Hometown Cherokee
http://www.hometowncherokee.com/living/home/cubit.shtmlCurb It
Concrete edging has become popular nationwide. “It gives things a clean look,” says Terry Siville, owner of Curb It in Cumming GA. The list of the solution's unforseen benefits continues to grow...
This year, Jeff and Melissa Patterson joined a growing trend and had concrete edging installed at their Metro Atlanta home. The Coco brown colored border gently curves around their front yard landscape. In their back yard they choose 6 inch by 6 inch around their children’s play area so they could add mulch for protection. An unforeseen benefit for the children was a nice flat area to parade Barbie dolls, or race cars on.
“We had seen it in other neighborhoods and thought it looked really nice”, says Melissa . “It has an imaginative form, and it defines the space. I like the curves around the play set so much more than the old square railway ties.”
Concrete edging has become popular nationwide for those reasons and other more practical, benefits. Mowers can safely ride up to the edging, and lawn trimmers are given a much-needed rest.
People primarily use the decorative curbing for foundation flowers and shrubs because it acts as a short wall to retain mulch, rocks and other landscaping material. It also is installed around decks, playground equipment, swimming pools and home golf putting greens.
Some people, Like the Pattersons, use it to encircle trees in the front yard to further delineate the plantings and mulch from the lawn. “It gives things a clean look,” says Terry Siville, owner of Curb It a business in Cumming GA., that installs concrete edging.
Before the concrete, the Pattersons had black plastic edging that warped after the mower ran into it and it had endured a couple of winters.
Common plastic edging which is available in long rolls sells for about 30 cents a foot. By comparison, concrete edging costs between $4 and $6 dollars per linear foot. The average yard will cost between $700 to $1200. Consider it an investment in a permanent edging solution.
Because the process involves cutting sod, leveling, and working with concrete people say it’s not a do-it-yourself job like installing plastic edging or interlocking bricks. With seamless concrete landscape edging, a machine extrudes the concrete into a shallow trench of about 1 ½ inches deep. The leading edge of the concrete is level with the lawn and gradually slopes to a height of about 4 inches in the back, enough to retain mulch and other landscape material.
The edging can look like pavers, brick, stone or any of 15 different patterens. People love all of the colors and designs they can choose from,” says Terry Siville, owner of Curb It of Cumming Ga.
The concrete comes in 30 colors. Iron pigments are mixed in the concrete to insure uniform color throughout the curb . Siville provides a personal consultation to each of his clients to help create new islands or enhance the ones they have.