Driveways & entries
The half of the property every visitor sees and no one designs.
A driveway carries vehicle loads, which rules out most of what works on a patio, and an entry is the first thing anyone arriving forms an opinion about. They are usually specified together and usually last.
Tumbled concrete paver
Vehicle-rated, and one unit lifts if a utility has to come up.
The standard interlocking paver, tumbled in a drum so the edges and faces read as worn rather than moulded. The default surface on most San Diego backyards for a reason.
Permeable paver
Sometimes a choice, sometimes what plan check asks for.
Units set with deliberately open joints over an open-graded stone reservoir, so rain goes down instead of across. Sometimes a design choice, sometimes what the plan check asks for.
Topcast
Wears hard, grips wet, does not date.
A retarder is sprayed on the fresh concrete so the top layer doesn’t set, and the next day it’s washed off to show the fine sand underneath. Smooth enough for bare feet and still grippy when wet.
Flagstone
The path off the drive, where irregular reads as arrival.
Irregular split stone, laid either dry with planted joints or wet-set on a slab. No two pieces match, which is either the whole appeal or the reason you rule it out.
Cut ashlar stone
Entry columns and the face of a low front wall.
Stone sawn to rectangular units and laid in courses. More formal than fieldstone, less repetitive than manufactured, and the pattern that sits most comfortably against a traditional house.
