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Turn your Backyard into the Perfect Escape with some Hardscaping Features

Monday, February 2nd, 2015

Take your backyard back from the weeds and your dog, and extend the living space of your home out into your backyard. Starting with a patio base, built around a centerpiece table, bar, fire pit, or outdoor fireplace, and dressed with other hardscaping features such as walkways, walls, columns, steps and terraces, you can build an exotic retreat from your normal home reminiscent of the Hamptons, a Spanish villa, a southwestern pueblo, or anything else you can imagine.

The Patio Base

The patio will serve as the base of your backyard retreat, so don’t neglect it in favor of the other “more exciting” hardscaping features. As the base it will be the unifying feature between all of your other hardscaping features, and will be where you, your family, and guests gather for out door gatherings and parties. Choose your theme and plan the layout of your patio carefully. Use interesting shapes in the design like irregular ovals, or raised terraces, but remember to keep it practical to host for guests (unless you want to keep this retreat to yourself). Pick out materials to match your chosen theme, you can keep it regular throughout the hardscaping, or vary it with complimentary or contrasting colors, textures, and shapes. Building short walls around the patio helps keep the backyard from spilling onto the space, and can serve as impromptu seating for guests. Finally, consider a walkway from the backdoor to your patio and from your patio to your fence gate can save your grass from wear and tear.

The Centerpiece

Having a centerpiece for your patio, gives it a focal center, or gathering point for you and your guests to gather around at parties. There are many options that can serve as the centerpiece of your patio, each providing a different flavor to your outdoor living space. A dinning table for you and your guests to sit and eat at would be best used during the spring, summer, and fall. A bar can be a great place for summer fun, especially for your Fourth of July barbecue. And a fire pit or out door fireplace work well as a gathering place for you and your guests to sit around, drink warm drinks, and reminisce beside year round. Of course, if you wanted to and you had a big enough patio, you could have all of the features described above.

Other Hardscaping Features

There are many other hardscaping features that could be employed to help beautify your backyard, and make it a fun place to entertain. If you have an uneven backyard having the patio on different leveled terraces, with steps, and retaining walls can make it a more interesting area to inhabit. If your backyard gets lots of sunlight you might consider a cover with hardscaped columns supporting it to match your other décor. You could hardscape elevated planters held in with retaining walls. You could even use hardscaping with a water feature to make a fountain or waterfall to add a relaxing note of gurgling water to your backyard escape.

Hardscaping from Tri-State Paving

Call Tristate Paving. We’re a seasoned hardscaping company based in Maryland and have the experience and knowledge help you turn your backyard into the perfect retreat quickly and affordably. Our experts will work with you to find a design and layout for your patio that you’re sure to love for years and years to come.

Our area numbers are:

West Chester: 610.563.9456

Oxford: 610.932.3566

Delaware: 302.757.4100

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Tags: Fire Pit, hardscaping, Maryland
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Designing Your Outdoor Fire Pit

Thursday, December 4th, 2014

An outdoor fire pit can provide the perfect winter addition to any Maryland home. In addition to being a beautiful focal point for any landscape, it extends your home’s useable space during colder nights, gives you plenty of warmth, and ups your property value and curb appeal considerably. Let’s assume you’re interested in building a fire pit, the most obvious question that springs to mind is: How do I know what I want? Tristate Paving is here with a short list of things to focus on when determining the specifics of your backyard fire pit.

Cost

Probably the biggest concern facing most Maryland homeowners who are considering installing a fire pit is how much it will cost you. It’s vital, before you’ve looked at any plans or models, to set a realistic budget for your fire pit. It’s possible to save money by building one yourself, but you’re still paying for raw materials and this seemingly inexpensive option can start to become very costly if you make mistakes, have to start over, waste materials, or build an unsafe fire pit. In the long run, professional installation always pays off.

What Fuel Do You Prefer?

While there are several non-traditional types of fuel sources available to fire pit owners in Maryland, most prefer to stick with simple wood or gas operated system. One the one hand, wood offers that impossible-to-imitate real fire smell but it also needs to be regularly refueled and carefully observes to ensure maximum fire safety. Many Maryland homeowners choose gas or propane to fuel their outdoor fire pits. These can be quick-started by remote control, and won’t need constant refueling but may be more expensive if you have ready access to a steady supply of wood.

Location, Location, Location

Property laws in Maryland dictate that there must be a minimum distance between the home, any surrounding properties, and the fire pit itself. You should also check before beginning to see if your area requires a special permit for a fire pit or an on-site inspection by the local fire marshal. Stay abreast of any fire pit related regulations so you can be sure that you’re in full compliance with the law. Of course, if you hire a great hardscaping company, they will take care of permit acquisition and compliance for you.

Interested in Building an Outdoor Fire Pit?

Call Tristate Paving. We’re a seasoned hardscaping company based in Maryland and have the experience and knowledge to build a fire pit of the highest quality quickly and affordably. Our experts will work with you to find an outdoor fire pit that fits your goals and your budget to bring you a cozy, comforting fire pit you’re sure to love for years and years to come.