Enhancing your outdoor living space in Stony Brook and Northport, NY, can transform your experiences with friends and family. What makes many landscapes incredible—and personalized—is expert masonry. Masonry gives your outdoor living space a timeless quality. After all, the stone is the original building material, and the look of stone stands the test of time. Whether your next outdoor living project involves a new patio, walkway, pool deck, driveway, or another landscape feature, you will have some decisions ahead involving masonry.
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Consider Existing Features and Your Home
Since the home is the heart of your property, make sure to choose masonry that complements the color schemes, design, or textures of your home. You don’t need to match materials; in fact, this can be overkill. Choosing complimentary natural stone, bricks, or pavers to establish new surfaces and structures can integrate the patio to the home as well as to the surrounding natural landscape.
Natural Stone
The wonders of natural stone will never cease to amaze. With stone, you get absolute uniqueness, as no stone is exactly like another. Natural stone is quarried in different regions, and choosing locally sourced stone helps to complement landscape features, making the patio (or other hardscape feature) look as though it truly belongs. Bluestone is one such example for homeowners in the northeastern part of the United States. Bluestone is a type of flagstone quarried in New York and Pennsylvania—and its dramatic bluish colors work beautifully with native vegetation and nearly all architectural styles.
Bricks
Bricks have been used for thousands of years. Clay bricks are earth-toned, and you can find a broader range of colors (and more sizes) in concrete bricks. Bricks are relatively small compared to other types of pavers, allowing for more intricate designs including curved shapes or artistic designs.
Patio Pavers
Concrete pavers are a modern solution with an extensive variety of shapes, sizes, styles, colors, and finishes. Pavers may take their inspiration from a multitude of natural stone varieties, but there are some pavers that don’t try to mimic other materials and instead fully embrace the sleek, modern aesthetic.
Modern pavers are often designed to be non-slip in texture, and some are available in permeable versions, which allow rain to seep through the larger joint spaces to keep your outdoor living space drier after heavy rains.
Wall Units
Many modern vertical elements (outdoor fireplaces, fire pits, pillars, and retaining walls) are constructed around a concrete block shell and faced with a natural stone or manufactured stone veneer. This approach gives you far more design choices than vertical features made entirely of natural stone, although you won’t achieve the incredible variety or depth of character that can only be found in natural stone.
So which is best? If you’re a purist, then natural stone maybe your best option. If you’re after convenience and design flexibility, then explore the many options found in today’s concrete products with the help of your masonry experts. When you have access to expert craftsmanship, the selection process is made to be easy, and you will gain peace of mind that the job will be done right. Then, your refreshed outdoor living space will be uniquely you—and a great investment both in your home and in your lifestyle.
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