Hardscapes are non-living, structural elements of your yard or garden. They can be decorative or practical in nature, varying from stone paths to decorative fountains. A quality hardscape enhances the living elements of your garden or yard, making your outdoor area more unique, adding personality, and striking a balance between organization and aesthetic beauty.
Some common materials used in hardscaping include loose stone, solid stone, wood, concrete, brick and tile. Loose stone paths, solid stone steps, wooden decks, concrete driveways, brick walls and outdoor kitchen tiles, are just some examples of how these materials are used to create gorgeous outdoor spaces.
Patios, decks, walkways, outdoor kitchens, fireplaces, driveways, gazebos, steps and retaining walls are more obvious examples of hardscapes that you can see in yards and gardens everywhere. However, waterscapes, like waterfalls, ponds, fountains and streams also go under the hardscape umbrella.
Eager to create hardscapes of their own, many homeowners decide to jump into their projects without a complete understanding of the commitment and work required to perfect the process. Hardscapes tend to be labor intensive and can require weeks or months of work depending on the scope of the project and the materials required. A good landscaping service that undertakes hardscape projects will be able to streamline the process, as well as provide the heavy equipment, materials and technical knowledge needed in order to implement the quality hardscape that your garden deserves.
High quality hardscapes are built to last. Unlike softscapes, which are the living elements of your yard, hardscapes tend to require much less maintenance. Once they are built, they tend to be a permanent feature in your garden. This makes hardscapes distinctively beneficial for multiple reasons which we’ll outline below.
Extend Outdoor Living Space
Certain hardscape features like decks and patios will instantly increase the amount of living space that you have. Adding an outdoor kitchen, for example, means that you’ll essentially have an extra room in your home for you to use. This can increase the property value of your home, as well as increase your quality of life as you’ll have more usable space available for your day to day living.
Increase Property Value
Certain hardscapes can instantly increase the value of your home. Some examples of these include patios, decks, walkways, and fire pits. Hardscapes extend the usable area of your home and can make those areas of your yard or garden that you previously shied away from become an outdoor safe haven. Hardscape features can boost curb appeal and will help buyers to distinguish your property from others.
Erosion Control
Erosion occurs when your soil is worn down from wind, rain, or even human activity. When water travels downhill for example, it washes away the topsoil and can reduce the nutrient content in your garden as well as damage your plants.
Hardscapes can be used as a method for erosion control. For example, you can erect retaining walls to prevent water from running off, and instead allow it to soak into the soil enclosed by the walls.
Aesthetic Beauty
Decorative fountains, waterfalls, stone fire pits, and stone paths are all hardscapes that can add a substantial level of beauty to your outdoor space. Good hardscaping services will be able to design and plan your hardscape layout with you to ensure that it supports and enhances the natural beauty that may already be present. Listening to the sound of water flowing from your decorative fountain, or simply watching as the sun glints off of your pond, can be a special experience to have right outside your door.
Support Life
Your hardscape doesn’t have to be something that is separate from the natural beauty of your garden. For example, ponds can support beautiful flowers like water lilies, retaining walls can be used to protect your vegetable garden, and shaded areas like gazebos can be used to grow plants that need indirect sunlight. If you take the time to plan out your hardscape, you’ll find that there are ways to increase the biological diversity of your garden.
Boundary and Path Setting
Sick of your kids walking through your flower beds? You can use paths to make it clear where your children and visitors should walk. If you’re property borders a neighbor, walls and fences are two hardscape features that can give you and your family some privacy, especially in high-traffic areas. Directing foot traffic and establishing boundaries are two great examples of how hardscapes have been used for both aesthetics and functionality.
Outdoor Entertainment Space
There’s nothing more enjoyable than spending a summer night out on the patio with a group of friends and loved ones. A deck, patio, or fire pit can greatly increase your and your family’s outdoor experience. You can create shaded areas for yourself outdoors, like shaded patios, where you and your family can spend beautiful days outdoors without having to worry about being exposed to bad weather. You can even take your outdoor experience to a whole new level by building an outdoor kitchen for those days when weather is irresistible, and a family cookout is calling your name.
Low Maintenance Costs
Unlike shrubs, hedges, trees, flowerbeds, and other softscape features, hardscapes are built to last, which means low upkeep and maintenance costs. Once you’ve built your stone garden path, there should be virtually no need for any upkeep or maintenance costs. This means that you can upgrade your garden without having to add one more chore to your list and that your investment in a quality hardscape won’t be a money drain.
Excited about the idea of installing your own hardscape, and eager to start seeing the benefits of a quality hardscape in your outdoor space, you may be thinking about designing and constructing a hardscape project on your own, without the assistance of an experienced landscaping professional.
Depending on the scope of your hardscape project, it may take you weeks or months to complete on your own. Your project may require heavy equipment, which can be expensive to buy or rent for yourself. On top of that you may make some costly mistakes along the way. However, more than just the time and cost commitment, you may be missing one crucial tool that can put the quality and safety of your project at risk: expertise.
