The magic of Pavestone
The first time I saw a Pavestone driveway back in the early 80s I was smitten. I’d always loved the look of antique street pavers, but with 250 ft. of driveway up to the county road, I knew that wasn’t going to happen.
Pavestone was the ideal solution. About that time the county blacktopped our rural road. The white rock caliche that had the horrible habit of coating the undersides of our car and then pooping itself all over the driveway was a distant bad memory.
We hired a contractor to lay down the first half of our drive, but by the time we decided to add the second portion and make it a circle, he had apparently moved back to Canada. Bob Streiff and Precision Pavers of Plano had come on the scene, and his team did a spectacular job finishing it off. Bob also exhibited in each of my All Texas All Garden Shows. He came to be a very good friend.
When our drive developed a couple of blemishes recently, I called Bob to ask his help.
Tree roots lift concrete. But that’s where Pavestone shines. You can remove as many pavers as necessary, cut out the root, add sand, and level things out – good as new. Can’t do that with a big slab of concrete!
Take a look…
I asked them to put the pavers too close to this pecan trunk 30 years ago. Totally my fault. As the tree grew larger, its root flare lifted the pavers like a volcano. The solution? Carefully remove them, form them into a semi-circle, sweep dry sand to fill the cracks, and move on to the next project. They make it all look so simple.
Meanwhile, farther up the hill near our entry, the convergence point of the two parts of the drive had been put under pressure by roots of a giant red oak. That repair created a 20-piece jigsaw puzzle where the pieces were all made of concrete.
The “heave” rose up by 3 inches, so it was extremely visible, but when they were finished the whole thing was perfectly smooth, the chipped pieces were gone, and that joint looked as good as new.
These guys are masters of their craft. Two of them have worked for Bob for 32 years. Whether they’re doing new installations or touching up pavers they put in when they were much younger, they’re in total command of the situation.
It’s great watching fine workmen skilled in their trade.