When it comes to a keeping a well-maintained home, lawn care holds an important place in the hearts of many Americans.

In 2016, the U.S. Lawn Care industry saw $77 billion worth of revenue and retail sales of lawn care supplies are projected to reach $6.6 billion in 2019. Those numbers alone indicate that Americans are more than willing to spend big on landscape materials.

Eighty million households in the United States have private lawns and 83 percent of Americans think having a yard is important. What’s more, 90 percent of those surveyed think it’s important to have a yard that’s well-maintained. In fact, the average American spends an average of four hours per week taking care of their lawn. That’s more than 200 hours per year that the average person spends making their lawn look its best.

One of the more underrated landscape materials used to improve the landscaping of your home is by using bark dust, which is a combination of ground up bark and wood.

Fir is the most common type of bark dust, followed by hemlock. A fine dark fir will give your yard a natural look and younger mixes will help a yard look more bright and fresh. A unit of bark dust typically measures 200 feet and a yard of bark dust is about the same as the bed of a small truck filled with bark dust.

For most landscaping applications, a layer of two to three inches of bark dust is generally recommended. It is recommended to apply new bark dust every two to four years, depending on the type of bark used and how well it’s maintained. When applying bark dust, even coverage is key and a flat shovel will help to spread it evenly. A rake can also be used to smooth out the edges.

Using landscape materials like bark dust can have several benefits for your home and your yard:

• Landscaping can increase a home’s resale value by 14 percent
• Spending as little as five percent of your home’s value on landscaping may yield an ROI of as much as 150 percent.
• Researchers from the University of Washington found seven percent higher rental rates for commercial offices with high-quality landscapes.

If landscape materials like barkdust could help add a different dynamic to your yard, many companies offer bark dust blowing services or you can do it yourself.

If you choose to spread bark dust via blower truck installation, there are many benefits to doing so. Many companies that offer blower truck installation are spreading some of the same products they manufacture. Using blower truck installation to spread bark dust saves time and ensures the material is going to be spread correctly and evenly. Another advantage of blower truck installation is that it’s offered to daycares, playgrounds, homeowners, the military and municipalities among others.

If you’re considering using blower truck installation or blower truck services, here are some helpful tips that will help the company you’re contracting for the job.

• Plan ahead. During busy seasons, blower trucks are in use constantly and you don’t want to be left out.
• Know the yardage needed for the job. This will make it easier for contractors to know how much material they’re going to need.
• On that note, it’s important to know the environment as well. If there are low-hanging limbs or other obstacles, let the blower truck contractors know about them ahead of time. Some blower truck companies require waivers for taking trucks off of state roads, so that in mind too.