Do you need more seating on your patio or in your backyard in general? You could buy some of those cheap plastic lawn chairs, but they don’t really hold up that well. They also don’t look that great, especially if you end up with mismatched ones. What if you could add permanent seating that complimented your patio? You can with pavers! It’s not that difficult, and the end result will look amazing.
Building a Basic Seating Wall
A basic seating wall is really just a solid bench. These walls are usually about waist high and are wide enough for someone to sit on them. Often, they don’t have backs. You can use these seating walls as a flat work surface when you’re gardening, so they can serve double duty. You build them the same way you build a paver planter, except you don’t leave any space for soil, and the top is filled in instead of being left open in the middle.
Retaining/Seating Walls
While you can build a basic seating wall anywhere you want on your patio, if you need a retaining wall, you can make one that does double duty. Retaining walls are used mainly on uneven yards where soil could erode and slide downward. These walls can be made wide enough to work as a seat, so they serve two purposes. Of course, if your retaining wall is needed in an area where you won’t really be sitting, it may not be worth making the wall function for seating.
Where Should You Place Seating Walls?
Most people use seating walls around the edges of their patio or as a way of sectioning off part of the yard. For example, you may want to build a short seating wall along the edge of your flowerbeds or around a water feature. You could also build a half-circle seating wall around your fire pit area or around your outdoor kitchen. You could even make a seating wall along one or two sides of your swimming pool in order to separate it from the rest of the yard and help make sure no one falls into the pool if they’re playing on the other part of the lawn.
Interested in learning more about building seating walls and other paver projects? Contact Island Block & Masonry Supply today.
