Paver Supplies

A Quick Guide to Paver Supplies

Paving with natural stone can have spectacular results but choosing it over ceramic or porcelain tiles does come with more maintenance. The greatest buildings of the ancient world were built with stone and would have weathered the millennia much better if their builders had modern paver supplies. The paver supplies needed to install and maintain natural stone can vary depending on the type of stone you choose, its use and area of installation, so you need to know some basics before you attempt installing stone.

Area of Installation

What type of stone you install and how you need to maintain it will depend to a large extent on where it will be installed. A footpath in your backyard that receives light foot traffic in a wet climate needs to be treated differently than the floor of your patio in a dry climate, for example.

• Stone sealers are essential brick supplies that protect the stone from moisture and damage, keeping it in pristine condition. Penetrating stone sealers are recommended for outdoor use, while topical sealers are mainly for indoor use. More porous stones like marble, onyx, and limestone needs to be resealed every six months and cleaned with solutions specially designed for natural stone, while less porous stones like granite and quartz need to be resealed only once a year, and you can clean them with soap and water.
• Flexible vs. rigid paver installation. A walkway in your garden is installed on the soil, while the floor of your patio is installed on concrete. The flex of soil means you will need thicker and harder stone and different brick supplies for installation. The solid base of concrete and less exposure to the elements of a patio allows for thinner stone pavers to be used.
• The gap between stones and tiles is necessary to provide flex, especially where there is a lot of moisture and temperature variation. For outdoor applications, silicone for tiles and stones is recommended on rigid bedding. Silicone can expand and contract, so silicone for tiles is ideal as it won’t crack like grout or put pressure on the tile.