Outdoor living spaces are a huge asset to any property. They’re a great place to gather with family and friends to enjoy the weather when it’s nice. When you have a spacious and inviting space outside, your options for entertaining are endless.
Unfortunately, there are several problems home and business owners face when it comes to their outdoor living spaces. Erosion, draining, and lack of privacy are specific ways you might be kept from enjoying your property. In this article, we’ll take a look at the common issues our contractors see with outdoor living spaces. We’ll also dive into easy ways they can be fixed.
Fixable Issues with Outdoor Living Spaces
If you own a piece of property with a spacious yard or landscape, you may have come across one of these problems. Here’s a list of the 5 common problems we’ve seen through our years in the business, and how they can be fixed:
Erosion
If you have a property with sloping or hilly terrain, you may have experienced the problem of erosion. In fact, your property doesn’t even need to have steep hills and slopes for erosion to become an issue.
Erosion occurs when rainwater washes away topsoil and leaves unsightly bare patches on your property. If you’ve ever experienced areas of your property where glass simply won’t grow, you may be dealing with erosion. It can quickly become a major issue for your outdoor living spaces.
Erosion doesn’t just cause damage to hardscape areas, but it also affects the stability of your soil.
If you’re dealing with erosion, don’t worry. While it can be a significant problem, it is also easily fixed. Retaining walls can be incorporated into your landscape design to stop the issue of erosion. Whether you need simple, low walls or heavy-duty, strong retaining walls is an issue you can discuss with your mason or contractor. Either way, retaining walls can stop the issue of erosion while still leaving you with a beautiful outdoor space to enjoy your property.
Poor Drainage
While erosion wipes away some of your land or hardscape, poor drainage damages your property by collecting excessive amounts of water. Although the two are different, properties that deal with erosion are likely to deal with poor drainage as well. When your property suffers from poor drainage, flat surfaces such as lawns and hardscapes suffer from water pooling.
Poor draining can also cause damage to the foundation of your home.
When it comes to poor drainage, there are several solutions to help. Installing French drains and sumps to simple surface channel drains can help correct drainage issues. Additionally, permeable pavers used in your hardscapes allow water to flow rapidly through their joining spaces and return to their natural source.
When you use permeable pavers to deal with poor drainage issues, you also keep your patio and driveway cool in the summer and free of ice buildup in the winter. We offer a variety of permeable paver products that are both functional and attractive.
Unstable Soil
Unstable soil is also a common issue property owners face when it comes to outdoor living spaces. This can be a direct result of erosion, but it can also be caused by the type of soil used on your property. That’s why it’s important to hire an experienced contractor to handle any paver or hardscape jobs on your property. Inexperienced contractors can leave your property with shifting pavers and heaving hardscape.
If your property suffers from erosion or other issues with natural soil, our contractors are trained to create a stable ground beneath your hardscape. This is done in your driveway, pool decks, and patios to help redistribute forces in 360 degrees. It will help stabilize your subsoil and your base aggregate.
Lack of Privacy
Most people with outdoor living spaces look for a certain degree of privacy on their property. Lack of privacy can significantly impact your ability to enjoy your outdoor space. If your property is wide open to those around you, you may want to consider installing an outdoor wall unit. It’s an easy fix for properties that lack privacy.
As more and more products become available for outdoor living spaces, privacy walls aren’t the unattractive eyesores that once were. Our masons create attractive privacy walls that can block out your neighbors’ view of your outdoor space. You can also incorporate plant beds, retaining walls, and other options can also help assure your privacy and leave you loving your outdoor living space.
Inadequate Accessibility
If you want to make use of your outdoor space, it needs to be accessible to your family and your guests. Most homeowners look for property that has a place to grill and chill. The great news about properties with inadequate accessibility is that you can easily transform your property with an outdoor living project.
Outdoor entertaining is a much smoother process when you incorporate easy-to-use walkways, outdoor patios with seating areas, and areas that are adequate for outdoor cooking and dining. You can even add an outdoor fireplace, outdoor kitchen, and firepits throughout your property. Your outdoor space can be easily transformed into a beautiful, inviting place to entertain and relax.
Masonry supplies, like non-slip pavers, can help you build a safe, accessible, level space that can be accessed by anyone in the family. You can also add stepping stones throughout your yard for easy access to plant beds and other areas of your yard that need regular maintenance.
If your outdoor living spaces suffer from these common issues, the good news is that there are solutions. Before you chalk up your yard as insufficient for entertaining, talk to an experienced contractor to assess your property. They might give you the solution you need to enjoy your biggest investment and transform your outdoor living space to a place that’s meant for making memories.