A paver is a manufactured or natural-stone unit, typically concrete, clay brick, or cut stone, laid in a pattern over a compacted base to form a patio, walkway, or driveway surface.
Pavers are set individually over a paver base and bedding sand rather than poured as one continuous slab, which is what separates them from concrete. Because each unit is its own piece, they interlock under load and can shift slightly as the ground beneath them moves, and a single cracked or stained paver can be pulled and swapped without redoing the whole surface. Pattern, thickness, and material all get chosen based on whether the surface carries foot traffic, furniture, or vehicles, and how it needs to look next to the house.
That flexibility matters a lot here. Ground under a patio moves every winter as freeze-thaw cycles push and settle the soil, and a jointed paver surface built on a properly compacted base can absorb that movement far better than a single rigid concrete slab, which tends to crack straight across when the ground beneath it heaves unevenly instead of flexing joint by joint the way individual pavers can.
More masonry vocabulary from the glossary.
The services where this term comes up.
Chelo's Brick & Stone serves Hillsville, Galax, Wytheville, Fancy Gap, and Independence, VA. Call for a straight answer and a free on-site estimate.
