Pavers vs Painted Driveway
 

I know this subject has been beaten to death, but I would like to know who has pavers and issues problems they have had with them. We almost had pavers installed in our driveway but decided against it for now because of the way it changes the grade/slope up to front door and garage door. We have been cautioned by home owners to be very careful of water pooling in garage and we would have virtually no more front step to house if pavers were down since it would raise 2". We were looking at the thick pavers. So now we are thinking a textured painted driveway, any recommendations?

The thin pavers crack and I have noticed some that rock. There are many paint designs, drive around and look.

Painting your driveways in many ways is like getting a tattoo. Once you have it, you have it.


I have seen about ten painted driveways that I think are really lovely.


For me bare is beautiful.

Decorative paint...many more options. No physical changes to deal with.
Less maintenance.
And significantly less expensive.

1" or thin pavers installed correctly will NOT crack.

You always should keep a few extra anyway.

They add more value than paint, they are not slippery when wet

My neighbor has pavers, when I had our driveway stained, he mentioned that he wishes he had done that. He mentioned, loose and cracked pavers, and the need to replace sand. We used Driveways by Jay, got a fantastic job, he has done several driveways in the area. No maintenance for 5 years or more, and then it is a cleaning and a clear coating. He keeps an eye on the driveways he has done and will let you know when it needs maintenance.
Hope this helps.

The process the Driveways by Jay uses is NOT slippery. It appears to be more of a stain then an paint, but you would have to discuss with him. In any case, we have had this for several months, and there is no difference in traction over natural concrete.
I agree with Tom (above) that PAINTED driveways can be very slippery.
Also, the coating that we have does not appear to mark from tires, which I have seen people complain about with painted driveways.

I echo this. I had 1" paver driveway in my old home for 8 years before moving. Had only 2 bricks with a hairline crack over the 8 years and easily replaced. LOVE the look of pavers. Had our driveway done here in TV 2 years ago - OMG so nice...and 4 of our neighbors had theirs done by the same Co - Paradise Pavers. Highly recommend them. Beautiful work and professional all the way. Will not accept $1 of payment till the job is done and the cust is satisfied. The 1" pavers have NO lip into the garage - perfectly matches height of garage floor and curbing. Perfect. Pavers may need sealing every 3-4 years, NOT slippery at all.

I do like the flagstone-like cement paint I see recently. But I do believe that pavers are generally less $ than a custom paint drive.

Only in The Villages would you find a thread requesting information as to how to make a concrete driveway look "better".

At the end of the day, it's a driveway, who cares. Leave it alone and spend the money on a trip somewhere, you'll still be able to drive your car into the garage and you'll have more fun.

I had my driveway and lanais painted about 5 years ago and they still look like the day they did them. No maintenance at all. I had a paver type design. Spills wipe right up.

Do you need approval from the ARC before having driveway stained/painted?

They have to be put in correctly. That is the ground has to be dough out, compacted, sand added etc and then pavers installed. Thus do not see why you would have a problem at the garage unless they are not putting in a good foundation.
Search pavers on the internet and I think you will find out that 2 1/2" is generally the recommended thickness.

RJM1cc, you are correct, however, in TV, there are a lot of installations of pavers with 1 inch pavers OVER THE EXISTING CONCRETE, In this case, some of the concrete is removed at the street and at the garage to take carte of the additional height. The pavers around the edges are typically cemented in place and the rest are set in sand. These are the installations that typically have the cracked paver problems. It would not be practical to place 2 or 2.5 inch pavers over concrete.

Also, take a look at your deed restrictions, mine state that each house must have a CONCRETE driveway, so we went with staining. No idea what you get into with pavers, but I have a few neighbors that did this.

In our case (with Paradise Pavers install), the 1" pavers meet directly up with the garage floor height - the driveway is 1" lower than the garage floor at the garage door area. This is, at least for our home built in Jan of 14.
The driveway, near the curb is cut about 10" along the entire width and the cement removed. This area is prepped and finished 1" lower than the curb and adjoining drive. Thus, the pavers are set in cement and end flush with the curb and to the next row of pavers. Typically only the perimeter pavers are set with adhesive, the pavers in the field "floats" but is set when sand is spread into all the seams - locking in place.

It turns out very finished and flush with the curb and garage floor. Very pleased.

I was told that the 1" drop by the garage door floor, is also for protection/safety in high winds to sort of anchor the door, if the door is flush sitting on pavers the door could be blown into the garage. I suppose it could anyways but that is one of the reasons for that little step down, not just for drainage.

Totally agree with this assumption, and it's purpose. For both of my homes - 8 years previous and almost 2 years here in TV... the "flushness" of the paver to the garage floor -no gap- caused 0 issues, even after heavy wind/rain storms etc. The rubber garage door sealer does the trick. I was concerned about that as well, but AOK.

do you have his #?

Pooters did our driveway, walkway and pool deck. Awesome and no cracks ever.
They use a better paver and will show you the difference.

Tom would know. He has walked on many of them in the course of his business.

We have decided against pavers, look good first few years, but have driven in some of the older neighborhoods and most, not all, look tired and worn and have seen water damage inside garage by door, also our lot sits pretty level with the street, concern over changing the grade. I think we will go with a concrete paint design, someone recommended Custom Ram Design, checked some driveways out they did, very beautiful custom designs, home owners seem very pleased.

We love the look of our pavers, but it does require resanding and sealing about every 18 months to two years. I've had to have a few pavers replaced, but I had plenty left over from the original job so it's not a big deal.

And many are not....depends on who does the work and their process. Decrotive Concrete did ours and it is not slippery when wet. We have a neighbor that went on price and he slipped and fell, didn't break anything but was bruised and sore for weeks. Pavers or paint, to me, is one of personal preference. Just make sure you get reference lists and talk to lots of the references.

I have heard that the painted driveways have a lifespan of about 5-7 years. True? Not true?

Stucco Contractor and Painting Contractor
 

Has anyone used High Geer Stucco, Bellview, FL and Plaster Inc or D.Miller Painting in Summerfield, FL. I would be interested in your experience in using either or both of these contractors. Thank You!

Barebones 1191

Forgot to mention but if you look at Decorative Concretes web sire Cliff lists his references including addresses and in many cases phone numbers. You can probably find people close to you without having to ask Cliff for references.