We work all over Saint Petersburg

Oak roots break up older driveways

The older parts of Saint Petersburg, like Old Northeast and Historic Kenwood, are laid out on brick streets with alleys behind the houses. A lot of the homes are bungalows on narrow lots, and some still have a very old concrete driveway. Often it is two thin strips with grass down the middle, or one slab that has cracked into pieces. Big live oaks shade these streets, and their roots do not stop at the curb.

Concrete has no give. When a root pushes up under a slab, it cracks and lifts, and that raised edge is easy to trip on. Pavers deal with roots better because each one is a separate piece that sits on a packed base. If a root lifts part of the driveway later, we take up just that section. The same pavers go back down on a repaired base. Nobody has to break out the old driveway and pour a new one.

Along a brick street, the driveway and the front walk are a big part of how a house looks from the road. So before anything is dug out, we meet you at the house to go over colors and patterns. The goal is a driveway that looks right next to old brick streets and hexagon block sidewalks. In a Google review, Charlie Robb said the paver design on a circular driveway "complements the architectural style of our home."

• Site walked with you before any estimate
• Old cracked concrete dug out and regraded
• Base compacted before pavers go down
• Colors picked to suit brick streets
• Root-lifted sections taken up and relaid

Low bayfront streets take on water

Shore Acres and Venetian Isles sit low along Tampa Bay, with canals and seawalls behind many of the houses. Storm surge has pushed saltwater into streets there more than once, and a lot of owners are rebuilding or raising their homes. A raised house needs new work at ground level. The walkway has to climb to meet a higher front door, and the driveway has to send water away from the new foundation.

Near the bay the ground is sandy, and water sits close to the surface. After a heavy summer storm, a low yard can hold standing water for hours. When that water has nowhere to go, it gets under the pavers and carries sand out of the joints and the base. The pavers start to sink in spots and rock when you step on them, and a patch that was flat turns into a puddle.

On a low lot, the digging and grading under the pavers matter more than the pavers themselves. We set the slope so rain runs away from the house, then build a compacted base before any pavers go down. That base is what keeps the surface flat after a wet summer. Salt from the bay settles on the surface too, so a pressure wash and a coat of sealer help the pavers hold their color.

Florida summers are hard on pavers

Away from the water, neighborhoods like Meadowlawn and Lakewood Estates have a lot of concrete block ranch houses from the middle of the last century. Plenty of them have a pool out back, and the deck around it is sometimes still the plain concrete it was built with. By now a lot of that concrete has cracked or stained, and it gets very hot under bare feet by midafternoon.

Summer in Saint Petersburg means strong sun most days and a thunderstorm most afternoons. Pavers in full sun slowly lose their color. Pavers under an oak or on the shady side of a house stay damp. They grow a dark film of mildew that gets slippery after rain. Joint sand also washes out a little with each hard rain, and weeds start growing up through the gaps.

An older patio or pool deck in this shape often needs a pressure wash and a fresh coat of sealer. The wash takes off the mildew and the dirt. Sealing afterward helps hold the joint sand in place and slows the stain from coming back. For a new pool deck, we install pavers or travertine, and travertine stays cooler underfoot than plain concrete. Abryawna Poling wrote in a Google review that "the pool deck turned out amazing" after the job.

Getting a price in Saint Petersburg

Call (813) 330-4403, or ask for an estimate online. Tell us what you want built and which part of Saint Petersburg the house is in. We come out to look at the site, because a bayfront lot in Shore Acres and a bungalow driveway in Historic Kenwood are different jobs. You get a written estimate before any work starts. Our hours are Monday to Friday, 5:00 AM to 10:00 PM, and Saturday to Sunday, 6:00 AM to 9:00 PM.