3 Reasons to Build a Pergola

Whether your home has a large yard, or a small yard, enhancing its landscape not only increases your home’s value but enhances your enjoyment of your outdoor space significantly.

Whether your home has a large yard, or a small yard, enhancing its landscape not only increases your home’s value but enhances your enjoyment of your outdoor space significantly.  How you choose to enhance your landscape will depend on your personal preferences, entertaining style and more but almost any landscape can benefit from the addition of a pergola.  Pergolas have been used for centuries as a hardscape architectural element in landscape design because it is both functional and beautiful.  To better inform our readers and provide a full picture of what we are discussing, About Home describes what exactly a pergola is, “A pergola is an outdoor structure consisting of columns that support a roofing grid of beams and rafters. This roofing grid may be left open or covered so as to create an area sheltered from the elements. Pergolas may be freestanding or attached to a house.”  Below, we discuss 3 reasons everyone should add a pergola to their home’s landscape.

1. Beautify your landscape
   • If you are looking for a way to add green to your landscape, as we all as balance your softscape (plants, flowers, grass, etc.) with your hardscape (structures, walls, patios, pathways, etc.), a pergola is a great way to do so. Once your pergola has been installed, you can grow vines and other plants along and up your pergola for a truly beautiful addition your yard.
2. Provide shade from the sun
   • When spending time in the great outdoors, it is important to protect yourself from the harsh rays of the sun. This can be done with a patio structure, umbrella or other shade structure but why not do so with a pergola that is both beautiful and a functional shade structure?  As climbing plants grow along your pergola, they will flourish together within the pergola to block out the sun so that you can enjoy sitting outside without worrying about the damaging effects of the sun.
3. Block out unsightly view and reduce ambient noise

Do you have an unsightly view from your yard or over your wall?  Something you would rather not see?  Do you get road noise or noise from a neighbor that you would rather not hear?  While you may not be able to be completely rid of these things, it is possible to reduce them.  A pergola covered in lush plants and vines may help form a wall that blocks out unwanted ambient noise.  Further, pergola covered in plants and vines forms a structure that can serve as a wall that blocks out unsightly views, providing a much more appealing view that suits your architectural style and landscape design aesthetic.