Concrete is a versatile material that has been at the heart of infrastructural and architectural expansion all across the world. The strength and versatility of concrete meant contractors of residential buildings and landscapers would also find a use for them. In your case, you are looking to add a touch of class and panache to your home or workspace. While you can use a variety of materials and construction methods to install your driveway, you may want to see what concrete offers you.
Everything you add to the ground has some sort of impact on the environment, whether positive or negative. In your effort to build a beautiful driveway, you may want to use materials that reduce the impact you make on the environment. Is concrete that material?
Let’s find out.
What Is the Purpose of Concrete Pavers?
It’s become the norm for every home in the United States to have a driveway leading up to the house. This driveway can be the place you park your vehicle whenever you come home or an access path to your garage. As such, they are built to withstand the wear and tear of use by a vehicle.
It was traditional to have driveways built using asphalt. This is because asphalt has great advantages.
- Asphalt is resistant to wear and tear
- Driveways constructed using asphalt last a very long time
- Asphalt is preferable as it can be easily recycled or repaired
However, the cost of laying down an asphalt driveway is high, both in monetary and environmental terms.
It’s only natural to want to have a sustainable alternative, and that’s where concrete comes in. Concrete also has great advantages.
- A concrete driveway can last as long, if not more, than an asphalt driveway
- Driveways constructed using concrete offer greater service life maintenance costs
- The driveways will only require little touch ups to keep them in great shape
Concrete has a variety of noteworthy benefits, which are all wonderful. However, the downsides can make any homeowner think twice in this age of environmental consciousness.
Construct Your Dream Driveway While Reducing Your Environmental Impact
Concrete is a great material because of its ability to withstand great amounts of pressure and is very durable. However, the downsides of concrete mean it can be quite a bother, and increasingly expensive in the long run. A driveway made from concrete means it has a large surface area for the elements to act on. Since concrete is not elastic, it tends to crack in extreme temperatures during summer and winter.
Concrete pavers offer all the advantages of concrete, with reduced chances of having to fork out large sums of money in repair costs. The pavers themselves are cheap to buy, and replacing individual pavers is simpler than attempting to fill in cracked concrete.
How Do Concrete Pavers Reduce Your Impact on the Environment?
When it comes to building and construction needs, there is one major reason that concrete is ubiquitous. Concrete is meant to be a tough and impermeable material. Nothing can go through concrete, even water, and that’s where concrete’s major issue with the environment comes in.
A concrete driveway means every form of precipitation that lands on it will not go through. Instead, the precipitation is going to flow down onto the street, where the drainage is going to channel the water into sewers and other waterways. This is a problem.
- Every driveway has experienced some form of pollution like spilt oil or fuel, and any other vehicular fluid
- These oils and fluids, as they cannot penetrate the concrete, dry at the place they’ve split
- When it rains heavily, the water runoff is going to carry these fluids to waterways, thus polluting them
Concrete pavers, on the other hand, have an advantage that a solid concrete driveway does not.
- The spaces around the sides mean that the water from rainfall will make its way into the area’s groundwater table by sipping into the ground
- This seepage helps to keep a natural balance in the water table and prevent contaminants from making their way into the waterways around your area
Concrete Gives You Many Options
The beauty of concrete pavers comes from the fact that they can be molded into a variety of shapes and sizes. It’s only a matter of planning the right look you would want for your driveway. If you engage your design instincts in the right way, concrete driveway pavers can mean the curb appeal of your home is going to increase, and subsequently, the price, should you decide to sell.
Also, there’s an innovation currently taking over the concrete driveway pavers space. This innovation is porous or pervious concrete pavers. As the name suggests, these are concrete pavers that allow water to percolate through them. If you want to make a super environmental decision, then porous concrete pavers should be your only option.
Find Pavers That Work For You
Whether you are putting up a new home, or you are making renovations to an already existing one, each decision you make ends up having an impact on the environment. It is for you to choose whether the impact will be degrading or restorative. It starts with simple things like choosing concrete driveway pavers, rather than going for a solid concrete or asphalt driveway. You still get the same great durability, but this time, in a form that adds value to your home and environment.
There’s only one place that gets you top-notch service, whether it be asphalt or concrete paver driveways. Richfield Blacktop has been the foremost contractor for driveway installations in St Paul, Minneapolis since 1954, which means we bring experience, courtesy and unparalleled expertise to every job site. Get in touch with us if you’d like to learn more about our services.
