Utility boxes may not be the most attractive feature in your yard. Still, they play an essential role in keeping your home running smoothly. These boxes are crucial for managing everything from electricity to telecommunications, from water meters to HVAC units. While they can be an eyesore, many creative landscaping ideas for hiding utility boxes exist without compromising their function or accessibility.
In this article, we’ll explore the different types of utility boxes in your yard and share some smart landscaping ideas to conceal them while maintaining their purpose.
Types of Utility Boxes
We understand how you think of these utility boxes (and other important things that are not in box shape) as eyesores that disrupt the natural beauty of your outdoor space and why you want to get rid of them. However, despite their less-than-attractive appearance, these boxes serve essential functions that are crucial for your home’s daily operations. Here, we list those common utility boxes you may find in your yard:
- Water Meter: This one measures the water your household uses and gives the information to your water supplier. You can easily find your water
meter being installed near the street or property line in a small metal box (in an older home) or plastic box (in a newer home). - The Telephone Box: Despite the outdated name and look, this box has cables not just for the telephone but also for the internet and other means of telecommunication. You usually can find this green box in your front yard, at least two to three feet high and perhaps around eight inches square.
- Electrical Transformer Box: Most homes have this electrical transformer box, which comes in a not-so-attractive green box. As much as you want to get rid of it, this box reduces higher-voltage power from power plants to lower-voltage power that can be used safely in your home.
- Outdoor HVAC Unit: Even when placed on the side of your house, the visually disturbing outdoor HVAC unit is hard not to notice. But without it, you can have a very cold room in the winter and a very hot room in the summer, making your indoor living space uncomfortable.
- Water Heater: This one does not come in the shape of a box, but it is still an eyesore nonetheless. Like the outdoor HVAC unit, though, you will have to use freezing cold water in the winter without it.
Things to Consider Before Hiding Utility Boxes
Before incorporating these landscaping ideas for hiding utility boxes we are about to give you, there are a couple of things to consider.
Accessibility
The first rule when hiding utility boxes is to allow easy access for repairs and maintenance. A simple thing that is often forgotten is to leave enough space around the box for utility workers to perform necessary tasks. For an electrical transformer and other utility boxes, make sure that you give at least 4 feet of space from the back and sides and 10 feet of space from the front side.
Maintenance
Next, make sure that you maintain the cover you choose for hiding your utility boxes. If you choose buildings or screens to hide your utility boxes, they need to be cleaned and fixed as required. On the other hand, if you decide on plant-based options, those plants must be pruned, watered, and cared for during certain times of the year.
Safety and Compliance
Do your homework by finding out about local rules and guidelines before modifying any landscape design to hide your utility boxes or any landscape design at all. Consult your utility providers to ensure your preferred solution meets their needs and doesn’t interfere with the equipment’s operations. If you need to dig, don’t forget to call 811 beforehand to locate any utility lines buried below your yard.
Landscaping Ideas for Hiding Utility Boxes
1. Creative Planting
Screening Shrubs and Bushes: Using plants as screens for your utility boxes may not be something new. However, we tweak it a little by using shrubs and bushes to give your yard a different look than the rest of the neighborhood. Evergreen bushes are excellent as they guarantee year-round coverage and can be mounded to a unique shape like balls, pyramids, or however you want it. Our tip, though, is to choose them based on their mature height and density to make sure you don’t interfere with utility access.
Potted Flower Plants: If you aim for something that is practical, potted plants are your best bet as they are versatile and easy to move when technicians need bigger space to do their job. For an aesthetically pleasing way to do it, go for seasonal flowers that will give your yard a flash of vibrant color and large containers of your preferred shapes and colors. You can also go for environmentally friendly native plants, like primrose, Japanese Morning Glory, or patriot hosta. These two combinations of attractive plants and pots will be a focal point of your yard while distracting any looking eyes from what’s hidden behind.
Vines on Lattices or Trellises: Planting vines on your installed lattices, trellises, or fences can create a lovely, live screen to hide utility boxes. Plants like clematis and jasmine can easily grow on these structures, creating a perfect mask to cover your utility boxes. Better yet, this idea allows you to avoid digging and all the processes needed beforehand.
2. Decorative Screens and Panels
Lattice Panels: This is probably one of the simplest landscaping ideas for hiding utility boxes. Lattice panels are aesthetically pretty by themselves and make gorgeous backdrops for vines. Not only that but the height of lattice panels can be adjusted to conceal every inch of your utility boxes without interrupting their accessibility.
Bamboo screen: For more sustainable landscaping ideas, consider using bamboo screens. Bamboo screens are very easy to install and can give you an Asian-inspired landscape design that will certainly bring that ‘zen’ atmosphere to your yard.
3. Building Enclosure
Wooden Enclosure: The major plus of this enclosure is its versatility. Wooden sheds or boxes cannot only effectively hide utility boxes but also store garden tools or other outdoor items. If you have wooden elements throughout your home, you can paint or stain the enclosure to match other woodwork, creating a unified look throughout your home.
Stone or Brick Enclosure: Although stones or bricks require more effort to build, they are stable and long-lasting alternatives to hiding utility boxes. This enclosure can be designed and made to match your yard’s hardscaping features, such as paths or retaining walls.
4. Other Creative Alternatives
Artwork: Painting to hide utility boxes is a creative way to camouflage those eyesore objects with paints or even turn them into a work of art, drawing people’s attention away from what they actually are. The activity of making art can be a fun family project to do together on a weekend. However, make sure that your local law and utility codes allow you to do that beforehand.
Faux Rocks: Putting fake rocks on top of your utility boxes is a clever way to hide them. Anyone with eyes will most likely think that those rocks belong in your yard’s natural environment. Since they are fake, they are light and easy to put over, making it easier for the utility workers to do their jobs.
End Note
Having utility boxes in your yard is a necessity for the smooth daily operations of your home, but they come at an aesthetically disturbing price. Luckily, you can choose planting options that can immediately bring a ‘lively’ atmosphere, especially if hardscapes and other building structures dominate your yard, or other alternatives like screens and panels, enclosures, and other creative landscaping ideas for hiding utility boxes without the need to dig or make significant changes to your landscape.
If you have made your decision on which one to hide those utility boxes of yours, contact us at LandCrafters today, and let us help you bring these landscaping ideas for hiding utility boxes to life.
