Your patio project is as important to you and your family as any project that you could undertake. It is an addition to your home that the entire family will be able to use and enjoy. From family outings to entertaining friends, and even spending quiet time alone, the patio is an important part of your family’s life. The patio also represents increased value to your home, which is important if you need to borrow against the home’s equity or sell your home.
Choices
That is why it is vital that you choose the best materials to suit your patio’s requirements. The materials do not only determine its cost and value, it sets the mood and tone for whatever design or theme you are looking for. Your patio should have a personality of its own and the materials you use will help to reflect that personality. With dozens of choices available for your patio’s floor to consider, the most durable and the one with the most options is pavers. They are available in a wide variety of colors, styles, and materials, all of which help determine what your patio will eventually become.
Whether you choose concrete pavers, pavers made from brick, or stone pavers, each will afford you a new and unique look. While these materials are different in look, they are all incredibly durable and are guaranteed to last far longer than any other option on the market. This post can help you to decide which material to use for your home patio project.
Brick Paves are Simple yet Versatile
Whether you choose from an elaborate selection of stone pavers, or the old world look of brick pavers, your new patio is going to look fantastic. Brick pavers are durable and easy to work with, allowing you to install simple designs or elaborate patterns far easier than with any other type of flooring, including other types of pavers. The simplistic, yet unique look brick pavers afford go well with any type of furniture and are easy to weatherproof using brick paver sealants.
Functionality
Brick pavers also come in clay bricks, which add an older more antiquated look and feel to your patio. They are durable and even without sealant, clay pavers stand up to the weather admirably well. They take whatever Mother Nature dishes out in the form of rain, snow, wind, or icy conditions and love to be baked by the sun. Adding a sealant helps to protect them from sun fade but is especially useful for avoiding stains from the everyday messes we make, including grease and oil spills from the grill.
Cost
The professional installation of brick pavers can cost around $10 to $15 per square foot, however, they are so easy to install that the DIY homeowner can easily cut that cost in half or more by digging in and doing the work themselves. If you are a homeowner and want a patio floor that looks like a professional did it, brick pavers are the easiest to install.
Concrete Pavers provide Options in Design
If you are on a budget, a better option for you may be concrete pavers. They are just as durable and are also fairly easy to install. Concrete pavers come in numerous colors and sizes, which increase your design and pattern opportunities greatly.
Functionality
Concrete pavers also have greater functionality as they can be laid over existing concrete slabs provided the structure over which you are laying your concrete pavers is in good structural condition. You can also create landscaping projects other than just flooring. Concrete pavers can be used in retaining walls, fences, and pathways like the ones you would use in a garden or walking through a wooded area. They are a beautiful addition to your landscape, making your yard a more desirable place to spend your time.
Cost
Concrete pavers cost around $5 per square foot to install professionally and you can save a ton of money by installing them yourself. With a little research, you can create numerous designs and find excellent tutorials on how to do it yourself.
Stone Pavers are Elegant
Of all the pavers, perhaps the most difficult to work with are stone pavers. However, they also add more style to your finished project. Paving stone is a form of stone pavers that are useful for a variety of projects and look fantastic in all of them. Each type of stone adds it own beautiful and unique look to your paving projects and sometimes the hardest part of using stone pavers is in choosing which type to use.
Functionality
They can be used to build retaining walls, to enclose flower beds, as paths between structures such as your house and pool area, and to encircle trees giving them a unique and cared for look. Stone pavers are used to underpin mobile homes in the deep south as well as to help anchor the homes against storms.
Costs
These can cost $15 to $20 per square foot if professionally installed, however, stone pavers are easy to install unless you are working with the irregular cut pavers that do not fit together rationally. These are used mainly in patio flooring or as driveway pavers.
Regardless of which type of stone you use, your pavers project will be the talk of your neighbors and will probably start a pavers trend in your neighborhood. This is especially likely if you use any of these paving options to create a unique and long lasting driveway. Pavers were made for use in driveways thanks to their durability, ability to withstand weight, and the ease of maintenance involved. Your home deserves pavers.