If you have drainage problems in your landscape, here are step-by-step instructions on how to install a French drain. Drainage problems in your yard or on your acreage property can be bothersome—and sometimes dangerous. If you have drainage problems in the landscape, then you’ll want to learn how to install a French drain. Does water puddle around your foundation after a rain? Or perhaps standing water covers your walkway or patio. Drainage problems can lead to more serious damage to house foundations or pavement. Fortunately, it is easy to redirect water. We’ll teach you how to install a French drain and protect your home and landscape from water damage. What is a French Drain? A French drain might sound fancy. But it’s a simple solution to move water from a problem area to a more desirable location. The drain itself is nothing more than a narrow trench lined with gravel and fitted with pipe to move water. One common application of a French drain is along the … [Read more...] about How to Install a French Drain
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How to Build a Floating Deck
If you are wondering how to build a floating deck, you’ve come to the right place. A floating deck is an inexpensive, freestanding platform that is surprisingly easy to build. The deck floats just above the ground atop preformed concrete blocks. It is not difficult to build, and it can be installed in most lawn or garden areas. Raising the deck off the ground allows the wood to dry out after rainstorms, helping it to last longer. The simple act of stepping up onto a platform helps establish a sense of place in the landscape. Elevating the floating deck also accommodates unique design elements. In the project described in detail below, we built a deck that cantilevers over a water garden. The floating deck is attractive, and it creates a serene gathering spot where the landscape can be enjoyed. How to Build a Floating Deck: Materials Needed The tools and materials specified below are required to build a floating deck that is 10 feet by 10 feet. Adjust board lengths … [Read more...] about How to Build a Floating Deck
Hide Your AC Unit with Smart Design Hacks
Air conditioners (AC units) are essential for countless homes and families. But AC units are not known for being the most attractive devices. In fact, many homeowners get frustrated when seeing those big gray boxes in their yards. If you have an AC unit in your yard, you probably wish it would just disappear. Well, you can't exactly get rid of your AC unit or magically make it vanish. It’s also important to be able to access it if you need to call an air conditioning repair service for essential maintenance or repairs. However, there are still plenty of innovative and effective ways you can hide your AC unit from view—or at least make it less of an eyesore. Here are some smart design hacks that will help to hide AC units and beautify your property. Home, Garden and Homestead is a member of several affiliate programs, and we receive a commission from qualified sales generated by the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting this website! Easy AC Unit Fence or … [Read more...] about Hide Your AC Unit with Smart Design Hacks
How to Build a Cedar Hot Tub
I always wanted to build a cedar hot tub. The vision of a long soak in a hot tub under the starry skies on a clear, crisp night in Santa Fe is quite compelling. Doing it in a natural tub constructed from cedar made the thought seem even better. As an experienced DIYer, I was taken by the idea that I could design and build a classic, red cedar hot tub myself. And I could save several thousand dollars over the cost of a kit from an established hot tub supplier. After all, how hard could it be? I built my own home in 2014. A cedar hot tub is a far simpler and much smaller project. This is the basic hot tub I envisioned: Research I spent several weeks scouring websites of commercial suppliers and DIY builders for ideas about wooden hot tubs. In my search, I discovered three things: How to Build a Cedar Hot Tub: The Design After my research was finished, I began the design phase. The tub would be circular, five feet in diameter and about 40 inches deep. I would use … [Read more...] about How to Build a Cedar Hot Tub
Build an Instant Rusted Corrugated Metal Fence
Our master bedroom garden was an unsightly mess. What it needed was an instant rusted corrugated metal fence, although it took me a while to figure that out. The space was initially designed as coyote-safe place for our small dogs and a sunny location for our raised bed gardens in galvanized stock tanks. But the native grasses had taken over, and the heavy-gauge open mesh fence offered no privacy. It was time for a serious landscaping remodel. Bee Zollo, my life partner, and I decided we wanted a space with a cleaner, more modern aesthetic than the over-grown “natural” look that we currently had. The most important element in the new garden was making it more private. This necessitated replacing the open mesh fencing with a new design. We considered a range of wood options, but finally decided we liked the contemporary appearance of a rusted corrugated metal fence using the existing redwood framing which was in very good shape. Inventing the Instant Rusted Corrugated Metal … [Read more...] about Build an Instant Rusted Corrugated Metal Fence
