Creating A Lush and Welcoming Landscape

It can be difficult to design and maintain a creek-side picnic area. Since the water tends to flood the surrounding area a few times each year, choosing the location and the materials that you use to construct the area will play a big role in how long the picnic area will last your family before you need to think about upgrading or replacing it. Here, you'll find a few tips to help you design and build a creek-side picnic area that'll last for years.

Make It Permanent

You want this area to be as permanent as you can make it so that you don't have to worry about things getting washed away when the area does flood. So, instead of using wooden picnic tables and benches, pick up masonry blocks and bags of concrete.

You can opt to have a concrete pad poured with a drain in the center to keep water from pooling. Then, a concrete surround can be built to create a permanent and safe fire pit. Add some concrete seating around the area and you'll end up with a picnic area that no flood can wash away.

Note: If you know that the area floods often, you can plan out the design to promote good water flow through the area. That way, when it does flood, the water isn't fighting to get past your picnic area—it'll flow right through without putting much stress on the concrete elements.

Roofing Options

Are you hoping to have an area that is covered with a roof? Well, that's an option as long as you secure the posts very well. You will need to dig holes for each post that are several inches deep—the deeper, the better. Then, you'll need some gravel and lots of concrete. You need to be sure that the posts and concrete supports are deep enough to stay strong when the water rises.

Tip: To protect the posts from damage occurring when limbs and logs come floating down the floodwater, build concrete encasements around the lower portions of the support posts, or you can secure the support posts to a concrete pillar.

When you build a pavilion, use high-quality wood for the rafters. This will give you lots of storage space in an area that the flood waters won't reach.

Talk with your local masonry service to learn more about designing and building a permanent creek-side picnic area that will hold up to floods of any size.