Exploring the Most Popular Patio Choice in the UK for 2024: Paving Stone Patios

In the ever-evolving landscape of home design and outdoor living, the UK has seen various trends in patio choices over the years. As we look towards 2024, paving stone patios have emerged as the most popular choice among homeowners. This article delves into the reasons behind their rising popularity and the benefits they offer.

The Appeal of Paving Stone Patios

Paving stones, also known as pavers, are individual units or bricks used in creating outdoor flooring for patios, pathways, and driveways. The versatility, durability, and aesthetic appeal of paving stone patios have made them a preferred choice in the UK.

Key Features Driving Popularity

Aesthetic Versatility: Paving stones come in a myriad of colors, shapes, and textures, allowing homeowners to create unique and personalised patio designs. From rustic charm to modern elegance, paving stones can complement any architectural style.

Durability and Longevity

Paving stones are incredibly durable and can withstand the UK’s varying weather conditions, from heavy rains to occasional heatwaves. Their robustness ensures a long-lasting patio surface with minimal maintenance.
Ease of Repair: Unlike concrete slabs, if a paving stone gets damaged, it can be easily replaced without disturbing the entire patio. This ease of repair adds to its long-term cost-effectiveness.

Eco-Friendly Options

Many paving stones are now made from recycled materials, appealing to environmentally conscious homeowners. Permeable pavers also allow for better drainage, reducing runoff and improving water management.

Enhanced Property Value

A well-designed paving stone patio can significantly enhance the curb appeal and value of a property, making it a wise investment for homeowners.
Trends and Innovations in 2024

The year 2024 sees a few specific trends in paving stone patios, reflecting broader lifestyle and design preferences:

Natural Look – There is a growing preference for pavers that mimic natural stone, offering an organic and earthy feel to outdoor spaces.
Large Format Pavers – Larger pavers for a more modern and streamlined look are becoming increasingly popular.
Eco-Conscious Designs – Incorporating sustainable and environmentally friendly practices in patio construction is on the rise.
Multi-Functional Spaces – Patios that serve multiple purposes, such as dining, lounging, and gardening, are in demand, with paving designs reflecting these multifunctional uses.

Choosing the Right Installer

The installation of a paving stone patio is as crucial as the material choice itself. Hiring experienced professional patio installation company, which is vital for the longevity and appearance of the patio. Look for installers with a solid portfolio, good references, and a commitment to using quality materials.

Paving stone patios are the top choice for UK homeowners in 2024 due to their versatility, durability, and aesthetic appeal. They offer a perfect blend of functionality and style, making them an ideal choice for enhancing outdoor living spaces. As trends continue to evolve, paving stone patios remain a timeless and adaptable option, suitable for a wide range of homes and lifestyles. Whether you’re renovating an existing space or creating a new one, a paving stone patio is a reliable and attractive choice that promises to add value and beauty to your home.

November 15, 2023/0 Comments/by lee@yuuzuu.co.uk

block paving, Fences, News, Patios, Tarmac

The Top Considerations For a Brickwork Provider

As part of many landscaping, driveways and patio projects, brickwork is an important add on.

Choosing the right kind of brickwork provider is important for a new build or renovation. However, many people make the mistake of choosing an inexperienced or cheaper bricklayer. Understandably, this can bring more than it’s fair share of issues.

Brickwork is one part of the home where compromising on quality isn’t acceptable. Structures which are made with shoddy brickwork may be weaker, unstable or not aesthetically attractive. Doing repair jobs or renovations for period buildings especially need proper repairs.

Bad brickwork will do a lot of harm, and often isn’t worth cutting costs. However, what are the considerations for bricklayers? How do you choose a professional or company that is right for your needs? Well, not to worry, because we’ll be looking at some of the things to judge providers by.

How Do They Operate?

The first and arguably most important consideration for a bricklayer is how they choose to operate. How do they approach jobs?

Ultimately, this does impact how long a job will take to complete, how well it is done, and the overall costs. In an ideal setting, your brickwork team will be a three-person unit. This is the most efficient option in the industry!

