How To Make The Best Sitting Area For Your Yard

When creating a designated sitting area in your yard, there are three common options: a patio, decking, or gravel. Each one has its pros and cons. The right one for you could depend on your budget and the layout of the land in your yard. Here’s just a brief rundown on each option.

How To Make The Best Sitting Area For Your Yard

Patio

Patios are the most common option for a sitting area. It usually involves laying stone slabs directly on the ground. Usually, they’re supported with a concrete base providing a sturdy, weed-free surface. Patios can benefit from annual cleaning (pressure washers are some of the best cleaning options), however, they’re otherwise fairly low maintenance. Another advantage of patios is that they’re pretty much fire-proof, making them ideal for putting barbecues and chimineas on.

There are so many ways to design a patio. Some people make them an extension of their house. Just check out these outdoor kitchen ideas for your patio. Other people may go so far as to pave their entire yard as a way of not having to deal with the maintenance of a lawn. You can still grow plants in pots.

The main disadvantage of a patio is that it ideally has to be built on flat ground. This makes it inappropriate for sloping yards or uneven ground unless you want to spend lots of time and money digging and flattening out your yard.

Decking

A nice deck off the back of your house makes a great sitting area. Decking involves building a flat wooden surface. It is often raised on posts, making it better suited to sloping yards. Many people use raised decks to take advantage of views. When treated with an outdoor finish, decking can be very durable and weatherproof, although you may want to be careful in stormy regions.

As with patios, there are so many different ways to lay a deck. You may want to add a wooden roof over the top, add wooden stairs or even add bridges. With raised decks, railings are often required in order to keep them safe.

Of all the options, decking is usually the most expensive. The timber required is usually pricier than patio slabs and a professional is often required to construct the decking. That said, despite its higher costs, it can often bring the largest return on investment.

Gravel

Gravel is the cheapest option of them all. It’s also simple to lay gravel and suitable for all surfaces. Many people use it as a convenient, cost-effective garden surface. There are a number of decorative ways to use gravel – you could even combine it with paving. A gravel sitting area can be very easy to do.

Gravel can require a bit of maintenance in order to keep it free of weeds, although you can place down a weed-proof membrane first to prevent this. Gravel is also harder to clean – whilst you can easily sweep debris off a patio or deck, or jet-wash mud off of it, you can’t sweep or jet-wash gravel.

The one big disadvantage of gravel is that it isn’t very kid-friendly. It could be painful if a child falls over on it, plus infants may want to put stones in their mouth. Gravel also doesn’t come with a good ROI – a patio or decking is more likely to add value to your home. However, gravel is an option for your sitting area nonetheless.