Outdoor patio designs with natural stone, pavers or stamped concrete. Consider style, installation cost & maintenance. Cipriano Landscape Design – Northern NJStyle & Fun! Inground swimming pool design with Dolphin water slide & Riverflow swim & kayaking system. Northern NJ family loving their stylish vanishing edge pool.
Are you looking for the perfect new or replacement patio? Are you having trouble selecting your new patio flooring? Whatever your goals you will find that certain materials are best suited for your patio design.
The material you choose plays critical roles in your outdoor design: the appearance, maintenance, budget, and repair costs. Consider your objectives when evaluating materials. What do you want your outdoor design to look like? Would you prefer durability? What is your budget? What lengths will you go to, to ensure you don’t have to repair the patio (again)?
There’s a variety of material options ranging from stamped concrete to natural stone and durability and consistency of the material ranges as well. Stamped concrete and pavers may fade in time and styles may lapse, while natural stone tends to endure. Natural stone, properly installed, is the most durable and will preserve its look the longest versus the less expensive stamped concrete and paver options.
Consider maintenance, as all options require some sort of sealing (every 2-3 years generally) and some porous natural stones may require an annual application. Pavers tend to settle, usually near steps or near excessive ground water. The top layer under intricate paver patterns has a tendency to shift in extreme freezing and thawing cycles causing pavers to shift or rise. New pavers need less weeding if a polymeric sand is used in the joints; however, over time you may face some weeding down the road. Stamped concrete with antiqued finishes may require a re-staining application over time and lighter colored finishes will also require frequent power washing, particularly near trees.
The maintenance on natural stone outdoor patios will vary for different materials. Darker stones such as bluestone require periodic joint maintenance due to the stones propensity to have excessive expansion and contraction cycles in the hot summer sun that wears on the joints. In contrast, we have 10-year-old quartzite stone patios that have required absolutely no maintenance at all.
It is up to you which type of material will balance your needs for the new outdoor patio or renovation. Durability will save money over the years, likely at additional up front cost. If the outdoor patio becomes outdated in its appearance, this will also lead to greater costs in the end. Outdoor patio materials are an investment into the structure and the outdoor living space. The right materials, regardless of initial cost, will look good, feel good, and last as long as a material possibly can. Find the right style for your outdoor patio. Choose a material that fits your short or long-term budget and keep in mind maintenance and durability. The outdoor patio should not require repairs for a significant amount of time.