If you were to take a survey of every home or business in America, you would find that the vast majority of them feature some kind of paving within their landscape. Paving serves a variety of purposes for us, including improving the aesthetics of outdoor areas as well as providing places for us to walk, drive, and park on a regular basis.
Paving was one of the first great inventions of humanity, and it’s since evolved quite a bit. We now have many different paving options to choose from when it comes to installing paving, including hidden pavement, permeable pavement, heated pavement, and many others.
The type of paving option you ultimately decide to implement can have a big impact on the surrounding area, the aesthetic appeal of an area, and the overall functionality as well. If you’re looking to lay some pavement down on your property, let’s look at 5 types you should consider and how they stack up against one another.
1. Brick Paving Option
Brick is known for being one of the most beautiful types of paving. Red bricks, especially, have a certain stylistic appeal for some people that can be hard to find elsewhere. A well-laid brick pavement project can last up to a full century if cared for well enough. Although red is the most popular color for brick pavers, they come in many different colors and can also be arranged in a plethora of patterns to create unique visual effects.
Brick is also eco-friendly if made from clay, and can be recycled as well. One of the biggest drawbacks of this paving material, however, is the maintenance level required to sustain them. Brick paving needs constant re-sealing, especially if you’re using it to lay a driveway. Bricks are also fragile and can be somewhat expensive in some cases. Brick pavement on its own is generally impermeable as well.
2. Concrete Paving Option
Concrete might be the most common type of pavement out there. It’s generally inexpensive and comes in a wide variety of colors, sizes, and shapes. Concrete pavers tend to be more durable than concrete that’s poured directly into your paving project and dried there, and is relatively easy to install as well.
The downside of concrete is that it can’t handle temperature fluctuations very well, the color fades from it quickly, it’s a high-maintenance material, and can break down easily thanks to its chemical composition.
3. Bluestone Paving Option
Bluestone is made from a special variety of sandstone sediment that can be shaped into any type of basic shape you want. Its color is considered to be magnificent by some, and it rivals the beauty of more well-known aesthetically pleasing materials like brick, marble, and quartz. Bluestone is known to work well with many other types of materials.
One con of using bluestone is that the color can fade from constant sunlight exposure. Counterfeit bluestone is also very easy to accidentally come across, and real bluestone is pretty expensive.
4. Flagstone Paving Option
Flagstone is another type of natural stone paver that many people love to build patios and walkways with, Because it’s a thinner type of paver, it does not work well for driveways and will easily crack under too much pressure.
It has a natural charm about it, however, thanks to its varying earthy colors and ability to create patterns that look as if they fit together like a puzzle. Flagstone is naturally non-slip and more durable in terms of chipping and cracking than concrete is. It’s also extremely versatile.
Flagstone is very difficult to create an exact design with, because the pavers are natural and not man-made or shaped. It’s also very expensive.
5. Permeable Plastic Paving Option
Permeable pavers made from recycled plastic can be used in conjunction with other materials like gravel or limestone to create paving that is not only aesthetically beautiful, but eco-friendly, durable, functional, versatile, cheap, and easy to install.
Permeable pavers require only a basic, quick process to install them, and they will also provide you with flood control and prevention thanks to their permeable nature. Stylistically, it hard to match them in terms of versatility because they can be paired with every other types of paving to create an unlimited amount of styles for not only walkways and patios but functional, heavy-use driveways as well.
Permeable plastic is a great driveway material that can be used to create hidden driveways, fire lanes, grass parking lots, and more. It’s also the lowest-maintenance material on the market, yet outperforms all other paving when it comes to durability and functionality. Considering all its benefits and the fact that it can be paired with any other type of paving, permeable plastic pavers don’t really have any negative aspects of note.
Your Ideal Types of Paving Materials Depends on Your Needs
If you are looking for a material that performs highly in all measurable areas, permeable plastic paving is probably going to be the best route for you. Not only can it help you achieve any style you want, it’s eco-friendly, cheap, quick-to-install, durable, and able to handle even the heaviest downpours of rain with ease, saving your landscape from flooding and erosion while looking great the entire time.
