Beyond basements and attics, a home’s most overlooked area is often its driveway. For many owners, driveways are a mere functional feature separating their house from the street. However, a driveway is also the literal gateway to the home. Seen from this angle, maintaining your driveway becomes a must.
Investing in Pavement
As rural residents know, dirt and gravel driveways wash out in bad weather and degrade swiftly with heavy use. For durability, a driveway must be smoothly surfaced with a hard material. Currently, the most common paving solutions are asphalt and concrete.
A mixture of bitumen, sand and gravel, asphalt provides soft support for vehicles and their drivers. Creating a flexible finish that’s hard to crack, asphalt is the preferred pavement for colder climates. Although periodic resealing is required, asphalt is overall cheap to install and repair.
Costlier than asphalt, concrete’s mix of crushed rock, cement and water creates a heavy, strong and long-lasting surface. In addition, the rough composition gives tires extra traction under slick conditions. If you’re struggling to make a selection, consult your local driveway pavers South Bend IN for more information.
Designing Your Driveway
As a home’s main approach, a driveway offers the first impression of how the owners live. There are numerous methods to make one’s driveway more welcoming. Spruce up the path to your door by lining it with lights and planting greenery along its borders. Pretty or fragrant plants that harmonize with their surroundings produce a pleasant backdrop. A careful combination of natural landscaping and artificial architecture can enhance a home’s inherent charms and lend the entire residence an inviting air.
More than a showpiece for visitors, a driveway should be a place for personal pleasure. Particularly for people without large yards, driveways are the only setting for outdoor activities. By giving your driveway elements that reflect what you enjoy (basketball hoops, barbecue grills, etc.), you can make it the scene of many fond memories.
Clearly, your driveway is not just a parking spot. As a point of pride and of personal safety, homeowners should keep their paths in pristine condition.
