I know nothing about paver maintenance, but I like the first one for your house, The variation is soft and subtle but adds depth. I'm not sure about darkening it with the sealant. But with the Strawberry Tree is there a way to clear seal it?

Thanks, Tracefloyd! If we seal it, it would be with a matte sealer. My understanding is that sealing it automatically darkens the pavers. I'm not sure how much.

The concrete elements can be stained quite easily…the terra cotta color would look nice on the walk …driveway and porch concrete.. cleaning the concrete first..apply with a mop or brush… gives a pretty …very mottled finish that penetrates…won’t peel or scrape off…which works as a camouflage for dripping trees ,dirt,etc…the stain comes in different colors as well..

You have to seal it. Or you will end up using concrete stain to camo it as mentioned. We all know that concrete-even pavers- will stain from fruit and leaves.

Well IMO the first question is where do you live. If you get freeze and thaw cycles a paver driveway is a nightmare IMO too much concrete for such a small house Some nice landscaping will be a must and a new garage door too.

It is a lot of hardscape for that house, I agree. Try pavers with greenery or tire strips.

Patricia and tracyfloyd, we live in Southern California, on the coast. We are in a beach community. Regarding the hardscape being too much for the small space, your input has me wondering. We do plan to add landscaping of course, when the hardscaping is done. The areas we plan to hardscape are all areas that are traffic areas we use everyday: trashcans, driveways, walkway to the door. For a number of considerations, we had decided on pavers instead of concrete. Currently, one driveway is gravel. The other driveway and the walkway to the door is very old concrete, 50 plus years and not in great condition. The pathway to the trashcans is gravel, which has been a hassle to pull trashcans over. So that is why we thought pavers, and the person giving us the bid recommended that we not mix too many materials in the small space. I'll attach photos to show more where the pavers would go. Perhaps you could make other recommenations for the hardscape? (We decided against stained concrete after looking at numerous yards with that hardscape, it's not our favorite look.)

I really appreciate any input. If we don't use pavers, then what?

There was no pathway to the trashcans, we were going to have the current pathway go all the way to the street. The driveway usually has a car in it.

We could keep the path from the street as gravel, but rolling the cans through gravel is not the best option. DG is the other option, and we have been told not to use that because of issues tracking it inside and scratching the hardwood floors.

The bottom third of the driveway is city property and cannot be replaced without a permit. We thought the above color choice of pavers would work well with the existing concrete. Once we had the pavers in, we were going to consider staining it if necessary.

Perhaps we should just power wash the driveway and leave it as is? The top third of the driveway is 50 plus years old. The driveway has holes in it and is crumbling in spots but doesn't have cracks.

The walkways from the driveways we were going to use either stepping stones, flagstone or gravel. The walkway from the street we were going to do pavers.

Once we had that pavers in, I planned to do a makeover on the steps (to be determined) and add a railing on one side.

I don't want to do strips in the driveway. We could re-do this with a large gravel that matches a smaller sized gravel on the trashcan walkway. It's currently gray, but I can get a rock that matches what we used in the backyard last year when we re-did it.

Yes use pavers...I gave you the wrong idea. Just not as many.

No gravel or DG paths. Landscaped areas are fine in small amounts.

I like the stepping stones/flagstones idea.

Leave a narrow strip of dirt next to the white brick wall for planting something...and elsewhere, any small patch of green or mulch will make a difference. Along the house where the meters are etc.

For the cans, don't bring the pavers to the curb, to the drive is fine.

No pavers from the curb to the door, stepping stones or flagstone.

Yes driveway pavers, actually just finishing the drive with concrete would be perfectly fine if you wish, and not unexpected. Yes, you can stain concrete easily.

Your idea to use pavers in all those areas will work great. I have used Belgard pavers in 2 houses and been very happy with them. For both houses I used pavers with a tumbled look so they look old/weathered!

This was in our previous house. I used a mix of 2 Belgard colors. Unfortunately during covid many of the paver companies really cut back on their offerings, so not as many choices when we built the new house, or I would have used these again.

For the old house, we got permission to remove the city apron and did an aggregate cement that complemented the pavers. The only issue, is that if they ever have to do any work to that section of the street, you would be responsible for replacing the custom material and not the city. We thought it was worth it as they had already done drainage/sewer work in our area, so didn't anticipate any work having to be done for a decade or two.

