Gravel Work

There are hundreds of ways gravel and crushed rock can enhance your landscape. From creating a charming backyard path to decorating a neat garden bed, gravel has endless eco-friendly and appealing applications.
At Pierce Landscaping, we have many years of experience with Tacoma gravel services. With our knowledge of the usage of crushed rock in Tacoma and around the country, we’re happy to help you out. We’ll walk you through the different types of gravel and their common applications so you can make the right choice for your landscape.

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Gravel Is Versatile

There are many practical and beautiful applications for gravel on your property. We’ll go over just a small number of ways you can use gravel as a beautiful and functional feature in your landscaping. Here are the most popular ways we use our Tacoma gravel:

Patios. Your patio doesn’t have to be made out of tile, bricks, or concrete. You can instead place an area of gravel in your backyard and surround it with bricks or stones for a cost-friendly and appealing backyard surface.
Driveways. Gravel driveways can be much more appealing than concrete and just as cost-effective. They’re also water permeable for wet landscapes. Just make sure if you create a gravel driveway that you don’t choose a type of gravel that will get stuck in your wheels. It should be a size that compacts and is tamped down, possibly coated in a binding to lock it in place.

Walkways. If you want to easily create walkways in your backyard or your commercial property, gravel is a popular choice. The natural look of crushed rocks makes for a beautiful feature, and the rocks are great for drainage. You can add stepping stones to your gravel path for a charming feature.
Water features. Crushed landscape rocks are the perfect choice for any backyard water feature. You can always add some larger feature stones as well.

Garden bed mulch. In cooler environments like Tacoma, gravel makes an excellent replacement for mulch in your garden beds. You can choose a color that makes weeds easy to spot and pull, and you can also install your gravel beds in such a way that weeds don’t grow as easily.
Gravel trenches for in-between paving stones. If you still want large paving stones but you need your landscape to be water permeable, you can easily install gravel in between the stones.

Gravel Is Good for the Environment

One of the appeals about gravel is that it creates a neat walkable surface without harming the surrounding environment. Gravel allows rainwater to permeate the soil, giving your garden a healthy irrigation system and preventing erosion. In rainy Tacoma, gravel is especially desirable. If you’re especially concerned about your soil health for landscaping or gardening reasons, gravel is usually a more suitable choice than tile or poured concrete.

Gravel is Affordable

We’ve already mentioned several cost-effective ways you can utilize gravel in your landscape. Crushed rocks (in Tacoma, especially) are a great way to reduce landscaping costs for driveways, patios, walkways, and more. If you’re on a budget, you can opt for gravel in many aspects of your residential or commercial property to save on expenses. If you want a more expensive material like limestone down the road, you can always choose gravel for now and upgrade down the line when you have the budget for it.

Tip: You can always save more money on gravel by opting for locally sourced stone. Import costs on stone can hike the price up significantly. If you’re in our area, there are many Tacoma gravel options we can talk about that will save you money.

How To Choose Your Gravel & Crushed Rock Materials

Choosing the right Tacoma gravel material is about more than just aesthetics. The size and type of your rocks will determine how your surface can compact, how it feels under your feet, and how it can prevent erosion or runoff.

A white gravel path surrounded by ferns and other plants

River rock gravel. River rocks are a common Tacoma gravel choice, known for their appealing round shapes and styles, like rocks you would find at the bottom of a river. They’re smooth and vary in color, and they look great in a stylish landscape.
Red clay gravel. Red clay has a great earth tone and looks fantastic in brightly colored landscapes. Its color and applications can vary widely.
C-ballast gravel. This gray-toned gravel has a rough, unrefined texture that’s great for commercial and foundational use.
Marble chips. Crushed white marble makes for a beautiful, eye-catching addition to your landscape. It’s highly sought-after for garden beds because it inhibits weed growth and unwanted insects.

Chat. Chat is very fine rocks left over after sifting sand, measuring about 3/16 to 3/8 of an inch. It’s typically used in construction to control dust.
Crushed granite. Also known as decomposed granite, this crushed rock can be tamped down and sealed into a stable surface for an excellent driveway or path.
Crushed limestone. This is the other major type of crushed rock you’ll find for landscaping applications. You can also find gravel made from crushed slate or dolomite.
Pea gravel. Pea gravel is aptly named for containing smooth, round stones about the size of a pea. The small, compactable size is ideal for walkways and driveways.

Contact Experienced Tacoma Gravel Landscapers

No matter which gravel you choose, ensure you’re choosing a landscaper who has the experience, knowledge, and work ethic to get the job done right. For all your crushed rocks and landscape rocks in Tacoma, Contact us anytime.

To get started on realizing your landscaping or gardening goals, we invite you to contact us anytime by phone or email. We look forward to providing you with the best gardening services in Tacoma, and to helping make your dreams for your outdoor space a reality.