The unit is made up of two trained, capable bricklayers and a general labourer. The labourer will have the job of keeping the bricklayers with a steady supply of bricks, mortar and blocks. If they do their job correctly, then the bricklayers can focus on the important stuff – laying and finishing the brickwork properly.

How Long Does the Project Take?

Each project that you need to undertake has a specific timeframe to complete. It will vary from one task to the next, but it does play an important role in choosing a bricklayer and company for your needs.

If the weather conditions are favourable, then an efficient brickwork team can lay an average of 1200 bricks every day. However, it’s important to understand that there are many things which will influence the speed at which a bricklaying team can work.

Things like the type of wall that you want to create, the type of pointing involved, the brick bond, as well as openings and lintels can all cause delays to the project. These are not problems so much as challenges which require a proper solution to solve. After all, you want a bricklaying team to work out effective, safe solutions.

What Specs Do You Have?

Understanding what specifications you have is a good way to make sure that you inform the bricklaying team of your needs.

You need to have detailed specifications where you can, because this makes sure that they know exactly what you need regarding work. Furthermore, it helps to remove any delays in the project because they know exactly what needs to be done.

Checking Their Credentials

You need to make sure that you check the credentials of any bricklaying team that you need to work with. It would be a disaster if you hired a company, they arrived to complete the work, and immediately began acting in an unprofessional manner.

Thankfully, this is the Internet and modern methods of credential checking exist. Look for testimonials from other past customers, use websites like TrustPilot and Check-A-Trade, and you will be able to make smart decisions regarding the companies that you choose to work with.

Customer Service

Customer service is a vital part of any successful trade company, so it’s worth ringing and asking a bricklaying team about the kind of services they provide. The answers that you receive are important, but what is more important is the quality of the service that you get.

The right professionals will be polite, courteous, knowledgeable, and more than happy to explain things to you. you will definitely get a sense that they are happy to help, which makes a lot of difference.

Flexibility

Look, you are probably a person with a busy life. There’s a lot of things that you need to do with your time, and it’s important that you can arrange for people to come and perform a job at a time that is convenient to you.

A good way to work out which companies are going to be worth collaborating with is how flexible they are prepared to be. Flexibility is a key characteristic that we look for in tradespeople, and it is no different for bricklayers. The right bunch of professionals would be more than happy to arrange to come when it is convenient for you, not the other way around.

Choosing the right brickwork company is obviously an important thing. This is a project that you clearly have an investment in, whether it is a renovation, an existing repair job, or a new build. For that reason, you have to be quite ruthless when choosing a company, and hold people to the highest standards.

The best thing for you in this situation is to shop around. You need to try and look at the different kinds of professionals that are available and work with them to find the best results. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, and to come away from a company if they don’t meet your expectations.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being ruthless when searching for a provider. Brickwork is one area where you can not afford to compromise. Further compounding the problem is the fact that when it comes to tradespeople, for every qualified expert there are several amateurs of dubious quality. These are, naturally, people you should avoid.

We provide brickwork services. We would be happy to help, and we love listening to people to get a proper understanding of their needs. We know how important it is to make the right decisions, so we are happy to talk to you about things. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us, and we will find out exactly what we can do. We’re here to help you.

August 25, 2022/0 Comments/by lee@yuuzuu.co.uk

Patios

What Makes Indian Sandstone So Appealing

Indian sandstone is one of those materials which is popular the world over, based purely on the fact it can be highly attractive and unique in design. In fact, Indian sandstone is one of the most desirable paving slabs available.

So, what makes it such a good idea? Why is it so effective? There are a couple of different characteristics that make it something you should take a look at, and try and make sure that you get the best results, we are going to look at those characteristics here.

So What is Indian Sandstone?

So, what actually is Indian sandstone? Well, Indian stone slabs have been used since the 1990s in various locations. It’s a very particular kind of naturally occurring stone that you find in pathways, patios, and outdoor dining areas. As you can probably gather from the name, this particular kind of paving slab comes from India. Indian sandstone paving slabs often have a very naturally veiny look. However, it is exactly this design which makes them such a popular choice.

