How to Select the Best Driveway Edging Restraint
If you work in hardscapes, you may know a thing or two about driveway edging. You may also be looking to work on an upgrade project for your own driveway. No matter your motivation, there are several great ways to update existing driveway edging. Plastic or steel edging, for example, is among the many ways you can improve your driveway edging. Let’s discuss our top five paver edge restraint options for your hardscaping project.
Why Do Pavers Need Edging and How Does it Work?
When you think about it, edge restraints are straightforward. Pavers need edging to help keep them in place and provide stability to the surface. Edging, typically made of metal, plastic, or concrete, is installed around the perimeter of the paved area. This acts as a barrier to keep the pavers from shifting out of place – due to the weight of people and vehicles passing over them. Additionally, edging prevents erosion by keeping the paver surface from eroding and deteriorating due to weather and other external factors. Without edging, the pavers would be vulnerable to displacement and breakage due to a lack of support and protection. Investing in edge restraints is an important step for ensuring that pavers stay in place and last for years to come.
What Tools Are Needed?
Luckily, there aren’t many hardscaping tools needed to complete an edge restraint job. In most cases, a good hammer will do the work for you. You’ll also need all of your other materials, meaning the type of edge restraints you’ll want to use. If you’re working with concrete, you’ll need the tools to mix up the concrete and a trowel.
What Are the Edge Restraint Options?
As mentioned, there are five options that we recommend for paver edging restraints. These include concrete, metal paving, and plastic.
Poly Modified Concrete Edge
Although this option may be a little more costly, it will hold up much better than plain concrete does. This style of poly-modified concrete edge is similar to concrete, though. It will harden rapidly, but will also respond well to changing temperatures, so it will last throughout freeze-thaw cycles. How this works is that it allows water to permeate through the material so it won’t be damaged (like concrete) because it soaks water up rather than allowing it to pass through. Although this holds up better than concrete, it doesn’t mean it holds up better than other types of edge restraints. And another downside to this type is that grass burns out over the concrete area.
Concrete Paver Edging (Curbing)
Concrete edging has the benefit of being fairly long-lasting, and it will also provide a layer that is neat and refined. For driveway edging restraint projects or commercial spaces, concrete edging is a great option because the pavers will stay firmly in place without exception. The major setback to this option for edging is that it takes a lot of time to construct, and forms must be specially made to lay the concrete before anything else can be done.
In addition to the concrete curbing/edging, stones may be applied to create a different look. If you're planning to use stones as a part of your paver edging, you'll need to make sure that they're wet before the concrete is poured so that the concrete won't be able to dry out around the stones. This will cause a strong bond between the concrete and stone, so the pavers can be laid and held tightly with an additional concrete layer. Stone paver edging can be a nice decorative look for your hardscaping project.
Metal Paving
Metal paving edge restraints can be an excellent option because they can work around corners so that the unit being installed can remain in one piece. Plastic edge restraints can have some issues, and the metal option does much to provide solutions to those issues. Plastic edge restraints can move around during the freeze-thaw cycle, while metal has less of a tendency to do that. The Quick-E Hybrid edging is installed with stakes at either every second or third opening at 60-degree angles so that the spikes won’t be pushed up during the freeze-thaw cycle. This kind of edging and stake combination eliminates the previous need for thick curbs, and it works great as driveway edging.
Plastic Edge Restraint
This is by far the most popular edging option. But unfortunately, due to the nature of the plastic, they can frequently be seen, which somewhat defeats the purpose. It will create an edge defined for pavers and offers a curved edge rather than a typical 90-degree angle. While plastic edging may be the least expensive option, it is subject to uplift, especially in a freeze-thaw climate.
Pavers and edging together, lift slightly when the ground freezes, however, with the edging being lighter, the pavers can easily stay lifted which allows the bedding of the pavers to escape out from under the edging causing it to fail and migrate outward. Additionally, if the base layer isn't properly compacted, the paving stones may fall off the edge or sink as well as spread – due to the edge restraint uplifting and not holding in the bedding material.
The best edging restraints will be those worth the money, meaning they'll hold up well over time, although they may be a little more expensive. Here at Pave Tool, we know that the most important things are that your project looks great and lasts a long time, and that's why we provide quality tools for many applications. Whether you need quality products for your patio edging ideas or other tools to complete your project, we've covered your hardscaping project. We even provide you with some tips and tricks to get your hardscaping project started. For all your commercial and DIY needs, contact us today for everything hardscaping and get started on your edging project.