Hiring a professional means investing in somebody who has successfully produced quality hardscapes for years. This comes with a host of tangible benefits that can’t be ignored.
You can expect to eat well when an experienced chef serves you a meal. You can expect to arrive safely at the airport when an experience pilot lands the plane. Similarly, you can expect a high-quality hardscape when you hire an experienced landscaper.
A hardscape is meant to last. It will be a feature in your garden or yard for years, and when done right, it comes with minimal maintenance and repair. If you’ve never built a deck before, how great can you really expect the quality to be? Would it really be better than hiring it out to a landscaper who’s been building decks for years?
When hiring a landscaping service with hardscape experience, you can expect the job to be done right, and handled with the commitment to quality that it deserves. When homeowners decide to undertake large hardscape projects on their own, they risk losing both their time and money, before inevitably turning to a landscaping service. Worse still, they commit to a project poorly executed, ignoring their mistakes, and are reminded of their decisions every time they step unto their creaky deck or cracking stone masonry.
You might have a rough idea of the hardscape that you need, but you’re not sure how to put it into action. Perhaps you have uneven terrain, with unusual features that you’re not quite sure how to work around.
Professional landscapers will be able to help with the design and implementation of your ideas. If you specifically need help in the area of design, some landscaping services specialize in hardscape designs, and they’ll be able to work closely with you to design the hardscape that you need. They’ll be able to evaluate and improve upon your design ideas, so that they can be implemented with minimal friction.
More than just the aesthetic beauty of the design, a professional landscape designer will be able to create a design that is functional, has low maintenance costs, works well with your existing plants and works well with your terrain.
You may wish to incorporate some plant life as a part of your hardscape project, in which case, you’ll need to know which plants are best suited for your climate. Your climate will also dictate the materials that you’ll use for your hardscape, as well as how your hardscape is designed and built.
A local landscaping service will be well versed in your specific climate, as they’ll have years of experience building hardscapes for homes in the same area that you live in. They’ll know exactly which trees and plants will thrive in your specific situation. If you’re living in an area with a lot of sun, they’ll know which materials can withstand the heat. If you live in an area with a lot of rain, they’ll be able to implement the appropriate drainage solutions so that your hardscape doesn’t contribute to any flooding or drainage problems.
Taking on large hardscape projects on your own may at first glance appear to be a cost saving choice. However, when you factor in the cost of expensive tools, materials and mistakes, the balance starts tipping in the favor of the professional landscaping service.
When designing and constructing your hardscape, a professional landscaping service can work within an agreed upon budget. You can discuss with your landscaper how you want your garden to look, the features that you find essential, and the budget that you’re working with. They’ll be able to come up with a design that works within your budget and recommend some materials and solutions that will help to reduce costs and meet the budgetary requirements.
Your yard or garden is a living breathing ecosystem of plants, animals, insects and micro-organisms. It’s a balance, and one that is understood by landscapers who have had years of intimate experience working with gardens and yards in your area.
For example, when building a pond you’ll want to know how it’s going to affect the rest of your garden, and what nutrients are required in order to support any plants or animals in or around it. When building a path, you’ll want to use materials that don’t negatively impact the PH of your soil. When installing retaining walls, you’ll want to know how that change in drainage is going to impact your plants.
Every change you make to your garden has an impact on the organisms that inhabit it. Large changes like hardscapes can have unforeseen impacts if they’re not led by a knowledgeable professional.
A landscaping professional can help you avoid common mistakes not just with the design and construction, but also with the care and maintenance of your hardscape after it’s been built.
For example, before designing a deck, a landscaping service will be aware of local building codes. Once the building begins, they’ll know to avoid using fasteners that aren’t corrosion resistant. They’ll know not to wait too long before applying waterproof coating. When it comes to maintaining the deck, they’ll be able to tell you which cleaning materials not to use, like chlorine bleach or paint sealant.
Those are just a few errors that are commonly made by homeowners when deck building. Landscaping professionals have seen them all, because they are often called to fix these mistakes when some homeowners inevitably make them.
There are a wide variety of hardscape projects that you can implement in your own outdoor space. Each of these hardscapes will bring their own unique benefits to your garden or yard. If these projects seem intimidating to you, or if you just don’t have the time to tackle any of these on your own, you should consider hiring a professional landscaping service to take on the project for you.
Patio and Decks
Patios are built at ground level, on a flat surface and are usually constructed from stone, brick or concrete. Decks are elevated off of the ground, can be built on slopes and are usually constructed using wood.
Both patios and decks can extend your living space, add value to your property, and can give you a place to sit back and enjoy the outdoors, right from your own home.
Walkways and Paths
Walkways and paths will make it clear to your guests where you want them to step when they’re walking through your property. This can save your plants from being damaged and stop excess foot traffic from creating an impromptu path through your lawn. Furthermore, well installed paths add a cohesive beauty to your outdoor space, marking clearly recreational spaces, and enhancing the beauty of the plant life in your garden. Paths and walkways are often made from stone, concrete or brick.
