The Paving Blog

Block paving for driveways are an interesting and developing technology in the modern driveway search for creative and more beautiful driveway solutions.  Block, or brick, pavers offer a segmented, modular look of a wide variety of patterns, designs and colors.  There is a nearly limitless variation owing to the ability now of manufacturers to create specialized patterns with the additionally interesting technology of adding tremendous and resonant colors to what were once a pretty much uni-colored environment.  Now riotous colors can greet visitors, along with shapes and forms of brick work totally attractive and interesting to the eye.

Block paving has many advantages in the sense that they are a somewhat “flexible” alternative to monolithic pours of cement or asphalt.  Where heaving and breakage occur in both asphalt and concrete, the modular nature of block paving for driveways means that the structure can bend or heave and not resist.  In other words, it will not break and require copious amounts of labor and reconstruction to fix.

When a block paver breaks in a driveway, one removes it and replaces it or others with new ones.  Lifting a paver out of the driveway is easy work, and certainly more preferable to having a crew come in to remove existing pavement and then reapply - in a different shade - what was once good to go. This ease of replacement is one of the paramount benefits of block paving for driveways, among many others.  One can rest far easier with a block-constructed driveway, fully knowing he will have fewer problems in the long run.  For what it;s worth, appraisers and real estate seller also understand the greater value of the block paver driveway.

While we deal with the structure and durability of the paving materials themselves, there is another completely separate consideration which bears attention: the spaces between the pavers.  Improper filling and inappropriate colored grouts and even the sands between manufactured paving stones can add or detract immeasurably to the final result, strictly aesthetically speaking. Where the spaces are small, it still bears on the issue.  Pavers reveal as little as an eighth of an inch between them, but they are so numerous and so evident, the appropriately colored sand used for dry grouting can be amazingly helpful. Needless to say, where the spaces between the stones is wider, we see yet another combination of opportunity: either helpful or harmful to the overall effect.

I have included some pictures of what the better-looking grouts can accomplish. In a sort of whimsical view, we also have the very cool area of fantasy and serendipitous grouting that actually can make stones look literally fun. What you see in these examples are examples of successful grouting - where the use of the proper grout can make the colors stand out more or can even overtake the overall look with some entirely different effect.

The general rule of thumb is to provide some congruent tone and texture that takes a back seat, highlighting the stones themselves.  But there are also case and situation where it can be equally desireable to highlight the grout in order to present a different effect.

Bear in mind, there are sealers we can add to the poaving itself to lock these grouts into place.  Apparently piled up sand can be sturdier than one initally believes owing to a sand-lock sealer which binds it in a sturdy fashion.

More drainage issues today - this time ;et’s talk about Catch Basins.

We have all seen those steel-grated manhole covers which are designed to catch the water on our street and roads.  There are also those curbside drains, cut into curbs on streets which perform the same function. These highly effective drainage systems rely on a perfectly graded surface which funnels all the rainwater or whatever water produced on a road into their orifices and down into the sewage system per se.

It turns out, this simple system can also function perfectly in a driveway or even a patio when a home owner faces drainage issues resulting from the tougher terrain where simple solutions like merely sloping a surface to an appropriate point is impossible. What we then arrive at is the need to conduct the water elsewhere.  This requires catching the water and providing a system to funnel it all away through piping and channels we create off the surface itself and sometimes under it.

Catching the water is the first issue.  The grading required to perform best would slope everything into “catch basins”, isolated collectors, connected to pipes running under the surface itself and conducted out.  These catch basins are either plastic, steel or concrete and have road-worthy tops, or grates, which filter things such as leaves, leaving them on top and allowing the water alone to enter.  Placed appropriately, these units can handle 100% of the water from a road surface if engineered correctly.  Needless to say, the primary grading should provide sloping to all of the various units installed.

A perfect system would not appear to be seriously sloped. The fact is that water needs very little slope top find its way downwards.  In more seriously rainy climates, naturally, there may be a need for a more serious slope owing to quantity and frequency of rainfall..Nevertheless, appropriately-placed catch basins are designed to do the work of leaving our driveways clear of water and of conducting all drainage away from the home.

An interesting new technology being developed and actually making a small splash is a process known as “Resin Bound Paving”.  It is primarily a surfacing technique, adapted to apply color, texture, depth and artistic applications on an existing hard surface. Crumbling or flaking driveways, sidewalks and patios suffering from too much sun or weather, or from the salts and chemicals used to get rid of snow and ice, can be freshened up and made to last longer with this resurfacing.  The fact is, it even offers a bit more longevity by providing a layer of protection.

This technique takes typically 4-6mm pieces of almost any natural gravel, crushed stone, imported marble and recycled materials and binds them in a mass, held together by the most durable adhesives now being developed, polymer resins. This clear adhesive is amazingly strong and works exceptionally well out doors.  It can stand up to weather and to traffic.

The epoxies and resins used act as the binding agent for the actual stones or pieces composing the overall surface look. The color comes with the materials themselves and they can be applied in any wild number of ways.  I have seen many of these last quite a while, still as pretty as ever, still composed of fascinating bits of gravel, glass or what have you.  The surfaces possible are absolutely mind-b;lowing in their wide variety and nearly unlimited imaginative scope.

The modern - and necessary - urge to reclaim so much of what we build and package with has supplied us with many avenues to recycle.  Now, paving itself offers much the same process at an ever-widening rate.  Lets face it, the logic behind recycling has always been perfect.  It has just been easier to dig another gravel pit.

Nowadays, we have all seen those huge machines that scrape the top layers off asphalt and even concrete road ways and city streets.  These behemoths send all the “scrapings” behind itself in a neat row, easy for the machinery to pick up and transfer to a waiting truck.  What many don’t realize is that this material makes a fabulous base material. Many highways are now utilizing this recycled cement and asphalt by using them under the newer constructions, as their basic, compact able material.

In fact, there are now companies opening up everywhere reselling this “found” material which was oince relegated to landfills.  It is a great step in re usability and recycling.  The necessity for utilizing these materials goes without saying.  As we approach a finite end to the bountiful Nature we inherit, fewer local gravel pits will emerge and those that will, will open farther and farther from their intended place of use. These newer companies grind up the concrete and asphalt into separate areas, making it small enough to meet compaction specifications and producing the “fines” which allow these aggregates to bind together so tightly.

Look for these places when either shopping for base material for a driveway or look as well when you are dismantling one.  These guys are becoming important and they represent a great movement in conscientious recycling.

Paver adhesives have become a most important tool in any driveway and patio installer’s construction tool arsenal. These amazing glues are useful in an increasingly wide variety of ways, from making more durable walls and steps, to placing new stonework atop existing slabs of cement. Paver glues have incredible adhering strength any more, even more so than cement itself. In fact, these glues are replacing cement in a wide area of application.

I have installed many many new patios over pre-existing patios and side walks. The cement base becomes our sub base making preparation nearly moot. The only true preparation is in the perfection of cleaning the surface prior to the gluing. Once clean of all greases, soils or any other contaminant, we apply glue during the laying of pavers in their normal patterns. The durability is mind blowing. The glues tend to dry rapidly and adhere most strongly with a clean base.

We have also been able to apply glue and the pavers to pre-existing stairs rising from a patio or driveway into a home. The ability to carry the design pattern to another platform has designers more than pleased. The look is strong and congruent with the laying field beyond, lending an organic touch of continuity to the entire project.

Strong and durable, paver adhesives have become yet another avenue toward beauty in the design and installation of driveways, walks and patios.