It started with a broken water main line and finished with a new driveway of concrete pavers. After the new water line was installed, I researched new driveway options, settling on concrete pavers. Then I had to research the options and design the layout. It was a learning experience.
Right before Christmas, the leaky water line under the driveway finally cracked open. Because the water line went under the driveway, it was necessary to cut through existing concrete to install the new water line. Since the old driveway, poured in 1968, was cracked and the aggregate walkway was starting to subside, we decided to replace the driveway.
We determined concrete pavers was the best option and gave us some design flexibility. The challenge, initially, was to draft a concrete paver design that worked with our old mid-century modern home. However, after a lot of research, I learned that most of the pavers I liked were not rated for a driveway installation. I then focused on the landscape bordering each side of the driveway. Whereas most of the landscape is shredded cedar and drought tolerant plants, a more organic and natural driveway seemed appropriate.
Research and Design of Concrete Paver Driveway
As I studied the variety of paver catalogs, my eyes kept coming back to the concrete cobble stone pavers. I liked the lines, shadows, colors, and certain random nature of the small irregular cobble stone paver. As real granite cobble stones were out of my budget, the target became one of the manufactured concrete cobble stone-like pavers. To complicate the design, we wanted to keep the walkway as a design element as it is a welcoming feature leading guests to the front door. The walkway would need to be a different style of paver.
The next challenge was finding a contractor who would work with us on the design. Many of the contractors we contacted wanted to sell us what they thought worked with our home and what was probably most profitable for them. Several of the sales people we talked to did not want to mix paver styles and textures. While I’m not a professional landscape architect or designer, I’m comfortable making design choices outside of the suburban cookie cutter ethos of sameness.
Cobble Stone Pavers and a Mid-Century Modern House
We did find a contractor who would work with us and was quoting an installation within our budget. I submitted my final design to the contractor who gave it the green light in terms of no structural issues. While our soil type (decomposed granite) did not necessitate the geotextile fabric, I opted for it as another obstacle to root intrusion from a nearby redwood tree. The fabric’s real purpose is to prevent silty mud from invading the road base foundation and undermining its stability.
The images of the driveway are immediately after the project was completed. I still needed to do some other work replacing shredded cedar, soil, and sprinkler lines. But I wanted to include the raw images to give you a better perspective of the installation without any landscape fluffing to make it look pretty.
As a matter of course with the cobble stone type pavers, because of the larger space between the pavers, a polymeric bonding sand is used. The polymeric sand has a coating that dissolves with water. When it dries, the sand particles bond together, kind of like glue, which adds stability between the pavers and retards weed growth.
The driveway is outlined with Calstone Antiqued Flat Top charcoal color pavers. There is another line of the charcoal pavers to separate the driveway from the walkway. The interior of the walkway is Calstone Antiqued Flat Top Silverstone color pavers in a random pattern. We increased the walkway by 1 foot, from 3 to 4 feet in width. The walkway makes a hard angle to the left to meet with the existing exposed aggregate walkway up to the front door. I like the severe contrast between the charcoal and Silverstone color of the walkway.
The driveway is composed of Calstone Belgian Stone in the Sequoia Sandstone color. The running bond pattern parallels the street. But because of the three different sizes of the Belgian stone, you can’t really discern a specific orientation. There were a couple of other color options of the Belgian Stone: Sierra Granite and Oak Barrel. I liked that the Sequoia Sandstone had a little bit of green coloration on some pavers.
What I particularly like about the cobble stone type pavers are the various lines and shadows – randomness, chaos…nature. When the thundering plumb tree drops its fruit on the driveway, and stains the pavers, it will look natural. When shredded cedar blows across the Belgian Stone pavers, I won’t be filled with anxiety that I must sweep it away immediately. The driveway will become an extension of the landscaping.
The contractor demolished the old driveway and installed the new paver driveway in 2 days. The approximate cost was $16,000. The crew was excellent. The only real decision we had to make during the construction was a final design of the walkway. The lead project manager laid out the various patterns for the Antiqued Flat Top Silverstone pavers that come in three different sizes. Certain pattern designs would change the width of the walkway a couple of inches one way or the other. We appreciated the consultation about the final pattern design.
If I have any guidance on driveway paver projects it would be to learn as much as possible about the paver styles and types as possible. If you want a certain look or design, don’t settle for less. If you can put together a rudimentary design, that will greatly aid the contractors in bidding the job. I may have spent too much time piecing together a scaled design using images from online catalogs and MS Paint. However, once the driveway is torn out, you only have the design with the dimensions you measured as a guide for the installation.
Contractor Installation of Concrete Paver Driveway
The following images are from the installation of our driveway paver project. The guys were working so fast that I may have missed some of the steps as I did not sit outside the whole time watching them. A YouTube video at the end of this post will also show the process of a skilled and experienced team of concrete paver installers creating our new driveway in front of an old mid-century modern house.
