Increase Your Home’s Value With an Outdoor Pergola
A pergola is a garden feature that acts as a trellis for twining vines. It’s also a great place for a bench and stealthy storage (to stow away garden tools and other gear).
A landscape professional can custom design a pergola to fit your space or you can purchase kits that make it easy to install yourself. Both options have their pros and cons.
1. Adds Value to Your Home
With the trend for outdoor living spaces booming in the real estate market, adding an attractive pergola to your backyard is sure to increase the value of your property. Prospective buyers will be able to envision their own barbecues, family gatherings, romantic evenings, and other ways to use the space when viewing your home.
Pergolas are easy to install and provide outdoor pergola privacy from neighboring homes or businesses, allowing homeowners to unwind with a book under the shade or admire their garden in peace. The variety of designs and materials allow you to choose the perfect structure to complement your landscape and suit your personal taste.
While wood is the most common material for a pergola, you can also find them made from fiberglass, vinyl, galvanized metal, and more. These structures are often pricier than wood models, but their durability and unique designs make them worth the investment.
Whether you have a contractor build a custom pergola or opt for a prefab kit, make sure the design you choose is compliant with your local building codes. It is a good idea to consult a landscape professional before you get started and check with your city/town officials on setback requirements and height restrictions. If you need extra funds to complete your project, a personal loan is an affordable option and can be used for landscaping projects as well.
2. Increases Livable Space
If you’re looking to increase your home’s livable space, a pergola is the perfect solution. These free-standing airy outdoor rooms provide a defined area to dine and relax with friends and family. They also add visual interest and create a more cohesive space to work, play and study outdoors.
The structures’ open design, which can be enhanced with drapes, screens and other accessories, helps to create a sense of seclusion. This means you can use your backyard to host backyard barbecues, a reading nook or any other type of outdoor entertainment without worrying about the neighbors peeking in. Additionally, the boundaries help to muffle any neighborhood noise like lawnmowers, traffic or other loud sounds.
Pergolas can be designed to offer partial or full shade depending on how you want your backyard to be used. A professional landscaper can help you determine how much sun the structure should provide based on the location and size of your yard. You can also have climbing plants (ivy, wisteria, clematis and more) grow up the beams and rafters of your pergola to further reduce sunlight, making the space cool, pleasant and shaded.
A pergola is the perfect addition to a garden. The lattice-work roof provides a beautiful framework to plant vines, flowers and more. You can choose from a range of materials to build your pergola.
3. Adds Comfort
A pergola not only creates a beautiful space to spend time outdoors, but it also adds shade to prevent sunburn and discomfort. Those who live in a climate with heavy rain can also benefit from this structure by keeping their outdoor area dry and comfortable.
Pergolas are a great place to host a variety of add-ons that can further enhance comfort. For example, you can install a ceiling fan or a patio misting system to help cool down the summer heat and provide extra relief from the sun’s direct rays. Additionally, you can add a firepit to help keep the temperature toasty and cosy in the evening.
You can take your ambiance to the next level with the addition of lighting, too. This dark wood grid pergola from My Dark Home easily holds string lights, paper lanterns and candles to illuminate the deck and bring a romantic feel to the space at night.
A pergola is a great way to transform an unused part of your garden into a functional, livable space for you and your loved ones. However, before you invest in one, make sure you’ve taken the necessary steps to ensure it doesn’t cause any issues with your local laws or homeowners association regulations. It’s also a good idea to check with utility representatives to locate any underground gas, water or other services before beginning construction.
4. Increases the Value of Your Home
Most buyers will be more willing to pay extra for a home with an attractive outdoor living space. Although pergolas do not add to your home’s livable square footage, they create a defined area for relaxation and entertainment that will increase the overall value of your property.
While pergolas do not provide complete shade, the structure’s louvered design allows breezes to flow freely while blocking sunlight and rain. This makes them ideal for spring and summer, but they can also be fitted with awnings, screens, or even full roofs to extend the use of your garden into fall and winter.
When a pergola is fitted with drapes or screens, it can completely block out views from above and even muffle noise from the neighbors’ outdoor pergola lawnmowers or cars driving by on the street. These boundaries will create a sense of seclusion and privacy that makes your garden an irresistible retreat for relaxing, entertaining, and spending time with family or friends.
A well-designed and constructed pergola can drastically increase the value of your home, especially if you mix it with other outdoor areas to create a coherent aesthetic. But before you start building a pergola, make sure you check with your local authorities to ensure that your project is compliant. And if you need financing for the project, be sure to check out personal loans from lenders like Avant and Prosper.