The great thing about Indian sandstone paving slabs is that within the landscaping community, they have a certain level of prestige and quality attached to them. They’re automatically a very glamorous kind of stone. However, what sets them apart from some of the other options on the list is that they don’t have that big price tag you would expect from a high-quality paving slab.

Why Use Indian Sandstone?

When it comes to Indian sandstone, one of the things that makes it such a popular choice is that regardless of what colour, size, or even texture that you go for, do you mind up with something that is ultimately sophisticated and stylish, but at the same time somehow modern and rustic all at once. Furthermore, the price for a set of Indian sandstone paving slabs is quite reasonable. This makes it good for people who want a splash of quality but don’t want to pay high prices.

These kinds of sandstone slabs are a little bit different from other comparable options because actually they look better as they get older. The more time that passes, the more weathered and rugged they look, which adds to the detail, and helps them to look even more impressive. You need to ensure you use a good quality Indian Sandstone supplier too, reputable and ideally a national supplier for added quality.

One of the big reasons why Indian sandstone is so appealing is because it can be trusted to last for a long time. It’s a highly reliable and durable material, because of the way it has been constructed. Thanks to a formation period over many years that contains an amalgamation of different types of sand, the finished product of Indian sandstone is very tough. This is because the grains of sand that make it up contain things like quartz and cementing materials, which naturally form a cohesive binding agent. This makes sandstone pretty tough, and much more resistant to impact.

Something else that people often forget when it comes to Indian sandstone is the fact that it is highly durable. It’s very low maintenance as a result. You just have them put down, installed, and then sealed up.

Tough and Durable

Because of how it’s been formed and its different characteristics, Indian sandstone is a highly durable material. You can just forget about it for years at a time and there won’t be any ill effects. These kinds of slabs are also highly resistant to both harsh weather conditions and rain. If you install them correctly, Indian sandstone doesn’t really get damaged over time.

This exists in sharp contrast to a lot of paving materials, which are often subject to what we call freeze thaw weathering. This is a biological and chemical process that occurs when rain gets into tiny cracks inside material, and then freezes overnight, widening the gap. The next day, the frozen water melts again, more rain fills into the big gap, and the cycle repeats. This process doesn’t really happen with sandstone.

Finally, Indian sandstone is pretty easy to keep clean. Because it’s tough and durable, you can clean it without having to worry about damaging it, and you can even use a pressure washer to blast off a lot of the dirt and debris without taking away from the colour or upsetting the finish.

So, when it comes to Indian sandstone, it’s not difficult to see that it’s a pretty reliable material that can offer a lot. This kind of thing is great for anybody who is looking to get some of the best results when it comes to a high quality paving slab but doesn’t want to pay large amounts of money, because it has been designed to be pretty durable and long-lasting. At the end of the day, you just have to be prepared to take a look at different colours and finishes, because there are a lot of options. Trying to find the right style for you might take a minute, but it’s worth it.

We really like working with Indian sandstone paving slabs because not only do they look great, but they’re also highly reliable. At the end of the day, it’s important to recognise that you have a lot of different options with paving slabs like this, and you just have to be prepared to take a look at what’s available. It’s definitely not the easiest thing to do, and it can be pretty tough on a long-term basis, but it’s also worth it once you figure out that you have lots of options.

Indian sandstone might well be imported from India, but it’s actually highly affordable. Considering the quality that you get from the sandstone, it’s impressive just how accessible it is. This means if you wanted a taste of quality on a budget, you could easily get that. We work with options like this all the time, so it’s not particularly challenging for us to be able to set you up with some great Indian sandstone paving slabs, so take a look at what’s on offer.

Here at Direct Driveways and Patios, we are the leading installers of quality patios in the Banbury and Rugby areas. We don’t compromise on anything and you know when you work with us you get the best service guaranteed.

June 24, 2022/0 Comments/by lee@yuuzuu.co.uk

block paving, Patios

Large Natural Grey Block Paving Driveway

Our customer here in Banbury opted for the natural grey option for their new block paving driveway makeover and the team here at Direct Driveways and Patios wanted to show you the finished article. We all know that a well designed garden or well landscaped garden will add value to your home and will ensure you enjoy your outdoor space to the max and for over 20 years we have been the leaders in proving quality driveways throughout Banbury and Rugby areas.

