The term “patio stones” is a broad catch all for many types of outdoor building materials. The phrase can include flagstone and natural rock, brick and concrete pavers. The pros, cons and best location for each will be laid out at so you may judge which is best for your patio, walkway, or driveway project.

Flagstone & Other Natural Stone

• Pros and cons: Local stone will cost less and be more friendly to the environment due to lower emissions used during shipping. Once you have a good installation of natural stone set up it has excellent durability and requires little to no maintenance. The main drawback is the cost of shipping it to your house from the store, and the installation is highly demanding labor wise.

• Best Location: Around pools, accents along a driveway, walkways up to your door, porches

Brick

• Pros and cons: There is no other look that is as old-world charming as a well set up brick patio or walkway. The porous nature of bricks makes it ideal for walking as it is low slip. A potential drawback is the shifting of bricks over time. This can lead to trip hazards and difficulty shoveling snow off of it.

• Best location: Patios, paths in and around a garden, deck or fountain surrounds, driveways, the deck of your pool

Concrete Pavers

• Pros and cons: Their interlocking design is an improvement on bricks, it leads them to be less likely to shift up and down. Concrete pavers are easy to repair, simply pull up broken ones and replace them with spares. They are not prone to cracking like a solid concrete slab will do. They can be a lot of work to get down, but are well worth the effort.

• Best Location: Patios, around a pool, paths in and around a garden, driveways, the area around your pool