pavers vs concrete

bigphil

starting to get estimates for a patio with a cook center and am wondering if anyone who has a patio with pavers or stamped concrete if they can give me the pros and cons on them . 

Botch

Good timing on the question!  I'm in the process of tearing down my wooden (ie rotting) deck, want to install a pergola overhead (I've got Reisling grapevines that will eventually cover it as they are my wooden deck now) with either pavers or stamped concrete on the ground (with sprinklers that run daily, I'm just not going the wood route anymore).  

Pavers won't be as smooth to wheel the Eggs around (I store mine indoors) but I understand stamped concrete needs to be resealed every other year.

Looking forward to other inputs, thanks for the question Phil!  

waltinva

We had pavers done this summer. No issues rolling an xl around. It is probably smoother than the old decking.

Skiddymarker

Pavers can be installed with a very smooth surface, I think much depends on the winter frost depth, that is LA is much different than maybe Denver. I'd stay away from stamped concrete, it does have a fair amount of annual maintenance. Exposed aggregate can give a really nice, textured surface that is not too slippery when wet and is smooth enough (depending on the finish) to roll an egg over. Might be worth considering as long as you don't have shovel any snow off it. 

Little Steven

Skiddy. Just did 1500 sq ft of stamped in the front of the house. My deck is raised stamped too. It is awesome and no maintenance other than sealing it once a year

Village Idiot

Stamped concrete in my back patio.  Very pleased with it.

Little Steven

bigphil said:

starting to get estimates for a patio with a cook center and am wondering if anyone who has a patio with pavers or stamped concrete if they can give me the pros and cons on them . 

If you can find a random pattern it will hide any cracks that occur if you are in an area where freezing is an issue. We have to cut ours

henapple

Look into acid stain. looks great, custom colors and cheaper. Here in TN stamped runs around $12/sq ft. If you use pavers be sure they really compact the ground or you'll end up with a mess. Good luck...I'm jealous.

bigphil

just had a guy here he's $10.00 sq.ft for pavers using EP.Henery and $13.00 for stamped concrete . both a 6inch base underneath . i am in Pa. so we do get frost and freeze. have about six others coming for estimates . and going to look at some of the guys work that came tonight over the weekend 

Little Steven

bigphil said:

just had a guy here he's $10.00 sq.ft for pavers using EP.Henery and $13.00 for stamped concrete . both a 6inch base underneath . i am in Pa. so we do get frost and freeze. have about six others coming for estimates . and going to look at some of the guys work that came tonight over the weekend 

Mine was about eight bucks with 5 inches and heavy mesh.

double

I did pavers very happy with it water drains away well. With well layed concrete that shouldn't be a problem anyway. I think at the end of the day both are great it just depends on the look you want. iMHO

Little Steven

Best pic I can find right now. This is the back deck

Village Idiot

I love the granite pathway

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bigphil

@village that looks great one of the stamped patterns SWMBO picked was a slate/granite look 

henapple

Little Steven said:

Best pic I can find right now. This is the back deck

I hate you.

Skiddymarker

Little Steven said:

Skiddy. Just did 1500 sq ft of stamped in the front of the house. My deck is raised stamped too. It is awesome and no maintenance other than sealing it once a year

Hope it lasts forever, looks very nice. The reason for my "dislike", virtually every stamped driveway (don't know about patios) in my neighbourhood has been replaced. Average life was 5 to 7 years, they were all renos of 25 to 30 year old aggregate or concrete. Most have gone the paver route, then again, we do not get penetrating frost in lotus land.

I think if you have frost, concrete is the way to go, and if you have someone who knows how to stamp, great. (DOTs don't use salt much anymore, stamped does not like salt as I recall, making the sealing a must do virtually every year)

njl

If you're in an area where settling is an issue, any sort of poured concrete is going to crack due to settling.  It's just a question of how soon, how bad, and where?  Our house is built on sand fill...so we went with pavers for the patio.  If they settle, it's not a huge deal to pull up a section, raise it, and re-set the pavers.  We wen't kind of large, and it's still a bumpy surface for the egg cart...but not too bad.

Little Steven

Skiddymarker said:

Little Steven said:

Skiddy. Just did 1500 sq ft of stamped in the front of the house. My deck is raised stamped too. It is awesome and no maintenance other than sealing it once a year

Hope it lasts forever, looks very nice. The reason for my "dislike", virtually every stamped driveway (don't know about patios) in my neighbourhood has been replaced. Average life was 5 to 7 years, they were all renos of 25 to 30 year old aggregate or concrete. Most have gone the paver route, then again, we do not get penetrating frost in lotus land.

I think if you have frost, concrete is the way to go, and if you have someone who knows how to stamp, great. (DOTs don't use salt much anymore, stamped does not like salt as I recall, making the sealing a must do virtually every year)

I would never do a driveway in it. We are in a snowbelt and they use tons of salt. We won't park cars on the front and I actually have pex tube on the raised deck. Haven't connected it to the boiler yet but will this winter.

jeroldharter

Consider acid stained concrete. Easy to clean. Looks nice. Durable.

jonessteave

Does any one know what's the going rate for laying down the pavers? I have about 10,000 sq feet of driveway and have been quoted $3:50-$4/sq ft for doing a complete job.
#paver sealing las vegas
Can some one give me a breakdown for the pavers? Is it the same as the house brick where they charge so many $$$ for laying down 1000 bricks?

Thanks

nolaegghead

Define your project well on paper and send that out as an RFP to everyone who does that work and let them compete against each other.  You should get a discount on a per foot price since the job is so big.

alaskanassasin

^^^^ hahaha got him ^^^^ do you talk to your blender too brah?