Pavers made of concrete are a prevalent choice for building material. You can use it to make patios, driveways, walkways, and other surfaces. A lot of people refer to concrete pavers as “cement pavers.”
Cement is an important part of all concrete, but that isn’t the only one. Concrete also has sand, aggregate, and water, as well as different additives for colour and performance. If you are looking forward to learning more about the advantages and disadvantages of concrete pavers, read on to learn more.
Advantages of Using Concrete Pavers
If you are planning to create your patios walkways or driveways, you should know about its pros. It will be very helpful to you to make a better decision. Well, here we come up with some significant advantages of using concrete pavers. Let’s have a look.
- Highly Durable
There are hundreds of bricks in a concrete paver driveway or walkway. However, to join them, you can use polymeric joint sand. As a result, these bricks hold a lot of weight while still being able to move with changes in soil moisture. In addition, these are very strong and durable too.
- Comes In A Wide Range of Patterns and Color
There are so many types of concrete pavers out there. Further, the design options are almost too many to count. There are many ways to make vibrant, eye-catching designs with different pavers and different patterns. Hence, you can select accordingly.
- Easy To Fix
If a part of your patio gets bumpy over time, you can fix a small section of pavers instead of having to re-do everything. However, you can do changes and additions so that they don’t look very different from the space they’re in now. In other words, repairs and additions can be done quickly means that these changes are cheaper than poured concrete.
- Requires Minimal Maintenance
Earlier, concrete pavers needed some work to maintain the joint sand in place and to prevent weeds out of the joints. These issues have been resolved with the development of polymeric sand. Further, this almost eliminates the need for upkeep on patios and driveways.
Disadvantages of Using Concrete Pavers
Concrete pavers have several disadvantages despite their durability and versatility. One major drawback is the potential for colour fading over time due to exposure to sunlight and weather conditions, which can diminish their visual appeal. They also require regular maintenance, including sealing and weed removal between joints. Improper installation can lead to uneven surfaces, creating tripping hazards. Additionally, they may not withstand heavy loads as well as poured concrete, making them less suitable for high-traffic areas. Concrete pavers are also more expensive upfront compared to other paving materials, and their installation can be labor-intensive, increasing overall project costs. Below highlighted are some disadvantages of using concrete pavers which are as follows-
- Growth of Weed
People build paver patios by adding small pieces together, and filling sand in all the joints. Generally, after some time, the sand washes away. It needs to be replaced and kept up. A lot of other things will get into the joints if sand isn’t used to fill them. Over time, the weeds can grow into the pavers.
- Cost Expensive
There are a few things that make concrete pavers more expensive than other patio options at first. But they will look almost new for a long time. Poured concrete, on the other hand, doesn’t last as long. When you think about how easy it is to fix and change paver bricks, you conclude that the long-term cost of concrete is more expensive.
- Not Ideal For DIY Projects
People who are used to doing DIY tasks may not find concrete pavers a suitable option. Well, you can, of course, try to make and put down paving stones yourself, however, it’s not so simple. Unless you have special skills and tools, installing concrete pavers for your driveway is a very difficult project you can’t do on your own without them.
Conclusion
Finally, there are several factors you should consider while creating your landscaping with concrete pavers. Depending upon the strength of your concrete driveway, you can choose to give your preferred look and functionality as per your choice and needs.
