Now that summer weather is upon us in Minnesota, our outside lawns, gardens, patios and even driveways become extended “living space” for a few long-awaited months. Enjoying outdoor living space is becoming more popular than ever with “staycations” and home entertaining at an all-time high.  Trends in outdoor rooms and furnishings are a natural invitation to enjoy time with your family and friends in the warm open air. Functional and beautiful outside spaces are often simply a comfortable expansion of a home’s interior.  Patios, porches, even widened sidewalks create unique and useful surfaces for landscape structures, interesting plantings, art, or[Read more…]

It’s only going take Mother Nature a short time to “close the gap” between when we found ourselves shoveling our driveways to when we experience the lovely fragrance the blooming lilacs as spring breezes drift through the neighborhood. Ahhh…the season of graduations, weddings, BBQ’s, birthdays and “Sprinkler Day” has once again arrived in Minnesota. As the Twin Cities is nationally known for its biking/walking trails, numerous parks, golf courses, lakes and community gardens, a late start on taking advantage of outdoor activities has been taxing to us who live here. In addition to the larger public areas we enjoy, summertime[Read more…]

Beyond hotdish, “Wanna go with?”, bars (the square-cut dessert kind), lutefisk and “you betcha” – non-Minnesotans also find “garage life” is another regional concept to learn when moving here. In other parts of the country, people sit on their front porches to visit, read, watch kids play or witness life pass by.  Many porches, patios or decks, are an extension of indoor living – at least for part of the year. In this part of the Midwest, the garage is considered a 3-season room of sorts. It is irrelevant of the house also has a porch, deck or patio.  Garages[Read more…]

”Growing as a flower in the Twin Cities is a hard job.  As if the winter isn’t tough enough on us as it is!  There’s all the effort of thawing out, poking through any cracks possible with soft enough soil to finally get some sunshine, then BAM!  Run over again.” This could be taken as a life-philosophy in general, but we’re talking about the tulips popping up in your driveway.  There are many purposes for a driveway as we have defined here in the past. To be a garden patch is not one of them. It’s the strangest phenomenon, though, right? [Read more…]

4/15/2013 In our nearly 60 years in business, Richfield Blacktop and Concrete has had great customers, completed thousands of driveways and poured over 8.5 million square feet of asphalt and concrete.  This year we wanted to start off 2013 with bang. When we decided to start off 2013 with a Free Driveway Contest, we had no idea what kind of response we would get.  We were shocked and elated to have 88 entries!  After having our team go through all 88 entries, meet with the entrants and learn more about the stories that were shared, we have a winner! Before[Read more…]

They are things that are SO important, that they require being “sealed” in order to keep them protected. No not all of them require being S.W.A.K. (Sealed With A Kiss), although, in theory, they could be. Sealants are important for longevity and keeping precious things safe. At Richfield Blacktop and Concrete, it is important for us to not only provide well-engineered and fantastic looking driveways (or patios, walkways or dog kennels), we also like to provide maintenance support for your investment.  Concrete sealants are an important part of property maintenance. If you don’t know much about concrete, you probably think[Read more…]

Anyone who owns or rents a home knows that it doesn’t maintain itself.  Unfortunately.  The good news is that when “stuff happens”, whether regular maintenance or something with a much larger hassle factor, the level we are prepared to deal with the situation determines the ease getting back to our definition of “normal”. The media has shown us about strife inflicted to large sections of communities caused by natural weather disasters, requiring generators for power or back-up plans for housing.  We think that just is something that might just happen on the news.  Statistically correct, a large natural disaster isn’t[Read more…]

Living in Minnesota in the winter has both benefits and drawbacks.  The benefits apply to everyone.  The drawbacks usually only apply to adults. First the benefits:  The fresh snow is pretty.  Jack Frost does his magic periodically to get all the amateur photographers excited until the sun melts the frost white landscape.  There is usually hockey to watch or play somewhere.  Deluxe ice fishing homes get to be put out on frozen lakes.  Fireplaces can create ambiance and warmth with a flick of a switch.  Being a kid making snow angels in the yard and forts in the snow banks.[Read more…]