5 Benefits Of Paving With Bricks
Posted on: 13 August 2021
Whether you are paving a patio, walkway, or drive, bricks are an excellent alternative to materials like asphalt and concrete. There are several benefits to brick paving that you don't want to overlook.
1. Environmentally Friendly
Bricks are an environmentally friendly choice for outside paving because they are made of natural materials, typically clay and soil bonded together with a little cement. They will not leach any harmful components into the environment over time, so there is no fear of contaminants getting into the soil. Even the color in bricks tends to come from natural minerals, so there are no harmful dyes involved.
2. Quick Installation
There's no long wait to use the paved areas when bricks are the paving material. Concrete and asphalt paving both need several days to a week to cure enough to be walked upon. Brick paving can be enjoyed the same day if the paving is dry fit with sand joints. Mortared in place brick paving does need some curing time, but is usually ready for use within a day.
3. Water Permeable
One benefit of brick paving is that there are permeable options that allow rainfall and irrigation water to soak back into the soil and groundwater stores, as opposed to being lost to water runoff or evaporation. Sand joint installations are one way to make any brick paving project water permeable. There are also special paving bricks available that are designed to allow water to permeate through them. These can be an important part of landscaping water conservation strategies in drought-prone areas.
4. Repairable
When concrete paving cracks, there is little that can be done other than to install an ugly patch or replace the concrete. When a brick cracks, only the single damaged brick needs to be dug up and replaced. The repair takes only a few minutes and a homeowner can easily make the repair themselves. In some cases, a brick doesn't even need to be replaced, just turned over so the undamaged side is facing upward.
5. Versatile
Bricks provide versatile design options. You can match the bricks in your paving to other masonry accents around the home, such as the chimney on the house or the brick retaining walls around the garden beds. Bricks come in a variety of colors, and you can even find them in shapes other than the traditional rectangle.
Contact a masonry service if you are interested in using bricks to create patios, walkways, and driveways in your landscape.
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