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.

Tile saws are often used on bricks as well, even paver bricks, although, to be honest, the larger makes of these saws should be used on those tough and thick brick pavers.  Their density and the amount of force required can overpower a smaller machine and lead as well to fuse and breaker problems owing to amperage issues.

More about the Tile Saw in the picture here on Amazon

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.

Slab paving is an interesting and fairly dicey idea.  Currently, there are an abundance of slabs available for paving. almost of of which follow the same rules and specifications that the smaller pavers follow.  High PSI (8500, often), highly compressed concrete, up to 9 foot square in size (3′ x 3′), these large items make a dazzlingly effective look. They actually go down faster from an installer’s perspective, covering more territory with fewer pieces.  They offer the same ability to replace when damaged or discolored and, while not altogether as flexible as the smaller pavers, are indeed far more flexible than monolithic pours such as asphalt or cement.

Another supreme benefit is the options of colors and style.  Owing to their size, large paving slabs offer some intriguing mixing possibilities.  The :checkerboard look is often chosen and it can be surprisingly effective if not entertaining. Naturally, bands of color are easily inserted, either by bordering a driveway or by intersecting it across.

There is however a caveat.  Owing to their large size, the need for a perfectly graded and drained subsurface is even ore vital than for the smaller editions of pavers.  The reason is in their size.  Tires from cars and truck are dispersed by weight far easier than on these larger units.  A tire can place an imbalanced amount of weight on just one corner of one of these and, with an inadequate or deteriorating base, can cause rocking. And with rocking, comes an increasing compression underneath, yielding eventual breakage or worse, an uneven driveway.

As in all driveway constructions, pay strict attention to the subsurface.  Drainage issues also figure largely here, especially where water can flow beneath a large slab and conduct the material underneath elsewhere.  This will cause the problems listed above.

Enough of drainage, my friends. But still on the topic of driveways, this post is in response to several emails I receievd on the matter of DIY Driveways.

Doing a driveway yourself can be an amazingly rewarding enterprise. I have seen the proud constructors of such behemoths smiling away after chasing down what I originally had assumed to be just ludicrous ideas.  Once again, I face the knowledge that no one “knows it all”, and perhaps least of all, me. My one caution to every single constructor of one;s own driveway is always the same: prepare the subsurface right. If you notice a trend here, there is obviously some solid reasoning behind it, mixed with experience.  Done correctly underneath, a person can actually enjoy the next process, knowing fully that this will be the “business end” of the art supplied for the finish.

In that light, I have seen driveways composed completely out of rock either bought or scavenged from nature.  These have resulted in some fabulously beautiful projects, and I do mean just breath-taking.  The amount of time and energy a home owner can lavish on a project makes what I do pale by comparison.  Where my work is contracted and therefore time-related, yours can be a labor of love.  Listen, that is huge.

Those driveways I just referred to had cement applied between the rocks to stabilize the them. They all were rotated to supply a flatter surface and then cemented into place.  String was often used to maintain the perfect height, pulled taut and adhered to religiously as a topmost grade and level.  The placement of drains and slopes returning water to the drains was just as often very artfully done.  Whether washed river rock or “found” split rock, all these constructions were among the best I have ever run across.  Granted, they represent a highly personal aesthetic and many people would not want anything like it.  But to me, and knowing those who did the work and knowing the labor involved, I could not have been more dazzled nor more happy seeing such a fine result.

Yeah, I know, it’s August. Most places are dry this time of year, and yet it’s the best time, IMO, to address drainage issues. So let’s talk about drains for driveways today.

Draining water from the surfaces we construct, whether driveways or patios and walkways is among the very most essential considerations in all of the architecture involved.  Nothing outside of incredibly low temperatures can wreak the havoc that water can.  Standing water is one of the most corrosive elements of all seeking the micro fractures in concrete from where it enlarges holes and cracks with its small acidic content, to say nothing of its simple abrasiveness.

We see it often, puddles forming at imperfectly-installed levels of cement surfaces.  We see it in pavers and asphalt constructions, where the initial grade was insufficient to conduct the water elsewhere and the blindness of the laying mechanisms ignored what is always supposed to be a professionally-achieved perfect primary grade..

Then there are the installations already up against an impossible sloping situation.  A roadway higher than the garage, for example.  What does one do?

Well, modern property law demands that every neighbor be responsible for his own water and conduct it to an appropriately-supplied point.  When there is a point supplied which can collect positive drainage, then, while it might be hard to accomplish, it becomes possible to reach full adequate drainage.  The most remarkable aid to this process, to my mind, is the concept and the newer manufactured “Channel Drain” system.

Channel drains are collecting drains, about 6 inches deep in size, 4-6 inches wide, which even provide a sloped interior and which are covered with a road-worthy cover which allows water to enter.  The water is then conducted down the channel to a collection point where piping and further drainage remedies can conduct the water away. The channel drain goes in a line all the way across a driveway. Most homes who have such a slope, descending TO the house, install channel drains not only across the roadway but also at the very base entry of the garage itself.  This catches what does not make it past the prior drain system and also conducts it away, often in connecting to the same pipe used by the other drain.

Channel drains can handle an enormous volume of water as well, conducting it efficiently and rapidly away. They represent a clean and efficient way of attractively dealing with the problems of runoff.

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.