Outdoor Kitchens
Outdoor kitchens give you and your family a place to enjoy the outdoors with style. These luxurious hardscapes are known to instantly increase property value. An outdoor kitchen is an addition that can give your home a unique entertainment space for decades to come, while also giving you plenty of space and the convenience you need to prepare legendary family BBQs.
Designing and building your own outdoor kitchen can be a complicated task. Professional landscaping services that have experience building outdoor kitchens can streamline the process and work within your budget to produce a breath-taking kitchen space.
Outdoor Fireplaces
The fire pit has been a social hub from the moment man discovered fire. There is no more satisfying an image than sitting around a newly built stone fire pit with your friends and family on a summer night. You can choose to roast hotdogs and make s’mores, or simply use it for warmth. The crackling of the fire is a hypnotic and soothing sight on a dark night.
Driveways
Driveways can be made out of cement, gravel, asphalt, paving stones and even brick. No matter what material you decide to use, the benefits of a driveway are clear. Every time you drive to your home, you can see and feel the effects that your driveway has. Good driveways instantly increase the value of a property while old, cracked driveways can be an eyesore that take away from the real value of your home. A good hardscaping service will be able to build the driveway your home deserves, one that is functional, aesthetically pleasing, and has a long-life span.
Fences
Fences are a common and incredibly useful hardscaping feature that you can see clearly implemented by a large number of homeowners. They can make your outdoor spaces more private, keep out intruders, keep in pets, or they can be purely aesthetic.
A good landscaper will know what materials are needed for your specific function, climate, and design, as well as how to properly install your fencing.
Gazebos
Gazebos are an elegant, standalone structure for your yard. They offer a shaded and secluded spot for you to enjoy the beauty of your yard and the whisper of a cool breeze. Gazebos make a great addition to your outdoor space if you want a quiet and relaxing retreat a little away from your home. You can incorporate stunning softscape features alongside your gazebo, like flower beds and even climbing plants along the sides of the structure.
Steps
Steps are a practical addition to any outdoor space. You might need to install new steps for your deck, or steps outside of your front door. Your outdoor paths may be too elevated, and you may need to build some steps to make sure that everyone can navigate through your property safely. Steps can be built out of stone to eliminate the problems that a slope or grade causes on your property. For example, with strategic placement of stone steps, you can eliminate the problems caused by runoff after heavy rain. Besides their functionality stone steps enhance the beauty and value of your property.
Retaining Walls
Retaining walls are a popular garden feature that are used to hold soil, preventing erosion, sinkholes, and flooding. Retaining walls add functionality and style to your yard or garden.
Landscapers will consider a variety of factors before starting on a retaining wall project. These include the purpose of the wall, the drainage patterns of the soil, geography and soil type. All of these can influence the type of wall that you need, the materials you’ll use and the type of drainage system you might need to install.
Waterfalls
Waterfalls are an exotic waterscape feature that can add beauty and excitement to your garden. With modern day materials and methodologies, landscapers can now efficiently install waterfalls at evermore reasonable price points. You can install a stunning cascading waterfall right in your backyard with the help of a professional landscaper.
Water ponds
Ponds bring a sense of tranquility and beauty into your outdoor environment. Bringing a natural feature like a pond into your yard is a cathartic and exciting experience. Ponds also offer an environment for you to support plants like waterlilies and water lettuce. Your pond can also be designed to support fish and other pond creatures.
Water Fountains
Water fountains have been a popular hardscape feature for thousands of years. Fountains are a symbolic feature of luxury and decadence. Today, they come in a variety of shapes and are made out of a wide variety of affordable materials while still maintaining their integrity as a beautiful piece of outside décor. Many homeowners use them to drown out sound pollution from streets and cities. They offer a calming and relaxing sound effect that can be enjoyed after a long day at work.
Streams
If you’re really interested in the art of waterscaping, then you’ve no doubt looked at streams and the benefits they provide to a water garden. Streams are a great addition to your pond if you have live animals and plants, as the stream is able to oxygenate the pond and keep the water from stagnating. If you’re interested in attracting wildlife to your yard, a stream can be a hub for small animals and birds to rest and have a drink.
Quality hardscapes bring a variety of valuable, tangible, aesthetic and functional benefits to your yard which increase the value of your property and improve your quality of life. There’s no questioning why so many homeowners have decided to implement one or a dozen hardscape projects into their own outdoor space.
Choosing a landscaping service to handle your hardscape project is a worthwhile investment if you want to create the hardscape that your outdoor space deserves. To really reap the rewards of a quality hardscape, you’ll want to invest in a landscaping service that puts quality first. The expertise that a professional landscaper can provide will ensure that your hardscape is well suited to your budget, climate, ecosystem, lifestyle and taste.