WHAT'S AVAILABLE IN MODERN PAVERS - San Jose Mercury News WHAT'S AVAILABLE IN MODERN PAVERS SECOND-GENERATION PAVERS ARE NEW MATERIAL OF CHOICE FOR PATIOS By Lynn Underwood Minneapolis Star Tribune MINNEAPOLIS - Brett Hanson wanted the ``look of an old European courtyard'' in his back yard. So instead of putting in a concrete slab, the paver distributor hired a landscape designer to create an ``outdoor room'' -- complete with a patio, seating area and circular fire pit. The material of choice? Cobblestone pavers. Made of tumbled concrete, the newest generation of pavers gives the illusion of weathered stone.
Hanson is among the growing number of homeowners who are rejecting cold, concrete slabs for warmer, more sophisticated alternatives to outfit the outdoor rooms they use for entertaining and relaxing. Natural stone and concrete pavers are not only being used for patios, they're shaping walkways. And pavers are even covering that gigantic welcome mat -- the driveway.
``The same way people are using more exotic woods indoors, they're using natural stone and concrete pavers outdoors,'' said Jim Sweeney, whose Minneapolis-area company, Mom's Landscaping, specializes in custom mosaics of natural stone in patios, courtyards and walkways. ``People want the feel of European stonework. We can re-create that.''
Natural stone and clay bricks have been used for paving surfaces for hundreds of years, but the fastest-growing segment of the hardscape industry -- concrete pavers -- has only been manufactured in North America since the 1970s.
Concrete pavers have caught fire over the past few years, in part because companies are churning out pavers that more realistically mimic Old World-style stone.
``The new aging techniques, such as tumbling, are like the second-generation paver,'' said Rob Burak, director of engineering for the Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute.
Pavers also come in a wider range of shapes, sizes and blended colors -- from desert tan to charcoal. And because they fit together like a puzzle, they can be installed by the do-it-yourselfer.
The upscale look and eye-catching designs are also fueling paver popularity. ``People see really creative patios and garden paths on TV shows and in magazines and want to copy them,'' said Matt Mallas, manager of Hedberg Landscape Supplies in Plymouth, Minn.
Of course, paver companies will continue to finesse aging techniques and expand the color and size palettes of pavers -- all in the quest to make concrete blocks look like honest-to-goodness stone.
WHAT'S AVAILABLE IN MODERN PAVERS - San Jose Mercury News 
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