When faced with the need to replace or add a new patio, walkway, or driveway to your outdoor living area, you may be overwhelmed with several options. Two options that may likely contend for attention are concrete slabs and pavers. To make the decision-making process easy for you, we’ve put together a short and handy guide that spells out some crucial benefits of both materials. This will help you to decide quickly.
Installation Cost
The cost of installing pavers is relatively high as it requires a lot more preparation. The paver installation process involves grading, excavation, geotextile fiber install, border cutting base compaction, and several more. All these phases make the paver installation process labor-intensive. However, since there is no drying time for pavers, they can be used immediately after completion.
On the other hand, concrete costs less to install, but you’ll have to wait for the curing time, which typically takes time. This means that you can’t use your driveway during the curing and drying process. Plus, you must get the grading right before pouring the concrete as the error is quite expensive to fix. Not properly grading can lead to water retention and discoloration. A basic concrete slab installation costs about $14 per square foot.
Maintenance
Both materials are easy to maintain. However, concrete is relatively easier. However, you may have to deal with future cracks, which tend to occur over time and cause the concrete slab to become an eyesore. If it starts to crack, you can upgrade to stamped concrete, which hides the cracks and stains or makes it less obvious.
Plus, you could coat the slab surface with a sealant to stop the stain from penetrating the surface. But if the cracks and stains are more obvious, you may have to replace the entire slab. Pavers, on the other hand, require little care.
However, you may need to pay attention to the joints between each stone, cleaning it from time to time. The installation process of pavers limits the growth of weeds. However, weeds and moss can grow over time.
In pavers, each stone’s base is designed to flex with the ground, but it doesn’t eliminate the base cracking possibility. If the base cracks, the stone can be lifted and recompacted into the ground. Of course, this is a simpler repair as compared to replacing a concrete slab.
Durability
The longevity of concrete slabs is quite dependent on the ground underneath. If there is a movement in the earth, concrete slabs could split into two. The surface might remain unaffected for a while, but cracking is unavoidable when there is earth movement.
On the side of pavers, you can hardly find water settling on the surface because of how sturdily the joints are worked and the installation process’s attention. Plus, pavers are argued to be 4 -5times stronger than a typical concrete slab.
This means that they can withstand 4-5 times as much weight on the surface level before they even crack. Also, pavers’ interlocking nature allows weight to be distributed evenly, which keeps them from cracking.
Wrapping it Up
Yeah, there you have it. You should be able to decide on which material to go for now. Both materials come with their advantages and disadvantages; you have to choose the one with lesser demerits.
