4 Ways a Paver Driveway Can Greatly Enhance Your Landscape Design in Hinsdale, IL
The best landscape design always takes the some of the least attractive parts of the landscape and elevates them to the highest standard. Driveways are often forgotten about in landscape design and can be seen as just a path for moving cars from the street to the house. Since the driveway takes up so much space in a landscape, it actually has an integral role in the beauty of the overall landscape. As you plan your landscape renovation, make sure to take this prominent landscape feature into account as a design element. Here are four ways a paver driveway can greatly enhance your landscape design in Hinsdale, IL.
First Impressions
Does your home’s driveway reflect its value? Asphalt driveways don’t do anything for the aesthetics of a home; they don’t add to the aesthetics, and when patched, they look ugly and cheap. Concrete driveways can be even worse, evoking the stained look of an oil change shop or a kindergarten playground just waiting to be scribbled on with chalk. Concrete will inevitably crack and crumble, necessitating frequent repairs or replacement. With a driveway made from stained poured concrete or crumbling asphalt, it doesn’t matter what your home looks like or what else is in your front yard.
A driveway made from specialized driveway pavers will immediately elevate the look of an entire landscape, sending the message that you have taste and your home is an elegant and well-cared for place. Be sure to use driveway-rated pavers, as they are designed specifically to handle vehicular loads. Pavers intended for pedestrian use are too thin and often too large to support the weight of cars and trucks.
Durability
A paver driveway will last far longer than asphalt or poured concrete driveways which - because they are solid surfaces - will only last a few years before succumbing to soil movement and the freeze-thaw cycle. Over the lifetime of the driveway, pavers are an incredibly economical choice.
Paver driveways are not solid surfaces The individual pavers move slightly, yet are incredibly secure and stable and won’t heave or sink when properly installed. The spaces between them accommodate the movement of soil, preventing damage from the freeze-thaw cycle. While individual pavers may break on the rare occasion, they’re easily replaceable and won’t affect the surrounding pavers.
Color Pairing
Pavers take inspiration from a variety of materials and they can take on a large range of different shades and colors beyond those that can be found in natural stone.
Warm earthy colors such as those present in sandstone-inspired pavers will add reds, browns, and warm tans to your landscape. These colors are particularly resonant with relaxed homes as well as rustic homes and landscapes.
Cooler and steely colors such as those present in bluestones and granites will add blues and grays to your landscape. These colors will add a dramatic look to modern and contemporary homes and landscapes, but also offer an excellent pairing with classic brick-sided homes.
Environmental Benefit
One of the biggest issues of a solid surface driveway (asphalt or poured concrete) is tremendous amounts of water that run off the driveway after a heavy rain, potentially causing damage to the landscape or flooding.
Permeable pavers will disperse surface water into the ground due to slightly larger joints between the pavers, the use of pea gravel or other coarse stone, and a special substrate that allows water to absorb slowly into the ground below.
