Last updated 7 months ago
If you’re interested in learning more about drainage and landscaping, then visit these interesting and informative websites. Then call (708) 448-1144 to speak to the landscaping professionals at Schroeder Materials.
- For helpful hints on maintaining the health of your backyard and landscaping, read this article from HomeInsurance.com.
- Is there a new landscaping project in your future? This page from Landscape Planet has some great ideas for beautifying your yard without breaking the budget.
- If you do your own lawn maintenance, then it’s extremely important to use power equipment carefully. Check out this page from John Deere for basic safety tips while using power lawn equipment.
- For signs that your landscaping may have a drainage problem, take a look at this article from HouseLogic.
- To learn the basics of drainage correction and grading, visit About.com.
Last updated 7 months ago
Are you having drainage problems in your yard? If water is pooling in your lawn or landscaping, then installing a French drain may help carry the excess away—a feature that is especially important during rainfall or when there is runoff from a neighbor’s sprinkler system. French drain installation is fairly easy and can be done in a matter of days.
This short video provides a step-by-step explanation of how French drain installation works. You’ll learn about the materials you’ll need, pre-excavation considerations, and how to properly grade your drain.
For all the materials you’ll need to create your French drain, come to Schroeder Materials—we carry an excellent selection of landscaping supplies. Visit us online or call (708) 448-1144 for more information.
Last updated 8 months ago
Having proper drainage in your yard is extremely important to the health of your home and landscaping. Correcting a drainage issue can involve several different steps, depending on the types of problems you identify. Here are a few signs that your yard and landscaping require better drainage:
1. Standing Water
If you find water pooling in your lawn after a rain storm or when irrigating your landscaping, then you have a drainage problem. Standing water indicates that there is not enough of a slope for water to move away from your lawn. Instead, it simply sits where it is, eventually sinking below ground. While this may seem good for your plants, it can actually cause a number of issues, including:
2. Foundation Damage
As water sinks below ground, it moves both vertically and horizontally, which means that it could potentially move toward your home. This causes your foundation to erode over time and can lead to basement leaks and cracking throughout the home.
3. Damage to Landscaping
If your landscaping is not draining properly, then water may try to find an undesirable path for escape. Often, the path of water can actually damage your landscaping by washing away mulch, harming plants, and dirtying your hardscaping and walkways.
4. Dying Plants
While watering your plants and grass is important, too much water can cause the greenery in your landscaping to wither away. Excessive water leads to fungal diseases and rot in plants, which can ruin your home’s landscaping.
Come to Schroeder Materials for a large selection of drainage supplies and landscaping materials. We also carry a wide variety of decorative stones and blocks for all your hardscaping needs. Visit us online or call (708) 448-1144 for more information.
Last updated 8 months ago
If you’ve recently bought a home, then you may be thinking about all the exciting home improvement projects you’d like to tackle. The place many people can make the biggest difference is in the landscaping. New homeowners are often presented with an opportunity to completely customize their first yard’s landscaping from scratch. Here are some tips for planning the perfect landscaping for your backyard:
1. Maintenance is Key
Regardless of how much initial work you put into your backyard’s landscaping, keeping up with landscaping maintenance is crucial. Plan landscaping features that fit your maintenance budget and schedule so you won’t have to worry about getting overwhelmed with yard work.
2. Cultivate Diverse Plants, Flowers, and Trees
Choose from a variety of plants and trees for your landscaping. Keep the yard looking full and lively, but choose the colors, textures, and placement of plants strategically. Keep in mind that some plants do better in different amounts of sunlight.
3. Use Mulch to Minimize Upkeep
Organic mulch is an excellent material to use throughout your home landscaping. It makes your garden beds essentially maintenance-free by preventing weed growth and protecting plant roots from drying out. Apply mulch around the base of trees and large shrubs to protect roots and decrease your lawn mowing needs.
4. Integrate Hardscaping
Hardscaping and decorative features are a great way to give your yard a touch of elegance without increasing the amount of maintenance required. Pavers, stones, and decorative blocks are perfect for walkways, patios, retaining walls, and other landscaping features.
5. Be Mindful of Drainage
Before beginning the landscaping process, study your backyard to observe any potential drainage problems. Correct these issues ahead of time in order to prevent damage to your plants.
For more helpful tips as well as decorative stones and blocks, mulch, drainage materials, and other landscaping supplies, come to Schroeder Materials. Visit us online or call (708) 448-1144 to learn why we’ve been the landscaping supply store of choice since 1920.
Last updated 8 months ago
Our previous blogs explain how to boost a home’s curb appeal with a paver driveway and what to consider when designating new flowerbeds. For more specific information regarding these topics, be sure to head on over to these helpful resources.
- About.com offers some great designing tips to homeowners who wish to landscape their driveway.
- Be sure to take a look at some of the ideas Concreteideas.com has provided for designing a driveway.
- The Sioux City Journal reminds homeowners that they should do their research when choosing plants to landscape their yards.
- Take a look at what Suite101.com has to say about installing a new flowerbed.
- If you are stuck on what flowers to choose for a new flowerbed, the DIY Network may just be able to answer your questions.
- For professional insight on landscaping and driveway design and materials, call Schroeder Materials at (708) 488-1144.
