Top Steel Lawn Edging Questions
At Steelscapes, we have considerable experience in providing and installing steel lawn edging. These are the top steel lawn edging questions we are asked by customers with some useful answers to help you choose what’s best for you.
How many stakes do I need?
These are included with every order, we supply 4 x stakes with each 3-metre section and 3 stakes with each 2-metre length of the edge.
How do you hold the edging in place when installing?
Simply set the edge in position and push the stakes through the sleeves attached to the edge into the ground, this will hold tight enough on most soils to keep the edge in position, sometimes a little hammer on the stakes is required. When you’re happy with the positioning of the edge the stakes can be hammered in all the way.
What are the other options for garden edging and general landscape edging?
You can use timber, concrete kerb edging or plastic. None of these however have all the strength, aesthetic appeal, longevity and flexibility of a steel edge though.
Should flower beds be higher or lower than grass when edging?
They can be either, typically flower beds are lower with the grass edge going down to the border, the steel is used to face the vertical edge. However, this does depend on your current levels and it’s most likely easier to work with what you have currently. If your borders are higher than your lawn then the edge is set so the top is a fraction higher than the border soil level. A strimmer is then used to trim the grass next to the raised edge. In effect, you have a raised bed.
How long does metal edging last?
This one does depend on the conditions, damp and salt will accelerate rusting. That said even in poor conditions our 3mm edge will be looking good for at least 20 years and our 6mm thick edge for well over 30 years. Corten or galvanised edging will outlast even this by around double.
What is the best metal edging material?
We feel on the balance of cost and longevity untreated mild steel is the best, our customers think so too as it outsells our Corten and galvanised edging by some margin. We don’t offer aluminium edging as we feel the bright metallic colour is not especially in keeping with natural surroundings. We also steer away from powder coated options as these surface finishes can be damaged which looks unsightly. Corten is a brand of steel to which many people gravitate to. We are always happy to explain the differences between Corten and mild steel. We have written blog posts on this subject.
How do you get metal edging straight?
The thicker the steel the easier it is to obtain a straight line. We advise our 6mm thick steel edging for straight runs. Always use a string line and support the edge well using stakes during installation. Burying a portion of it in the ground as explained in our installation guide will also help. The ground on either side of the edge can also be compacted to persuade it into position.
How do you connect steel edging?
This is one of the most popular of our steel lawn edging questions. Our joining system uses an overlapping plate with holes that slot over pre-welded bolts on the edge. It’s extremely secure and allows you to connect a number of lengths together before installation which makes it a faster process.
What hammer is used to install metal edging?
We advise a lump hammer to get the stakes down, you can also use a sledgehammer on the stakes if the ground is particularly tough. A lump hammer can also be used directly on the edge if 6mm thick, on the 3mm thick edge we recommend placing a block of wood on top of the edge and hammering onto it to prevent damaging the edge. If installing galvanised edging we would also recommend protecting it with wood to prevent chipping off the galvanised surface.
Does the metal garden edge rust?
Yes. It’s the brown weathered finish most people desire, however, once the grey steel has rusted to brown decay is extremely slow. Our 6mm thick edging will be looking good for an excess of 30 years.
What is the best way to cut metal garden edging?
We recommend using an angle grinder with a metal cutting disc (not a thick grinding disc). Always wear the appropriate PPE.
Do you need concrete edging in position?
Generally no. It’s rare for our edge to be haunched with concrete. Even if the edge is being installed in driveways, by following the installation instructions should not be necessary. Always take a judgement as every site is different, if the ground levels are low leaving much of the edge exposed during construction of the surrounding site then haunching with concrete is advisable. Also if the ground is unstable. We are always happy to give our opinion on this.
What is the easiest way to edge a lawn or border?
We feel our metal edge is the quickest and simplest way to edge any lawn or border. Its flexibility, ease with which metal stakes penetrate the ground and our joining and staking system make it hard to see how any other option would be any simpler.
