Maintenance and maintenance However, in the long term, stamped concrete generally requires more maintenance. Most homeowners will need to repave or replace it every 20 to 30 years to keep it looking its best. Paving stones, on the other hand, require a bit of maintenance to maintain their condition. Poured concrete is usually around 3,000 to 4,000 PSI on average, while pavers measure 8,000 PSI or more.
Paving stones are significantly stronger than stamped concrete and more resistant to the effects of freeze-thaw cycles. In fact, Belgard pavers are guaranteed to last the life of the home and are backed by a transferable warranty. To help make stamped concrete more resistant to cracking, it must be constructed with control (or expansion) joints. But even with joints, like any concrete slab, it will eventually crack.
In addition, joints often cut the pattern, which detracts from the overall appearance. Paving stones do not require expansion joints, and if a paver is ever damaged, a single paver can easily be replaced without having to replace an entire section. This means that stamped concrete requires more maintenance to maintain its good appearance over the years. It must be sealed annually, and even so, the color will fade over time.
By comparison, pavers and slabs need nothing more than an occasional sweep and maintain their color as they age. With pavers, you can mix and match different colors and shapes to create eye-catching designs. For example, you can create a border with rounded cobblestones and use rectangular pavers to fill in the rest. The cobblestones create a rustic and traditional look.
Concrete, once stamped, has a unique texture, which gives you the possibility to design it however you want. It could be argued that this style is more aesthetically pleasing and has more appeal due to the infinite possibilities of customization. Paving stones are multi-colored pieces of concrete that intertwine to form a durable surface for walkways, entrances and patios. On the other hand, stamped concrete is poured as a solid surface and then embossed or textured to look like brick, slab, slate, stone, tile, or even wood.
You can get stained concrete slabs, which is a good compromise between cost and appearance, but properly placed pavers still look more attractive. Paving stones have the longest lifespan of up to 100 years, concrete lasts 25 to 30 years, and asphalt lasts 15 to 20 years if properly maintained. When choosing a concrete paving solution, many homeowners weigh the pros and cons between stamped concrete and concrete blocks, such as pavers and slabs. Both stamped concrete and concrete pavers require routine cleaning and maintenance to maintain their best appearance and protect them from wear and tear.
Compaction and base preparation are essential for both, but poured concrete can be radically affected by daily weather conditions. Paving stones offer much more design options than concrete and have a more attractive and durable finish. This individual placement is the only way to achieve the desired finish, but it takes much longer than pouring concrete. Both options are expected to be significantly more expensive than simple concrete poured on site, depending on the prices of materials and labor in the local market and the complexity of the work.
If stamped concrete stains or cracks enough that it needs to be repaired, it's not an easy process. Unfortunately, despite its many benefits, stamped concrete has relatively high initial costs, not to mention the time and money spent on maintenance and repairs. In just a few days, a weather-worn concrete surface will have a new synthetic stone finish that is resistant to extreme weather conditions, moisture, mold and bacteria growth, spills of all kinds, chips, cracks or flaking. An online source stated that a basic paving stone installation (simple pattern) is initially 30% higher than installing a stamped concrete patio of the same size.
Because of its distinctive textures and variations, stamped concrete offers more ornate design possibilities that give it a “wow factor”. In addition, pavers on an existing concrete surface have inherent moisture problems that can create serious problems over time. . .
