Stepping up to a grand entrance
Stairs can add interest, shape and an elevation transition that enhance the look of your home.
Download pdf ›Most new subdivision homes have a front elevation that requires steps and landings to approach the front door. When considering landscaping, it’s important to remember that the transition from the sidewalk and driveway should be comfortable and secure. However, it’s equally important to consider curb appeal and make this transition zone attractive. One challenge in planning a landscape renovation is dealing with the elevation. Your design shape will also have to be considered if your lot is linear or random in shape to ensure that stairs flow with the walkway and are always square to the direction of flow. Stairs can add interest, shape and an elevation transition that enhance the look of your home. However, they can also create maintenance and safety problems when not properly thought out, or if the most appropriate materials have not been selected for the project. In designing the step configuration, look at the balance of steps and landings to give you an easy walkway. My preference when dealing with stairs is to make two even landings. In homes with large elevation changes, you will need to consider a straighter run and hand railings. In the building code, the moment you put three steps together, you are required to install a hand railing. Hand railings are advisable for safety but not always required. Once the foundation of your walkway and stairs is complete, you are ready to begin to select the materials. Consider future landscape lighting and irrigation at this point by properly planning for the installation of conduits under your walkways. Do not leave these out at the initial stages; you need to provide for their future completion if the budget does not allow it during the initial construction. I am not going to spend a lot of time on this point, but the following are important to consider: the most suitable product for the proposed design, the aesthetics of the visual theme, the choice of pre-cast or natural stone, and dry-laid versus a concrete foundation. All of these choices will govern your project, but most people find cost to be the deciding factor. Here’s a good tip: Think about staging the project over time to allow you the freedom to complete it properly and with the best look possible, rather just getting it done as quickly as can be. Now you are ready to start the bedding and planting materials layout, and determine if there is a need for retaining walls. The formal and clean appearance of a linear design lends itself to beautiful stone walls. Planting is the final stage of the project, but it is not an easy task. In the elevations you have created, you’ll want to plant materials that will highlight them with the grandest of effects. Mike Beadle of M&S Architectural Ltd. operates a design-build landscape construction company that specializes in residential landscape. For more information, visit www.msarchitectural.com. |
did you hear…?
• After examining statistics from 27 nations, a group of researchers found the presence of book-lined shelves in the home gives children an enormous advantage in school. Growing up in a home with 500 books would propel a child 3.2 years further in education, on average, than would growing up in a similar home with few or no books.
