A patio defines the outlook and exterior of your house and utilizes your extra home space in a useful sitting area about which a paver patio contractor will best guide you about. When thinking to construct a patio, you should first see what materials to use for building a patio, rather than just focus on the design. Yes, the design is equally important but a fabulous design built with long lasting materials is more important. When shortlisted, mostly two main types of materials are used for patio construction, paver patio, and a concrete patio.

Which Material to Choose for Patio Construction?

Your house defines your style of living and comfort and you want everything in it to be durable, weather friendly and maintenance friendly. Even the patio is an important part of your house so before you get confused what to choose, the definition of a paver patio and of a concrete patio is given below.

• Paver Patio

A paver patio is constructed using stones, bricks or concrete, and joined together to make a pathway or patio by joining it all together. It is made up using small pieces.

• Concrete Patio

A concrete patio is constructed using a poured slab of concrete. The slabs are usually bigger in size and offer a variety such as plain or stamped.

Comparison of Paver Patio and Concrete Patio

For the construction and decision that which material will best suit you, you will need the guidance of an expert stone patio contractor or a paver patio contractor, as he will tell you according to your needs. However, this article compares the advantages and disadvantages of both the materials, which will give you a relative idea.

Cost Comparison

A concrete patio is less costly as compared to the paver patio as huge poured slabs are placed together and joints are in between and are constructed in less time so utilizes less labor. On the other hand, a paver patio uses many natural stones or bricks which are then joined together to form a patio, which is a time and labor consuming job and hence costs more.

Cleaning and Maintenance

Whatever material you choose, it is important to keep it clean and presentable. They both require regular cleaning and sweeping. However, concrete patio due to its smooth nature is easier to sweep and clean while the paver patio, due to many stones, requires vigorous cleaning with a brush and scrapping in between the joints. The concrete patio does not allow the growth of weeds or algae as there are no joint spaces, whereas there is the growth of weeds and algae in a paver patio due to open joints. For that, you will need to call a stone patio contractor for removing weeds and filling in the sand.

Cracking and Replacement

A concrete patio is prone to cracking and once cracked, you will need to replace the whole huge slab of concrete which will be difficult as well as costly. Whereas, a paver patio hardly gets cracks due to its small size and even if it does you only need to replace a single stone.

Designs

You have a large number of designs in a paver patio with lots of color options and shapes and size of stones, which can look like a mosaic too. You will need to contact your paver patio contractor for designs, while in a concrete patio, a lot of designs are not available, some pastel color options are there. In concrete option, you can get stamped look which can replicate the look of bricks or stones.

Appearance

If you are satisfied with the area of the patio, you can easily increase in paver patio by adding more stones while it is difficult in a concrete patio as the slabs are designed to fix a place and they cannot be altered. But the appearance of a concrete patio gives more of a finished look as it is straight and smooth in one length, whereas a paver patio has different shaped stones and bricks, in high and low, which gives a rough appearance.

In the end, it is your patio and you have to decide what suits you, so call in a stone patio contractor to discuss your needs and wants. Lagrass