Creating a Landscape That Pops: Concrete Tips and Ideas

Your outdoor landscaping makes your first impression, it creates a relaxation zone for your family, and it can boost your property values. Landscaping involves lots of different elements including concrete. Hi, my name is Diane, and I love landscaping. However, I also love patios, magical pathways, sports courts and other concrete creations. Want help creating your fabulous outdoor space? Want help with concrete ideas in particular? Then, I would love to be there for you. I have a keen eye for decoration and have helped a lot of friends create their outdoor areas. I hope my tips and ideas can help you.

5 Tips for Designing Safe Commercial Kerbs

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If you're designing concrete kerbs for the entrances to your commercial parking lot, you need to take steps to ensure the area is as safe as possible for pedestrians. In addition to keeping your customers or anyone else using your parking lot safe, you also want to minimize the risk of someone bringing a personal injury lawsuit against your business. 

Trying to design safe commercial kerbs? Then, keep these tips in mind. 

1. Focus on Drainage

When working with your commercial kerb designer, you cannot just think about how the kerbs are going to affect pedestrian and traffic flow. You also need to consider how water is going to flow through the area. If water is allowed to build up, pedestrians become more likely to slip and fall. 

Ideally, you want the kerbs positioned in a way that encourages water to go away from pedestrian areas and toward stormwater drains.

2. Make Sure Kerbs Are Handicapped Accessible

So that the kerbs are as safe as possible for everyone, they need to be handicapped accessible. Consult with someone who knows the handicapped accessibility laws in your area to ensure you're compliant.

3. Visually Mark Height Differences

To make your kerbs handicapped accessible, you are typically going to integrate a lot of slopes so that people in wheelchairs can easily roll over the kerbs. Sloped areas are also easier to manage for people with visual impairments who use walking canes. 

However, you may also end up putting in areas where there is a step up from one level to another. If you have to include areas like this, make sure that they are visibly noticeable. For instance, they may need to be painted with bright yellow lines. 

4. Consider Adding Bulbs to the Corners of the Kerbs

In addition to thinking about people walking over the kerbs, you should also think about how vehicles drive past the kerbs. In particular, you need to consider this issue when designing the driveways for your commercial parking lot. 

If automobiles turn quickly into your space, they are more likely to hit pedestrians. One way to minimize this risk is to add bulbs to the corners of the kerbs around your entries. Bulb outs are just small concrete extensions that make the corners of the sidewalk stick out a bit into the driveway. 

This shape prevents cars from coming into your parking lot too quickly. To avoid hitting the bulb out, vehicles need to slow down while making their turns, and this makes your parking lot safer. 

5. Don't Forget About Maintenance

Finally, don't forget about maintenance. Work with a commercial kerbing expert to ensure that your concrete stays free of cracks and holes. 

For help with commercial kerbing, reach out to a local concrete contractor. 

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24 November 2020