Concrete pavers vs gravel for a fire pit area - gravel won easy

I tried concrete pavers around my fire pit last summer but the weeds just kept popping up between them. Switched to crushed gravel with a good base of landscape fabric underneath and haven't had a single weed in 6 months. Anyone else find gravel way lower maintenance for seating areas?

3 comments

3 Comments

wood.eric1mo ago

Yeah have you tried using polymeric sand between pavers? That stuff works for a while but it still cracks and weeds find their way in. My buddy Dave went with pavers first too and spent every weekend pulling crabgrass out of the cracks with a weeding tool. He got so fed up he ripped them all out last fall and put in crushed limestone with fabric underneath. He told me the gravel settled way better than he expected and now he can just hose off the ashes without worrying about staining anything. I think the drainage is the real advantage too because water just disappears instead of pooling between pavers. He's been bragging about it nonstop whenever we have people over.

angela5871mo ago

My cousin tried that polymeric sand route too and it was a nightmare after the first winter. He’d text me pics of weeds popping up through the cracks every spring like clockwork. I think @wood.eric's friend Dave had the right idea switching to crushed limestone, it sounds way less headache.

mark_carr71mo ago

The fabric underneath is the real MVP in that setup, I bet the gravel stays put way better than sand ever did. Drainage is huge too, standing water between pavers is basically a weed nursery.