oilfield service facility.  Subcontractors working under the supervision of Greer poured concrete that cracked in both the building and exterior slabs.  The prime contractor then cut out the cracked sections and poured a new slab in its place.  Cracks continued to develop in the concrete, however.  The owner filed suit against its prime contractor and the architect to recover damages resulting from the allegedly faulty design and construction of the concrete slabs.  Greer brought a third-party claim against its insurer, AXA Global Risk U.S. (AXA) to defend and indemnify it under its CGL policy.  AXA moved for summary judgment, arguing that the “work product” exclusion of the policy excluded coverage for improper construction by the insured’s own workers or any of its subcontractors.  The trial court granted the summary judgment motion for AXA but that decision was reversed by the court of appeal which held that (1) the “work product” exclusion was inapplicable to the work performed by subcontractors and (2) the “products-completed operations hazard” (PCOH) provision was ambiguous and should be interpreted in favor of coverage.   The Supreme Court of Louisiana reversed the appellate court decision and reinstated the trial court decision in favor of AXA for the reasons explained below.

The exclusions of the CGL policy in question included exclusion j. “Damage to Property”, subparagraph (6), which states that insurance does not apply to property damage to “That particular part of any property that must be restored, repaired or replaced because “your work” was incorrectly performed on it.”   A concluding paragraph of the property damage exclusion (j) states: “Paragraph (6) of this exclusion does not apply to “property damage” included in the “products-completed operations hazard.”

Two other exclusions were also at issue.  Exclusion (k) “Damage to Your Product” excludes coverage for “Property Damage” to “your work” arising out of it or any part of it.”  Exclusion (L) “Damage to Your Work” excludes coverage for “Property damage” to “your work” arising out of it or any part of it and included in the “products-completed operations hazard.

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