If you are reasonably fit and enjoy a little outdoor work, you can save money with DIY paving. While some of the bigger jobs may require the help of professional paving experts, there are many jobs you can tackle yourself that can enhance the appearance of your home and home landscaping and greatly increase the amount of useable space around your house. There are some "tricks to the trade" you need to be aware of, but otherwise it's just a matter of finding the pavers you want to use, learning a little about their individual properties and getting to work. These DIY paving deas will help get you started.

Choosing Your Pavers

Brick is the obvious choice for pavers, but by no means the only one. You can also choose between concrete, clay and natural stone pavers and do the paving yourself. However, some types of pavers are more suitable for some jobs than others. Clay pavers and some natural stones don't stand up well to the pressure of vehicles passing over them and for sloping walkways, you want to choose pavers with a rough, slip resistant surface.

Not all pavers are square and that's for practical as well as aesthetic reasons. Some patterns are better for certain applications than others:

• The herringbone pattern is best for brick driveways because its "crisscross" pattern helps keep the pavers in place better than a straight pattern does and small shifts in movement are not as noticeable.
  
  
• Large, square pavers give an illusion of greater spaciousness in flat areas like patios.
  
  
• Stretcher bond paving is simple but effective way to lay rectangular brick pavers. If you lay them with the long side parallel to the edge of a short pathway or corridor, they make it appear to be longer.

Remember, too, that there needs to be spacing between the pavers. Generally, they should be spaced between 2mm and 3mm apart, but you can get some great effects by spacing them farther apart. This is especially effective if you want to achieve a rustic look using natural stone pavers on a garden walkway. Remember: the space between the pavers will require a little extra garden maintenance, since weeds will tend to crop up between the pavers.

Cobblestone pavers are becoming very popular. They can be surprisingly easy to lay and because they are not intended to lay flat, do not require as careful ground preparation as flat pavers do. This makes cobblestones ideal for DIY pavers. Use cobblestones alone or use them as accent pieces. For example, brick pavers alone can look fairly ordinary, but a row or two of cobblestones added to the sides of an existing brick path can make it look extraordinary. This is a job you can do yourself in a weekend and get results you'll be proud of for years.

For more DIY paving ideas, check out some more articles and videos here on Home Improvement Pages. For inspiration, also check out some of the paving product brochures on our pages. You'll be amazed by all the great products that are available and the creative ways they can be used.