Hardscaping VS Paving

People spend time, money, and effort on their landscaping and most focus on the softscapes, which include plants, grass, and gardens. While these landscape installations do look great, they don’t provide the outdoors with the solid design and structure they need. This design and structure is provided by hardscapes and paving. Both are an essential aspect of landscape design and they require good planning. Hardscaping and paving are two different concepts and here’s a brief introduction to them:

What is Hardscaping?

Hardscaping is an aspect of landscape design that involves masonry materials such as stone, brick, pavers, and other such materials. These materials are used to create permanent structures like retaining walls, walkways, patios, decorative elements, and other such components of a complete and well-designed landscape. Hardscaping is the foundation of all landscape designs and it also provides the finishing touches.

Hardscaping VS Paving

Here are some examples of hardscaping:

Garden Edging
Retaining Walls
Walkways
Sidewalks
Driveways
Patios
Pool Decks
Outdoor Kitchens
Outdoor Fireplaces
Fire Pits
Water Features

What is Paving?

Paving is the process of covering the uneven natural ground with a solid flat surface. These surfaces provide a safe space to walk or drive your vehicle on. Walking or driving on the uneven natural ground isn’t comfortable or convenient. A solid flat surface is essential to provide easy access to the property and ensure no one gets injured while moving through it. Here are some examples of outdoor paving installations:

The driveway is considered a pavement. It can be made from gravel, stone, asphalt, pavers, concrete, and other such materials. The driveway provides smooth access to the garage and your property.
Patios are also considered paved surfaces. They come in different shapes and sizes but they serve the same purpose as other paved surfaces and provide a flat space to walk and move around on.

Other examples of paving include roads, footpaths, walkways, and other such flat installations.

What’s the Difference?

Paving only refers to flatwork, which means covering flat surfaces with paving materials of any kind. They’re a part of the hardscape but not all hardscape structures are made of pavements. This is the most notable difference between hardscapes and paving. Both also require different kinds of skills, materials, and planning. Vertical structures like walls require careful planning to ensure they remain standing. Horizontal structures like paved driveways don’t require as much planning and will remain in place as long as they are installed well.

If you want to know more, don’t hesitate to contact us at R. Lacy Interlocking Pavers or give us a call at 559-442-1999.

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