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Garden Design Will Rise From The Cork Winter Spell

January 9, 2015 / Comments Off

Now that the winter is on its tail end and the spring time is almost here, we at Sublime landscaping are gearing up for another hard and long season designing and constructing of beautiful garden designs we have designed for families and business all around Cork and Munster. A large part of our winter/spring season outside of the physical landscaping and planting, involves finishing and pushing through the remaining garden designs that come in from now until late February.We tackle these designs all year around. Some advise to take on board, if you are thinking of getting your garden redesigned or landscaped for the coming summer, now is a good time to get the wheels in motion. Most landscape contractors take longer to complete the various design stages during the busy season. Take our advice and get a head start and contact us today with any queries you might have regarding a garden design.

Cold Weather & Decorative Concrete

December 4, 2014 / Comments Off

Its that time of year again, Christmas is around the corner and the temperatures are dropping. The cold weather spells making things a little more interesting for us at sublime landscaping in Cork. Finishing decorative concrete projects, and some landscaping projects can take more time this part of the year. We often get asked about decorative concrete when icy conditions set in. Is it slippy?. The answer to this is, it will have the same characteristics as most other surfaces, tarmac, stone paving and others. Try and avoid de-icing salts if you have a decorative concrete installation.

This can cause failure of the sealer on top of the concrete, which will allow the freeze thaw cycle to possibly damage or spoil your concrete if you are not careful. We don’t get too much freezing of the ground, so we would advise a scattering of some fine sand will help aid in grip, for the few days rather than using de-icing salts. All bets are off when using de-icing salts. If you have been slack with your resealing these salts may cause damage to your installation. If unsure stick with sand and when the weather improves get a contractor to check to see if your project is fully sealed for the following year.

Using Synthetic Grass In Ireland

August 29, 2013 / Comments Off

Using Synthetic Grass In Ireland

Synthetic Grass is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commercial applications as well. The main reason is maintenance—artificial turf stands up to heavy use, such as in sports, and requires no irrigation or trimming.

Synthetic Grass has of recent years become more almost indistinguishable from natural sod, due to different tones now incorporated in each synthetic blade of grass. It is most suited for applications in Ireland where you require a dry surface all year around for the kids, battle with mucky conditions in the winder months. Synthetic grass can also be cleaned using domestic cleaners, which lends itself to being a very clean and child friendly environment, especially if animals are about also.

2014 Home Improvement Scheme

August 29, 2013 / Comments Off

2014 Home Improvement Scheme

Finance (No 2) Bill 2013 provides for a Home Renovation Incentive (HRI) scheme, which will run from 25 October 2013 to 31 December 2015. The Incentive provides for tax relief for Homeowners by way of an Income Tax credit at 13.5% of qualifying expenditure on repair, renovation or improvement works carried out on a main home by qualifying Contractors.

Qualifying expenditure is expenditure subject to the 13.5% VAT rate.

The works must cost a minimum of €4,405 (before VAT), which will attract a credit of €595. Where the cost of the works exceeds €30,000 (before VAT), a maximum credit of €4,050 will apply.

The credit is payable over the two years following the year in which the work is carried out and paid for. 2015 will be the first year for HRI tax credits.

The works must be carried out on or after 25 October 2013 and up to 31 December 2015. Homeowners must be Local Property Tax compliant in order to qualify under the Incentive while Contractors must be VAT registered and tax compliant in order to qualify to carry out works under the HRI.