Why has my paving gone white near the coast?

That is efflorescence, salts moving through the paver and crystallising on the surface. Coastal air makes it worse and porous material makes it much worse. It can be reduced with the right grout and sealing, but the real fix is choosing a material with low absorption in the first place.

What paving lasts best this close to the ocean?

Porcelain, because its absorption is close to zero and salt has nowhere to go. Dense natural stone and travertine both do well. The material to be careful with is soft limestone and cheap concrete pavers, which drink and then bloom.

What does paving cost in Hillarys?

We price supply and lay together as one number. The Hillarys variable is material rather than labour, because the stone that copes best with salt is not always the cheapest one on the pallet, and that choice moves the figure more than the area does.

Is porcelain or natural stone better this close to the ocean?

Porcelain, on exposure alone. It is effectively non porous, so airborne salt sits on the surface and washes off rather than crystallising inside the stone. Natural stone still works beautifully in Hillarys, it just wants sealing and a wash down more often than it would two suburbs inland.

Does salt attack the joints as well as the pavers?

Yes, and the joints usually go first. Salt crystallising in a sand joint pushes it apart, which is why so much dry laid coastal paving opens up along the seaward edge. A mortar bed and a proper grouted joint give it far less to work on.

A pool surround in pale grey porcelain at a Hillarys coastal home, glass pool fence and the ocean past the dune

Paving Hillarys

Hillarys takes salt off the water most afternoons, and that is what decides which paving lasts. Everything between the marina and the freeway gets it, and the joints feel it before the pavers do.

Joints filled and sealed against the salt
Low absorption where the salt actually lands
Eighties ground that has finished settling

(08) 6186 7478

Get a price for Hillarys

A photo of the area and a rough size is enough to price it.

The paving we do in Hillarys

Same crew and the same method behind all of it. What changes between these is the base under them, the load they take and how much of the work is cutting.

Wet laid, on a full bed

Every paver goes down on a full bed of wet mortar across its whole underside, over a base compacted to carry what will sit on it. No voids under the middle, nothing to rock, nothing for water to get into and sit in.

It is slower than screeding sand and laying onto it, and it costs more on the day. It is also the only version of this that is still flat in ten years, which is why it is the only version we do.

Every paver, every job, on a full bed of mortar.

Salt, and what it ruins

Northern corridor

Deep coastal sand, and a lot of ground that was filled and levelled before the house went on it.

Sand over limestone, the same as most of the northern coast, and the ground itself is straightforward. What is not straightforward is what the air does to the surface over ten years.

Salt gets into porous material, works through it and comes out as efflorescence, the white bloom that will not scrub off. Some limestone and some cheaper concrete pavers do this badly within a couple of summers this close to the water.

Porcelain does not, because it absorbs almost nothing. Dense natural stone and travertine handle it well too. That is a material conversation rather than a laying one, and it is worth having before anybody orders pallets.

Three things that change a job in Hillarys

01
Salt on the joints too
The grout matters as much as the paver near the coast. A joint filled properly and sealed is one less place for salt to sit and work.
02
Ocean-facing exposure
A west-facing yard in Hillarys gets a harder time than one two streets back. We will say when a material is fine inland and a bad idea on your particular block.
03
Older homes, settled ground
Most of Hillarys went in through the eighties and nineties, so the ground has finished settling. Existing paving that has moved has moved because of the base, not because the block is still going.

Frequently asked questions about our paving services

Where Hillarys sits

Hillarys and everything around it. If your street is on the edge of the boundary, it makes no difference to us: ask anyway.

We also pave nearby

Every area we cover

Finished travertine pool surround at a Perth family home with a timber chair and potted plant

Tell us the street in Hillarys and send a photo

The suburb tells us the ground and the likely access. The photo tells us the job. Together they are usually enough to talk about a real number rather than a range.

(08) 6186 7478

Paving Hillarys

The paving we do in Hillarys

Wet laid, on a full bed

Salt, and what it ruins

Three things that change a job in Hillarys

Frequently asked questions about our paving services

Why has my paving gone white near the coast?+

What paving lasts best this close to the ocean?+

What does paving cost in Hillarys?+

Is porcelain or natural stone better this close to the ocean?+

Does salt attack the joints as well as the pavers?+

Where Hillarys sits

Tell us the street in Hillarys and send a photo