We're in desperate need of some landscape curbing for our front flower beds. We tried the black plastic edging and that just warped and didn't hold in the mulch. Then we tried something DH came up with: slats from wood fence panels cut to size angled on top stuck in the ground. We had extra fence panels to use (although they do sell strips of wood for this purpose - see photo). It was sort of like a picket fence for our flower bushes. We set them too close and didn't allow for expansion, so they're all laying all over the place now. The ones from the store are pre-spaced with wires to make install easier, allow for expansion and to help keep them in place.
We looked into stone borders from Home Depot similar to retention wall stone. They're about $1.50 per stone and for our 80 ft. line, we'd need 2 layers which would be about $300 plus all that time and lifting. Plus it would take away from the visual height of our flower beds since 2 levels of stone would be about 8 inches high. So then we started looking into concrete edging. Typically, this is done by a professional with a concrete forming machine that he just runs down the outline of the prepped border and wha-la, permanent edging to withstand the rain, sun, sleet and snow. There's all types of stamping and color options to decorate the concrete. There's even different forms to make the border a different shape.
This first one's supposed to look like cobblestone.
These two like real rocks with texture. I'm not a big fan of the one on the left - the random lines are not orgainzed enough for me. The one on the right is ok. It may be an option as this shade would match the brick front.
But the one I like the most is the plain concrete color in mower's edge style. The concrete is natural gray color, I say classic, some may say boring. See the little lip near the grass, this allows the lawn mower to ride right up to there assuring an even mow all the way up to the edging.
We had 1 guy come give us an estimate, and if you know me, you know I've got to check all my options and compare prices, so we've got a 2 more companies coming over to give us an estimate. Hopefully I'll have some nice 'after' pics soon so I can do a before and after post.
Interesting! I haven't seen that before. I suspect it's not practical here because it could crack pretty quickly with all our freezing and thawing.
ReplyDeleteWithout a doubt, I like the last one the best. I can't imagine freezing and thawing being an issue...we have concrete driveways and patios all over Jersey and as long as they're done right, it's no big deal. And I don't think it looks boring, I think it has nice clean lines...its modern and classy :) the other options look kinda cheesy...like my friend's stamped concrete driveway...I always want to say to her, ya know, no one actually thinks they're pavers... lol
ReplyDeleteI install these concrete borders up here by lake michigan (really cold winters), and we use steel aircraft cable to reinforce the curbing, and cut control joints every 2-3 ft (like the lines in a sidewalk). it's very strong and durable. Perhaps the reason you havnt seen it is because the process isnt that old, alot of people have never heard of it.
ReplyDeletealso like to add: the "mower edge" profile everyone initially likes the look of is no more mower friendly than the "slant edge" or stamped curbs. Look how the grass rests on that lip. Also, though I've seen people stamp this profile to look like bricks, there really is no stamping options for that profile.
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