Your driveway can be a beautiful entry to your home that helps to increase its curb appeal and its overall value. It doesn’t have to be simply a functional slab of concrete or an alleyway of gravel. With the help of one of the hardscaping specialists at Triad Associates, you can get a beautiful driveway that accentuates the look of your home, or you can have a beautiful parking area that accommodates multiple vehicles.
Our designers will work closely with you to understand your needs and then help you understand the different options to get the perfect design to reflect your personal style. Here are some of the things we’ll talk through with you when designing your driveway or parking area:
Choosing the Right Material
You have several options for materials for your driveway or parking space. If you want a solid surface, you can choose between asphalt or concrete. Asphalt is the same material that is used for the road, and it is not usually recommended for residential driveways unless you have a large piece of land with a driveway that is more like a small road leading up to your home. Asphalt may be less expensive than concrete, but it also doesn’t last as long, and it has no styling options.
In contrast, concrete has a much longer lifespan, and it can be styled in hundreds of configurations. It can be colored, and it can be finished in a variety of ways, each creating a different and dramatic look. Concrete can also be easily poured into any shape to fit any space.
But a solid surface isn’t your only option for your driveway or parking area. You can also use pavers to create a unique and stunning look for your home. One of the benefits of pavers is that they create a permeable surface through which water can flow. With a solid surface, oil and other contaminants can get washed away into drainage ditches and into the water supply. By creating a permeable surface, those things can seep into the ground under the pavers.
Different Concrete Finishes
One of the reasons that concrete is such a flexible hardscaping option is that it can be finished in numerous ways to give it a totally different look. The experts at Triad Associates can finish your concrete in any of the available options, and we can help you decide which would be best to get the look and functionality you want for your driveway and parking areas.
Concrete can be stamped to take on a variety of patterns. Some popular options include a quarter fan, a herringbone or chevron, or a basic grid. You can also have concrete stamped to look like natural stone. Different stamping options include patterns that look like flagstone, cobblestone, and travertine. You can create a luxury driveway and parking area for a fraction of the cost by choosing stamped concrete.
Stamped concrete can also be stained to look more like the natural stone. Some popular options include dark grey and deep earthy tones, like russet or sienna. Any coloring will create a dramatically different look for your home’s entryway. You can also experiment with different color options – such as choosing a lighter color for driveway and then staining the parking area a more dramatic color to make it stand out. Or you could choose staining for the border of your driveway or for pattern accents.
The hardscaping experts at Triad Associates will help you explore all the options for stamped and stained concrete to create the perfect design to complement your home. We’ll help you understand how each of the options
Paver Designs
You can do all the same things with pavers that you can do with stamped concrete. However, you have even more design flexibility with pavers. They can be cut to be placed into a wider variety of patterns, and multiple pavers can be combined in different ways to create unique looks. Pavers of different sizes and shapes can be combined in different ways – creating borders, geometric patterns, and more.
You can make a distinguished space for your parking area, giving it a unique design from your driveway. You may choose different stones for the parking area, or you may choose a distinctive border to mark the overall space and the individual spaces within it.
Keep in mind that you can use pebbles or other small stones and greenery with the pavers to create unique patterns. Some interesting options include a paver grid with borders of grass or groundcover or a cross-hatch of pavers interspersed with greens. You can also create a row of pavers for the cars to drive on and put a solid strip of greenery and small plants in the center, creating a unique look.
You have many options for using pavers, stones, and greenery together to create a beautiful look for your driveway or parking area that is unlike anything your neighbors will have.
Landscaping and Accessories
Keep in mind that your choice of concrete or paver options are not your only considerations for designing a gorgeous driveway or parking area. You should consider these spaces in the context of the whole and incorporate other elements, including landscaping and additional hardscaping, to create a truly stunning look.
Think about how your driveway would look with a beautiful stone entrance wall or stone columns for an entry gate. Or imagine your parking area with a stone retaining or accent wall bordering it. Then you could add some beautiful bushes or flowers behind the wall or in front of the entryway, creating a sophisticated look.
There are many elements you could add to your driveway or parking area, including border walls, gates, sitting walls, stone columns, accent lighting (including poles, lamps, lanterns, hanging lights, wall lights, and more), bushes, and other decorative landscaping. You can really get creative when adding elements to your hardscaping, and the professionals at Triad Associates can help you determine the right elements to create your perfect design and can install them all expertly.
Planning for Weather
It’s no fun running from your car to your house when it is pouring rain. Ditto for getting into your car after it has been baking in the hot sun. With a little planning, you can create a parking area that also protects your vehicle – and you – from the elements.
You can build a traditional carport area that has a solid covering. Know that you aren’t limited to the basic designs that you saw in your grandma’s generation. You can create something truly remarkable with stone columns, stylish metal roofing, and more.
Alternatively, you can create a nice covering with a pergola and some well-chosen plants that provide a solid canopy while also enhancing the look. Whatever elements you choose, work closely with your designer to ensure they complement the style choices you have made for your driveway and parking area, as well as the complementary elements, like any walls or additional landscaping.
Maintenance Concerns
By working with a trusted hardscaping professional, like those at Triad Associates, you can ensure that your driveway and parking area are built properly to appropriately handle runoff and drainage. Working with the wrong people can result in a driveway that has pooling water or that funnels water into your home.
Our hardscaping professionals will do a thorough site evaluation to accurately assess slope and drainage to design your driveway and parking area appropriately. Depending on the results of that assessment, we may recommend additional drainage solutions, such as the installation of drains. Our goal is to create a driveway and parking area that not only looks beautiful, but that also enhances the functionality of your space and that will give you decades of reliable performance.
Expert Installation of Driveways and Parking Areas from Trusted Haverhill Professionals
The professionals at Triad Associates have built a reputation for their flawless design, expert craftsmanship, excruciating attention to detail, and their friendly service. They are committed to creating the very best hardscapes for all types of homes and businesses, as well as to provide the best service while doing so.
We start every project by talking over your vision for your space and helping you realize some of the options for design, materials, and other elements. We can use project sketches and 3D modeling software to help you visualize how your different options will look in your space so that you can choose the details that will make the biggest impact while staying within the budget you have set.
Our associates will also give you information and counsel about issues like maintenance, drainage, and other technical aspects that will influence your ongoing care of the space and its performance.
Our goal is your complete satisfaction so that you will love your new driveway, parking area, or other hardscaped space. We can help you to transform any aspect of your exterior. Call us in Haverhill today to schedule an appointment with a hardscaping specialist and get started on designing your new space.
Check out pictures of our Driveway ideas below:
