How To Put Landscape Timbers Together

Looking to tackle your next DIY project simply not certain where to outset? Here'south an idea: Reinvigorate your mural design with landscaping timbers.

Suitable for a variety of dwelling improvement tasks, including edging, fencing, retaining walls, and raised garden beds, mural timbers are a low-maintenance, low-price fashion to improve your home'south curb appeal.

To aid yous cull your next property upgrade, we've rounded up a list of 9 ways to use landscape timbers in your yard. Let's have a look.

ix ways to apply landscaping timbers in your yard

1. Give garden beds an border

Heave the await of your in-ground flower beds by installing a wooden edge made of redwood, cypress, or cedar. Non only will this definition add neatness and beauty to the space, but edging with landscape timbers can as well help prevent erosion and keep invasive plants and weeds out.

You may likewise choose to stack landscape timbers 2 to 3 levels high to build a retaining wall for your raised garden beds. This makes tending to your plants easier, as there's less need for angle.

Note: If y'all're looking to edge your vegetable garden, choose untreated woods instead, so there won't be any chemicals potentially leaching into the soil.

Difficulty Level: Beginner. An edging project is keen for beginners because it's pretty like shooting fish in a barrel and can be done in an afternoon. Start with level ground, marking the areas you want to border, dig a trench, and and so lay the timbers. Check out this tutorial for more details.

Cost: Mural timber and galvanized nails can run yous $5 to $30, while you can get landscape fabric for about $20. If you need to purchase all tools necessary, including a level, saws, hammers, etc., wait to spend between $200 and $400.

2. Build an outdoor stairway

Whether you're going for a rustic look leading into your backyard wood or you'd like a set of sleek, modern steps to welcome visitors to your front door, you can install landscape timbers to do the job.

A more common DIY timber project, though, is to build a forest and pea gravel staircase to act as a garden path. For this task, y'all'll need pressure level-treated woods posts, pea gravel, landscape textile, and a piece of rebar.

Difficulty Level: Intermediate. You'll need to know how to excavate, grade the land surface area, cut timber to size, and build step frames with the timber. Get a preview of the projection here.

Toll: Depending on the amount of landscape lumber and pea gravel you need, likewise as if you need to purchase other materials and tools, plan to spend between $50 and $200-plus.

iii. Cock the perfect argue

Not simply for those fences you come across marking national battleground sites, mural timber tin can too exist used equally modern fence posts and railings for your backyard.

Earlier installing this type of fence, make certain your soil isn't besides moist and that y'all've purchased timber appropriate for use below footing. This will assist prevent wood rot. Setting the posts in physical besides can aid prevent this. Consider fencing as a pool enclosure, as well.

Difficulty Level: Intermediate to advanced. While it won't deed as an actual privacy fence, the easiest way to install fencing of any kind with landscape timber is by choosing the split-rails style. Opting to build a traditional half dozen-pes privacy fence can be a challenge if y'all've never done it before. You'll need to examine the soil, choose the appropriate type of landscape timber, cut wood to size, and backfill mail service holes with physical. Take a wait at this how-to for more info.

Toll: Price is determined by how many linear feet of lumber is needed to build your fence, but based on the boilerplate, plan to spend around $1,000.

4. Create an outdoor deck retreat

Extend your outdoor living space with a traditional deck connected to your home, or employ your mural timber to construct an isle deck sanctuary. Located away from the house, your island deck can exist congenital among a garden for fifty-fifty more of a retreat-type experience.

Difficulty Level: Beginner to advanced. Depending on how intricate (or not) your plans are volition determine how difficult the project volition be to pull off. If you lot're a beginner, try your manus at edifice a freestanding deck like this ane — all it took were landscape timbers, a drill, decking screws, a hammer, a level, and a few hours.

Price: You can build the unproblematic island deck discussed higher up for less than $250.

five. Design a treehouse or fort

Give kids actress outdoor living space past using landscaping timber to build a treehouse or a ground-based fort. Non but will this provide hours of open-air fun, it will as well stir upwards imagination and creativity, which is essential for your children's development.

To ensure immovability, opt for pre-treated, natural wood, such as cypress or cedar, which can last upwardly to seven years. Or, for a chemical-free solution, cull synthetic timber. Here's a tutorial to aid get you started.

Difficulty Level: Advanced. Like you would when building any type of house, you'll need to describe upward some plans, build a foundation/platform (on your chosen tree if building a treehouse), put in the floors, and then, construct the frame — including walls with windows and a door and a roof.

Price: On average, tree houses can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $17,000. The pricing depends on how elaborate y'all want the house to be. Withal, with a trivial inventiveness, yous can build a tree business firm for as low every bit $400 like this dad did.

6. Throw a pergola into the mix

As an add-on for your deck, patio, puddle area, or front porch, consider edifice a pergola. These wooden structures anchor a space, tying each element together. Pergolas as well provide shade, privacy, texture, and a spot for vertical gardening.