When we met with the customer, they had already seen the scale of our work through our website so they had the confidence already in us that we were the company to work with on this driveway project.

As you can see from the pictures, we went around the whole property as the customer wanted to keep everything as low maintenance as possible. The lighter colour edging really sets the distinction between the natural grey blocks and the surrounding sleeper beds we installed, you can see this on other projects in our portfolio gallery.

“We had already seen many of the projects completed by Direct Driveways & from that alone we knew they were the company for us.”

This was a larger project but our tight knit team spent no time in ensuring that we levelled the groundwork and expertly laid the blocks in herringbone formation to the highest standards working around the infrastructure of the garden fences and decking areas and to keep the continuity flowing throughout the property.

As the #1 preferred driveways company in Banbury we have built our reputation on quality and transparent quoting. We work with the best suppliers like Tobermore and Marshalls to ensure our customers get the best quality driveway materials and combined with our expert skills and machinery you will never get anything less than 100% with us.

So, we’re looking forward to a long busy summer and if you want to get your new driveway or patio completed then just get in touch today, we offer 10% off when you quote DIRECT10 so don’t forget to mention that when you call us.

Also, don’t forget to visit our Youtube channel and subscribe for future content.

June 4, 2022/0 Comments/by lee@yuuzuu.co.uk

Patios

Indian Sandstone Patio Installation

What is Indian Sandstone & Why Is It Popular?

Indian Sandstone is a very popular choice here in the UK for a number of reasons, it has a large array of colours and finishes and many landscaping and patio companies hold this as one of the best sandstone for patios and hard landscapes as it is durable and long standing. We have long used Indian Sandstone for creating beautiful patios and pathways for over 25yrs and we thought we would explain a bit more about this beautiful stone and it’s uses and origins.

What Is Indian Sandstone?

Indian Sandstone originates in India – no medals here, but in fairness, Indian stone has such a beautiful texture and the veined natural finish and is so desirable throughout the world. Indian sandstone comes from many parts of India including Kashmir in the north and on the plains of central Indian, the colours and textures are truly unique to this country and it is then imported in to the UK where it is cut into slabs ready for laying for patios and paths.

Indian sandstone before sealing.

What Colours Are Indian Sandstone Available In?

Most Indian Sandstone has their own natural and unique colours depending on where the stone has been quarried so each slab will have a unique pattern and design making it unique in each garden. There are multi and single toned colours and you can choose a rough or smooth texture depending on your overall feel. Generally a rough texture is great for those looking to create a rustic garden or area and would suit a country garden, the smooth looks great with more modern and contemporary homes in Banbury, Oxford areas for example. The desert tones are very eye catching and works well with the new modern anthracite grey window frames and most bricked homes. It’s a great contrast for sure, so there is a colour and texture for everyone.

Who Can Install Indian Sandstone?

We always recommend that you use a certified and long established company for the installation of your Indian Sandstone, you will need to firstly ensure that the ground has been levelled off completely. You’ll then need to ensure you lay some hardcore MOT or sand based substance and ensure there is drainage for run-off. Once you have done that, you can choose your preferred Indian Sandstone and lay this down in the pattern of your choice, you’ll need to cut the stone in the corners and lay it like a jigsaw or pattern. Once this is laid, the important part is to seal the sandstone to stop weeds and rain entering the edges.

With this in mind, we recommend you reach out to a quality patio installation company that has experience and a proven track record of using this sandstone

Where Can I Use Indian Sandstone?

Indian Sandstone is ideal for your patio and pathways in the garden. It’s ideally for crazy paving too as it can be cut to any size. We recommend that you stick to using it for patios though, it will last a life time and as long as you clean and jetwash regularly it will hold it’s style.

So, in essence we recommend Indian Sandstone for your Banbury home, it’s durable, low maintenance and looks beautiful when laid for a patio, it’s more expensive than standard limestone or flags, but you’ll notice the difference and it will add value to your home in the long run. If you are looking for a quality Indian Sandstone installation company in the Banbury area, then why not get in touch with us today for a free quote.

October 29, 2021/0 Comments/by lee@yuuzuu.co.uk