Paving the way to beautiful landscaping

It seems that a person’s first home will always have special meaning to them. The first kitchen where you cook your first meals, the first dining room where you host your first family meal for a holiday, the first walls where, for good or for bad, you choose the colors of paint.

When my husband and I owned our first home, I was just starting out in the landscaping industry. A landscape architect helped me with the layout of the flowers and shrubs in front of our home, and we spent hundreds of dollars on annual flowers. I desperately wanted our old concrete sidewalk to be replaced with a new paver sidewalk to complete the outside landscaping of our beautiful first home. We did move before that project came to fruition, but with our second home, a paver sidewalk was one of the first projects.

For this column, I interviewed Phil Carlson from Unilock Industries. Unilock is the premier manufacturer of manufactured stone including pavers and retaining wall blocks. This is a two-part column. The next column will focus more on maintaining a paver sidewalk.

GF: Phil, can you start by telling us about Unilock?PC: Unilock is the premier concrete paver and retaining wall manufacturer in North America. Unilock was founded in 1972 in Toronto by Ed Bryant, and it has operated as a family owned business ever since.

GF: Is there a public place nearby where people could see Unilock pavers?

PC: Yes, we have displays at each of our local plants that our open to the public. Our main local plant is in Aurora, but we also have locations in Marengo and Elkhorn, WI. We also have a vast network of distributors, garden centers, and contractor yards with products on display.

GF: Is Unilock open to the public? 

PC: Unilock’s services are open to the public, but we do not sell products directly to the public. At our Aurora facility we have staff to help answer questions and tour the displays. Unilock recommends consulting a professional contractor to install the products, but our products can be purchased through local retail garden centers. We do not sell through the “big box” stores.

GF: Maybe we should back up a bit, what is a paver, Phil?

PC: Our pavers are made out of concrete and come in various shapes, sizes, patterns, textures, and colors. There are other pavers on the market, but we feel that concrete offers the most durable solution.

GF: What makes the pavers produced by Unilock unique or different?

PC: Style and Technology. We are constantly upgrading our plants and leading the industry with innovative new products. Our internal production standards far exceed industry standards in terms of quality and durability, and our products offer the widest range of design considerations. We also have a transferable lifetime warranty on our products for all residential installations.

GF: Is there any way for you to describe how many different types pavers Unilock manufacturers?

PC: We have traditional pavers, contemporary pavers, pavers that look just like natural stone but offer the benefits of concrete, cobble pavers, slab pavers, pavers that don’t fade in color, pavers that won’t stain, permeable pavers, and more!

GF: How do the pavers vary from type to type?

PC: They vary in shape, size, color, patterns, textures, joint width, and finishes.

GF: What colors are Unilock pavers available in?

PC: The sky is the limit. We stock a wide variety of available colors. We always recommend making your final color selection from seeing an actual sample rather than what the color looks like in a picture.   

GF: Is there a website that homeowners could look at to see Paveloc pavers? 

PC: Yes, www.unilock.com or www.paveloc.com 

Make sure you select your location on the website as some of our plants offer different products that aren’t available in the Chicago area.

GF: What are the advantages of using pavers instead of concrete for a sidewalk or patio?  

PC: Pavers are the ideal application for any paved area. They offer incredible flexibility in design and creativity. Paver systems flex in the winter while concrete and stamped concrete tend to crack with the harsh freeze-thaw cycle that we experience in northern Illinois. Stamped concrete also has to be sealed every year which can be a nuisance.  

GF: What are the disadvantages of using pavers instead of concrete?

PC: None come to mind.

GF: After a homeowner has made the decision to install a paver structure such as a sidewalk or patio, what should the next step be?

PC: Contact a professional landscape contractor for a consultation on site.

Kathleen Carr is the owner of The Growing Scene, Inc., a garden center and landscaping company. She can be reached by calling 815-923-7322 or tgsinc12@msn.com. Have a gardening question? Please contact her. She may address it in an upcoming column.

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