Difficulty Level: Beginner. Building a pergola is a great DIY choice for newbies because at that place are so many pergola kits to choose from. Kits come ready-to-assemble — no lumber cutting, sanding, or staining necessary.

Price: The price of pergola kits can range from $400 to $2,000.

7. Get-go a vertical garden

Install a garden wall made of mural timber boards, stained or painted for a modern or rustic touch. A argument slice on its own, this wall can also serve as the properties for a trellis (which can as well be made from timber), where climbing plants can be trained to grow.

Difficulty Level: Intermediate. To build a garden wall, you lot'll follow the same steps you would to construct a wooden retaining wall, except this wall will be taller. The practiced thing about landscape timbers is that their apartment tops and bottoms brand them easy to stack, and then you'll merely need to reinforce them with rebar and eye supports, besides as connecting them with decking screws to keep the planks in place.

Cost: Await to pay between $1,000 and $iii,000 for this blazon of project.

eight. Construct a she shed

Even if your abode doesn't have actress bedroom or basement infinite, you lot can still become the solo time yous crave with a she shed (or a man cave). Since landscape timber has flat tops and bottoms, they're easy to stack, making a quaint log cabin await a very achievable style option.

No affair the aesthetic vibe yous cull, your she shed can be an office, garden center, craft room, or just the perfect spot to find respite from a super busy household.

Difficulty Level: Intermediate to avant-garde. You'll need to build a concrete foundation on level land before beginning the bodily shed build. Later on that, you can either head to your local hardware store to selection up the mural timber needed; or, you can buy a kit and accept everything yous need ready to go.

Price: On average, new construction of a she shed can run you shut to $6,000. Nevertheless, there are cheaper options as low as $1,200 and more than elaborate versions built past contractors that can cost more $30,000.

9. Build a span over water features

Whether natural or constructed, a small creek or pond can bring tranquility to any part of your g. Rather than merely letting it exist in your landscape, footstep things upwardly a notch and cultivate a rock garden effectually it, finishing it off with a bridge emphasis made of landscape timber.

Experts propose using redwood or cedar for all parts of this project, including the flooring, beams, rails, and posts.

Difficulty Level: Intermediate. For someone with prior experience edifice things, this timber project won't be likewise hard to bear out. Yous'll need to be able to construct the shape of the bridge, build and install the beams, put in the decking, and apply the sealant to terminate your bridge.

Cost: The wood can cost yous around $300, but if you likewise demand to buy a lot of the other tools and materials, such every bit various saws, wood glue, concrete, screws, and a sander, y'all could end up paying $1,000 or more.

Landscape Timbers: Other Things to Know

Types of landscaping timbers

There are three types of landscaping timbers yous can buy:

Pre-treated natural wood. Pre-treated options help ensure the wood will last up to seven years without needing to exist replaced. Keep in mind: Chemicals are oft used to preserve this wood, so don't use treated timber for an edible garden.

Untreated natural woods. This is the best pick for edging and building retaining walls around edible garden beds. Untreated wood contains zero chemicals, and then in that location'due south no risk of anything harmful leaching into the soil.

Synthetic. Fabricated from recycled plastic, constructed landscape timber is eco-friendly, low-maintenance, and the to the lowest degree expensive of all the types. What's more, since it's not actually fabricated of wood at all, it volition last years longer than even pre-treated timber. Synthetic selections can withstand conditions conditions, won't succumb to rot, and will never have problems with termites or other wood-boring insects.

Whether treated or untreated, the most popular type of wood used for these timbers include:

Redwood
Cypress
Cedar
Southern yellow pine

Can railroad ties be used in identify of landscaping timber?

Railroad ties are super sturdy, so information technology's no wonder you may have considered using them for your raised beds, tree houses, or garden walls. But, what makes them and then resistant to weather conditions, rot, and weight? Creosote oil. Made from woods tar and coal, creosote can be poisonous to people and is not approved for residential utilise.

On the other hand, pressure-treated mural timbers are most often coated in some form of copper or chromium. These elements slow down the decaying process of wood and likewise help with pest control, such every bit termite prevention.

When to Phone call in the Professionals

When edging or building a planter, raised garden bed, stairway, or pergola from a kit, DIY-ing information technology shouldn't be a problem. But, if you want to accept on a larger, more than difficult chore, such every bit erecting a privacy contend or amalgam a treehouse or she shed, calling in the pros can alleviate a lot of stress.

A mural builder can come out to your property and assist cull a location, design blueprints, and select materials. Then, you can either attempt to follow those blueprints on your own, or rent a contractor to practise the work for you.

Main Photograph Credit: monropic / Adobe Stock

Andréa Butler

Descendant of the Fulani tribe, Gettysburg-obsessed Marine Corps brat, and lover of all things writing and editing, Andréa Butler launched Sesi mag and has penned articles for sites, such as LivingSocial, Talbot Digital, Xickle, Culturs mag, and Rachel Ray. Andréa holds a B.A. in English from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and an Thousand.A. in magazine journalism from Kent State Academy.

Source: https://www.lawnstarter.com/blog/landscaping/landscape-timber-ideas/