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The beautiful weather this summer has meant that we’ve all spent a more time than usual in the garden relaxing or entertaining friends and family. From May to October there’s a great opportunity to turn your patio area into an extension of your living area for barbecues, a chilled out glass of wine after work, or a secluded haven to catch up with your summer reading!
Thinking of Creating a Patio?
Paving is the key feature of any patio, and there’s a whole range of colours and textures now available to choose from. It’s not all about the look, though; over the summer we’ve had a number of customers quizzing us about natural stone paving because they were interested in using an environmentally-friendly material that could be eventually be re-cycled.
Why Use Natural Stone Paving?
At Ampthill Building Company we use both natural stone paving and concrete paving when we lay patios in Bedfordshire. As there’s a good deal of interest in natural stone at the moment, we thought that we’d share our top 6 reasons for choosing this durable and good looking material:
- Each Stone is Beautiful and Unique – It’s difficult to improve on nature’s designs and every single natural stone slab has been millions of years in the making so it’s absolutely unique. The texture and patterning of natural stone lends your patio a non-standardised aesthetic which cannot be reproduced.
- Stone Paving is Environmentally Friendly – The earth has vast resources of stone which haven’t been overmined, making this kind of paving one of the most sustainable building products. Stone paving doesn’t deteriorate, so when you need a change, the paving can be recycled as reclaimed paving or crushed and used for aggregate mix.
- Natural Stone Ages Well – Stone takes thousands of years to erode which makes it an extremely durable patio paving material. It’s naturally frost resistant, eliminating the danger of cracks. Natural stone slabs are easy to look after once they’re laid; they retain their colour, they age well, and they can be pressure cleaned.
- It’s Easy to Install – Natural stone slabs are normally calibrated for ease of installation; the split stone is run through a strip mill to create slabs of regular size and depth. This makes the slabs easier to lay as they can be laid on a single screeded bed, rather than requiring a separate screed bed for each slab.
- Lots of Stone to Choose From – As the market for stone paving has grown, so has the range of stones available. Most popular is the earthy, weathered travertine stone. There’s also marble, limestone, slate and – more recently – Indian sandstone. There are now also many cheaper imported foreign stones to choose from.
- Add Value to Your Property – With climate experts telling us that the British summer is going to get hotter, professionally designed outdoor living spaces are highly desirable to buyers. A stone patio is built to be beautiful, longlasting, and easy to manage – it’s a valuable addition to your home, and adds value to your property.
Ampthill Building Company provides building services in Ampthill, across Bedfordshire and into the London region. We were recently regional winners in the LABC Buildings Excellence Awards 2018, for being ‘Best Local Builder’ and we are committed to consistently excellent service and skills for all our customers.