Pavers in West Palm Beach, FL

The historic neighbourhoods are the distinctive part of working here. El Cid, Flamingo Park and Northwood are full of 1920s Mediterranean Revival and Mission houses, and the original driveways on those properties are narrow, often two strips of concrete with grass between. Widening one is not always permitted, and where it is not, the honest answer is a better surface at the existing width rather than a bigger one.

Those same streets have mature trees with roots that have had a century to get under things. We would rather route around an established root system than lay over it and be back in three years.

West of Military Trail the housing is newer and the constraints disappear. Those jobs are ordinary residential driveways and patios and they run quickly.

Anything east of Flagler Drive is close enough to the water that salt air is a real factor in how a surface weathers and how often it wants resealing.

The Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches is based in the city, and the Historic Preservation Board reviews work in the designated districts.

Shade is what drives sealing work in West Palm Beach. The mature trees through El Cid, Flamingo Park and Northwood keep a lot of walks and driveways damp, and damp plus humidity is what turns a surface green rather than grey. Anything east of Flagler Drive gets salt on top of that. Paver sealing after a proper clean is what stops the growth returning within weeks, and on a residential driveway it is usually a one-day job. Re-sanding the joints at the same time matters more here than people expect, because a summer downpour empties them.

Roots are the West Palm Beach version of this problem. The ficus and black olive on the older streets lift a walk or a driveway from below and they keep lifting, so paver repair here often starts with a decision about the tree rather than the pavers. Paver leveling is the same process either way: lift the affected area, deal with the cause, rebuild the base and relay your original pavers. Where a root cannot be cut we will tell you and route the surface around it.

On the 1920s houses through El Cid and Flamingo Park, brick pavers in a clay tone sit against Mediterranean Revival and Mission elevations the way a modern grey concrete never does. It is the thing we are asked about most in those districts. Travertine pavers turn up more on the pool decks and entries than on the driveways, for the usual reason: they stay cooler underfoot in August. West of Military Trail there is no historic constraint and the choice comes down to what you like.