The first thing that comes to mind when many think of enhancing their landscape is growing a garden and planting shrubs and trees. However, another often overlooked way to add visual interest and beauty to your landscape is hardscaping. In addition, hardscaping can increase the functionality of your property.
What is hardscaping
Hardscaping refers to using non-living hard materials, such as stone, concrete, brick, or wood, to create outdoor structures or features in a landscape. This can include elements like outdoor kitchens, walkways, patios, retaining walls, fire pits, and more. When creatively designed, created, and combined with softscape (grasses, shrubs, trees, and other living elements), hardscape gives your home visual diversity, among other benefits.
Benefits of hardscaping
Enhance outdoor living
Hardscaping elements can add functionality to a landscape by creating outdoor living spaces, such as patios and outdoor kitchens. When the weather is nice, you can play games, host gatherings, or spend more time with family and friends. Even in the chilly season, you can huddle with your loved ones around a fireplace. Hardscaping enables you to create memories that will last forever.
Increases the value of your property
Hardscaping helps increase the value of your property by enhancing its overall appearance and functionality. Prospective homebuyers will be willing to pay more for a home with hardscaping elements.
Decreases erosion
Some hardscaping elements, such as dry creek beds and permeable pavers, can help reduce erosion, which can have positive environmental impacts. Hardscaping can also help fix your uneven ground, ensuring water drains properly and preventing water damage.
Low maintenance
Compared to grasses and other plants, hardscaping requires little to no maintenance; there’ll be no watering, pruning, trimming, or weeding. In the long run, hardscaping will save you time and money.
Direct foot traffic and enhance accessibility
If there’s no clear path for guests to walk on, they can trample on and destroy your grasses and plants. Pathways, walkways, edges, and stone paths let them know where you want them to follow and steer them away from the grasses you’ve spent time and money on. In addition, hardscape makes it easy to access and navigate around your home.
Increase privacy
Incorporating a patio, gazebo, or pergola into the landscape can create a private retreat where you can relax and entertain friends and family. These features can be surrounded by walls or fencing to provide additional privacy. Walls and fences made of stone, brick, or wood can also provide a physical barrier to block views from neighbors or passersby.
Now that you know how hardscaping can benefit your landscaping, contact us for inquiries or to discuss your Austin hardscaping project.
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