Many homeowners today look for ways to add a personal touch to their property, improving upon the existing layout or design according to their tastes. The home improvement industry is considered the fastest-growing retail industry in recent years, as people increasingly spend more on lifestyle over basic maintenance.
Landscaping is a great project for home improvement that can add value to your property while improving it in unique ways. Still, many homeowners who are just starting out with home improvement projects can be hesitant. Some don’t know where to start or may find the services of a professional to be expensive. Remember that landscaping work doesn’t have to be ambitious to be effective. Here are some simple projects to get you started.
Trenching
Digging a trench on your property is a simple project with many applications. Contractors can use a trench to lay down underground utilities running to a home extension or finished basement. If your basement floods, a trench can be used to create a French drain and solve issues with poor drainage. And if you live in an area near brushland, a trench on your property can serve as a firebreak for your safety.
The trench can be dug by hand or by excavator, depending on the scale of your project. While excavators can be costly, renting for this simple sort of work will save you money compared to hiring a contractor. There are different excavator buckets for sale, so make sure you get one that matches the dimensions of your planned trench for fast and efficient operation.
Slope levelling
An important project that you might not immediately consider is slope levelling. Some of us have yards that are unevenly graded, and this can lead to water accumulating around your house foundations. Over time, this can degrade or seep into the home.
Levelling your yard can be as simple as building a retaining wall, and can be done by hand or excavator as well. Retaining walls can also be used to prevent erosion, as water runoff carriers away vital nutrients making it difficult to grow plants and maintain a green yard.
Walkways
Having a good walkway doesn’t just add beauty to your property. By controlling the slope and materials used, you can make walkways more accessible and safe for use by the elderly, disabled, and children. You can maintain spacing between steps or use semipermeable material so that the soil beneath and around the walkway remains aerated and allows plants to grow.
Tree planting and fencing
Going a step further towards greenery, you can also utilise landscaping work to incorporate trees or fence the yard to protect your plants. If you have an excavator on hand, you can even hook up an auger accessory and use it to quickly drill in holes where you can plant trees and stake in fence posts.
Low maintenance gardens
On the other hand, if you’re not the type of homeowner who can invest much time and effort in caring for your garden, using landscaping work to create a low maintenance garden is another way to go eco-friendly. This involves covering areas of your property with low-cost stone such as crushed granite or porous scoria. It creates a unique and attractive appearance which doesn’t require constant watering, fertiliser, and herbicide.
When you’re just starting out in landscaping projects, get a good feel for what you can do and the scope of the work. These simple and functional projects are a great way to get your feet wet before you move on to bigger home improvement work in the future.
