Patios, walkways, water features, retaining walls, fire pits and grill surrounds are some hardscape elements that can be added to your landscape design.
Unlike plant life, hardscapes are low maintenance and can be left alone for long periods.
Before starting any hardscape project, ensure you know your property lines and understand how the design will affect your yard.
Adds Value to Your Home
When properly designed and constructed, hardscaping can add value to your property. A patio, gazebo garden, or deck with lighting can make your outdoor space more inviting and create a place for family and friends to gather.
Adding hardscape features can also help reduce property maintenance, especially compared to the care needed for plant life. This can be a selling point for potential buyers who don’t want to deal with the added effort of caring for flowers, shrubs, and trees.
However, it would help always to consider how much hardscape you can realistically maintain before investing in a project. A retaining wall that isn’t properly supported can collapse, and a patio that isn’t properly anchored could sink or crack. Excessive hardscape can look stagnant and unfriendly, so it’s important to balance it with softscape elements such as grass, flower beds, and trees.
Enhances Your Home
Incorporating hardscape in your landscape design increases the aesthetic value of your home. It is a great way to express your creativity through pavers in unique shapes and colors, which can be used to create intricate patterns that make a statement. Lighting can be added to these structures to highlight them during the day and night, which can further enhance your outdoor space.
‘hardscape’ refers to all non-plant components in your landscape, such as masonry, brick, wooden structures and concrete walkways. It’s important to find materials that complement your existing natural landscape and match the style of your home.
Adding hardscape to your landscape is a smart choice for homeowners in areas prone to drought or water shortages because it reduces the water needed for landscaping and lawn care. In addition, you won’t need to spend time and effort mowing the grass and watering plants when you have stone patios or walkways installed.
Reduces Water Waste
Hardscape features such as patios, walkways, and retaining walls are incredibly functional. They create a useful space for dining, relaxing, entertaining, and more. When properly designed, these spaces can also be a major selling point for your home.
Adding hardscape to your landscape design helps reduce water waste by replacing grass and flower beds with pavers, rock, and other hard materials. These natural products do not require the same upkeep as grass and flowers, saving homeowners time and money on watering, fertilizers, mulch, and mowing.
In addition, a well-designed hardscape will include effective drainage features, making them ideal for areas prone to flooding and mudslides. This can protect the investment in your landscaping and your home’s foundation. If your yard floods, hardscape elements like French drains can help direct the water away from your home in an attractive and non-obtrusive way. This allows you to enjoy the beauty of your landscape year-round without worrying about erosion and flood damage.
Low Maintenance
When you install hardscape elements, like a paved walkway or stone patio, you can avoid spending time on lawn care. This is especially true in areas prone to drought. Instead of wasting gallons of water on plants, flowers, and grass, you can enjoy the beauty of your hardscape designs without worrying about maintaining them.
In addition, if you want to entertain guests or host barbecues outside, hardscape elements can help. An outdoor kitchen, fire pit, and pergola can allow you to unwind and relax in your yard.
Most hardscape elements have no negative impact on the natural environment and are made from sustainable materials. They can also prevent erosion by directing excess water away from the area. This will help your home avoid costly flooding during heavy bouts of precipitation. This can protect your foundation from damage and improve the overall functionality of your landscape design.