Ron Hostetler of Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, had black plastic edging in his yard that kept working its way up. Tired of the hassle of having to push it back down all the time, he looked for something more permanent.
He found the solution when Curbs Unlimited applied their decorative continuous concrete curbing in a neighbor's yard. Impressed with the results, he hired the company to apply flowing curve edging around garden areas, a ring around his birch tree, and curbing around a drainage area.
"I'm very glad I had it done," said Hostetler. "It really decorated up the yard, front and back, and it's easier for mowing.
"Since I've had the curbing in, even people I don't know tell me they like it and give me compliments. They say it decorates the yard up, especially the front, where most people can see it. It looks so nice because nothing is in a straight line. The flowing curves add to the look."
People are also reading…
The decorative concrete curbing works equally well in commercial applications. Roberta Kass, co-owner of 4 Brothers Bar & Grill in Le Mars, Iowa, contacted Curbs Unlimited to apply concrete curbing as a divider between the rock and mulch in front of her business.
"I was trying to do a focal point for the front of the restaurant," Kass said. "I had bought a large fountain and needed a half-moon to put rock or mulch in. I wanted a red area to coordinate with the building. Since a large half-moon would have required using that ugly plastic edging that you have to try to peg down into the ground, I was looking for an alternative. I saw Curbs Unlimited and had them come out and look at the area."
Curbs Unlimited co-owner Lisa Ludwigs came to Le Mars to give Kass a free estimate, as well as suggestions for improving the area.
"Lisa was so much help," Kass said. "She offered so many suggestions as to the color of the concrete because there are so many choices. I was somewhat hesitant about the size of the half-moon. She helped me make the best choice to balance with the building. She wasn't at all pushy to do more than I needed to do."
Kass said she was amazed by the efficiency of the process.
"They came in the morning and in about two hours, the job was done. The area was balanced perfectly. They chalked it all out for me and had me come out and look at it. It was so much faster than I thought it would be," she said.
When the job was completed, the group neatly cleaned up the area, leaving no trace of them being there except a pretty curb.
"The curb looks so great and wonderful. We're so happy with it," she said.
Dave Mickelson, co-owner of Curbs Unlimited with Lisa Ludwigs, said landscape accent curbing has been on the market for more than 20 years but has been taking off in the Midwest just recently.
"It's like other products that start out on the Coasts and make their way here. Right now, it's big in Omaha, Minneapolis and Sioux Falls," he said.
Curbs Unlimited has been selling and applying the continuous concrete curbing in the Siouxland area for the past three years. So far, about 80 percent of their business has been residential with a focus on garden beds, landscape edging, walkways and garden paths, and custom decorative concrete patios.
No matter where the curbing is applied, it provides a welcome decorative element to any landscape.
"Our product gives landscaping a nice, clean look," said Ludwigs. "And it's low-maintenance in that you don't have to deal with it like black landscaping plastic. It stays in place."
Mickelson said continuous concrete curbing is ideal as a replacement for individual pavers or bricks, or any material that shifts around and allows grass to grow through it.
"It's a good root barrier," he said. "One style we have, the Mower Edge, allows you to mow up the front side of the curbing. The back side is higher to hold the landscaping in. You can use this anywhere you want to keep rocks and mulch from going into the grass and anywhere you would use black plastic edging or tree rings. It saves all the trimming and edging time, and grass can grow into your yard with ease.
"We encourage homeowners to extend the corners out of their yards to make it look the best and mow the best. Smoothing out the corners makes for easy mowing and gives your lawn a nice, clean look."
Mickelson said their larger curbing is excellent for homeowners who live on acreages with gravel or hard surface lanes. When it is applied on both sides of lane, it allows water to run down to the end of the lane instead of the sides when it rains, preventing rocks from spreading out into the lawn. Curbing also keeps people from walking on the lawn, he said.
The continuous concrete curbing is made on site with Portland cement from local vendors and is usually applied the same day. The first step of the process is to mark the ground with spray paint or a string line. Then a small sod cutter is used to remove the grass from the work area without disturbing the existing landscape.
The second step is to mix the concrete (and any special colors at that time) with a small mixer and a trailer.
"There is no heavy equipment or concrete trucks on your property, so we're not tearing up any lawns," he said. "We're really careful. Besides, we have to use small equipment to get into tight areas."
The third step in the process is to feed the concrete into the small extruding machine. This creates the continuous piece of concrete curb.
Next, the curb is smooth-finished with a hand trowel or textured with a special stamping tool, and control/expansion joints are cut every 3 feet while the concrete is still wet. The cuts are about 40 percent into the curb, Ludwigs said.
Finally, the joint is tooled to give the curb a nice, finished look.
"Like concrete sidewalks and patios, control joints are needed to give the curb a place to move," she said. "That's really important and works well here in the Midwest, where you have extremes in temperature."
To give the curbs a protective coating that will keep them looking good and wearing well for many years, Curbs Unlimited applies a sealant.
"As long as you take care of your curbing and seal it about every three years, it should last a long time," Mickelson said.
For more information about Curbs Unlimited or to schedule a free estimate, call Mickelson at (712) 389-7377 or Ludwigs at (712) 389-7376. You can also see their product on their Web site, http://www.siouxlandcurbsunlimited.com.