Chispa, thank you for telling me about your experience. We love the tumbled pavers, but our contractor told us that since covid, they cost way more, like 25% more. I really wish we could afford that look, I love it.

That said, I'm wondering about the color choices Belgard offers. I've tried so hard to find a neutral color mix of warm gray, tan, cream and brown. I think i'm going to take a look at a few other companies that supply pavers to our area to see what else is out there.......

Perhaps another company has a cheaper option for the tumbled pavers!

Oh, and our county inspectors are notoriously nit picky. Everyone here leaves their driveway aprons alone, unless they are doing a huge remodel, and sometimes even then.

I have Belard”Catalina Grana ” pavers at both of my homes. They are ADA compliant , which I prefer, smoother to walk on, and a simpler look that I prefer . I’ve had them for years, they still look like new. Mine are ”Rio”, but they come in several colors. You might like ”Victorian”, it’s a mix of warm / cool colors. Mine were sealed, however, they didn’t look much different after.

Going through this same process for our San Diego home. I think either bella or toscana mixed with victorian would be nice.

K Laurence, do you have a pic of your catalina grana and is it the large or small pattern?

K Laurence: "I have Belard”Catalina Grana ” pavers at both of my homes. They are ADA compliant , which I prefer, smoother to walk on, and a simpler look that I prefer . I’ve had them for years, they still look like new. Mine are ”Rio”, but they come in several colors. You might like ”Victorian”, it’s a mix of warm / cool colors. Mine were sealed, however, they didn’t look much different after."

Thank you, K Laurence for this input! It's good to know that the pavers stay looking new over time and that sealing doesn't affect the look too much. Because we are concerned about fading and staining over time, we will probably stain them.

I agree that ADA compliance is a factor to consider, especially as my husband and I are aging in this home! But it feels like a very modern look to me, and I'm concerned that it doesn't fit with the bungalow/cottage vibe of the house.

Since I first posted, we are leaning in the direction of the tumbled pavers. We found a source for a more affordable tumbled paver than Belgard, so we are looking into that. They are flatter than the cobble (something along the lines of what Chispa shared) and I think we would like something more understated than the cobble I shared above, and let the landscaping be what draws the eye.

Mary, what company of pavers are you looking at? My husband wants more distressed look too (i like Catalina grana) but i dont like the tumbled look with big chipped grout lines. My contractor mentioned Angelos pavers has a ”distressed” only version of the cobble, less expensive than the Belgard dublin cobble.

Angelus is one alternative I planned to look into. Thanks for letting me know that it is cheaper than Belgard! I will call next week.

Your contractor may be talking about something I found on the Angelus website: They have a distressed cobble and a distressed holland stone available that DON'T have the tumbled edges with chipped corners/edges:

https://www.angeluspavingstones.com/standard-collections/holland/#

https://www.angeluspavingstones.com/standard-collections/castle-cobble-i-ii/

Yes, the castle cobble. We went to our local stone supplier this morning and they didnt have that style on display so they ordered me a 3 piece sample. It’s hard to get a good idea from a few pieces though. i actually

might have convinced my husband to do 50% catalina grana small with 50% catalina large, its much less modern looking than the catalina grana large only.

This is catalina grana small and big mix

mealexander3, you're right about the sample size. It's been suggested to me that I purchase a larger number of whatever color or color mix in order to get a better idea of the color. Also, what color are you considering? I've been looking online for pictures of finished projects, I might have a photo for you. Especially with Belgard, photos of the more popular choices aren't too hard to find..

We’re definitely leaning towards Rio, or gray charcoal blend since we have used brick and gray/white house color. We’re in coastal San Diego.

Hope this helps!!!

I did a paver patio once and I would never do it again. Weeding is a nightmare--even after the pavers were set in polymeric sand, which is supposed to be impermeable. It eventually breaks down and weeds grow between the pavers. So you either have to spray the weeds with a chemical weedkiller or hand pick them. Ugh. In addition, ants and other insects can get under and between the pavers. So more spraying.

I much prefer a blacktop driveway with Belgian block borders and apron--set in mortar.