Two Features That Can Enhance the Functionality and Appearance of Your Home's Outdoor Area
ShareIf you're fortunate enough to have a decent amount of space in your garden, it might be worth adding a few new features to this part of your property, in order to enhance its appearance and functionality. Read on to find out more about what kind of features might be useful in this area of your home.
A carport
If you own a car or if the people who visit your home are vehicle owners, then it's worth having a carport built somewhere in your garden.
A carport serves as an effective shelter for a vehicle; it can protect it from the rain and wind and prevent falling leaves, twigs and bird droppings from landing on its roof or windows. As such, this structure should help to reduce the frequency with which you have to wash your vehicle.
Carports are a more affordable and practical alternative to a garage; they require far fewer building materials and take a lot less time to construct. Additionally, unlike a garage, a carport does not have walls, and as such, it won't block the views of your garden or of the scenery that surrounds your property.
Provided you build it with care and use high-quality materials, a carport could also increase the value of your home. If this is important to you, you should make sure that the components that you use to construct your carport blend in well with your house's aesthetic. For example, if your home has mahogany window frames, then you should add a mahogany stain to the timber you use for the carport.
A patio
Most people who have gardens on their properties enjoy reading, sunbathing, dining and relaxing in them. However, these activities usually require some form of outdoor furniture. The problem with this is that placing outdoor seating and tables in a garden with no paving can result in the furniture sinking into the ground and potentially damaging the lawn.
Building a patio is the simplest solution to this issue. It provides you with an attractive and stable base on which to position your outdoor furniture.
A team of experienced patio builders should be able to install a patio in just a few days. If you decide to have this feature added to your garden, make sure that the builders take drainage issues into consideration; if they do not, there is a risk that the patio may flood during periods of heavy rainfall. If this should happen, the patio's sub-grade could be destroyed and the patio itself could become unstable.
Some of the easiest ways to ensure that there is adequate drainage are to have a stormwater pit installed underneath the structure and to have the builders construct the patio on a gradient so that rainwater will run off onto the lawn and nearby drain grates.