Types of paving slabs – what to choose?

At the moment, there is a fairly large selection of materials used in the organization of the road surface.: asphalt, concrete plates, concrete blocks, monolithic concrete, various types of paving slabs and a great many less popular, but having their own advantages of products. A special place is occupied by paving slabs, as a rapidly gaining popularity material. Paving slabs come in different types depending on the type of raw material, production method, etc., less significant factors.

To date, it is customary to distinguish two types of paving slabs: produced by the technology of vibrocompression and vibrocasting. However, we will allow ourselves to expand this short list a little, by adding natural stone paving slabs and hyper-pressed paving slabs to it. Naturally, that each of these species has its own merits, as well as disadvantages. However, given current trends in the construction market, it is more expedient to talk not about competition between them, but about complementing each other, which in turn, gives the client the opportunity to make a choice depending on the needs and taking into account financial capabilities. We hope, that our little review, make it easier for you to make the best decision when choosing paving slabs. Moreover, you will find some general recommendations, to reduce the likelihood of purchasing low-quality goods.

Types of paving slabs

Paving slabs made of natural stone

The most durable and practical paving is paving slabs made of natural stone. (hard rock minerals). This type of product is the most durable, because. made by processing solid rock. In the same time, to the disadvantages of paving slabs made of natural stone, making it inaccessible to many consumers, can be attributed to the high cost and relatively small selection of forms.

Vibropressovanie

The technology for the production of paving slabs by vibrocompression is based on vibrating the concrete mixture in a mold produced under pressure on a vibropress. The concrete mixture is placed in the mold (matrix) paving slabs, which stands on the bench. Machine bed vibrates continuously. The punch begins to press on the mixture from above (matrix inverse detail) and presses until the mixture is completely compacted. The punch also vibrates continuously. After that, the die and punch rise, and the finished product remains on the pallet.

The resulting products have high strength and frost resistance., have a strict geometric shape and parallel surfaces. Paving slabs produced using this technology, maintains color saturation for the entire service life (more 25 years). The surface of vibropressed tiles can be sanded, Polish, bush hammering.

This type of product has a significantly lower cost in relation to the previous category of goods and the possibility of manufacturing tiles of various shapes. It is this type of paving slab that has the state standard, what is the reason for its use for paving the streets of the city and the arrangement of other administrative territories at the expense of budgetary funds.

Hyperpressing

Feature of hyperpress technology, is the laying of a semi-dry concrete mixture in a mold, which stands on the bench. The punch begins to press on the mixture from above (matrix inverse detail, perfectly fitting into it, like a piston in a cylinder) and presses until the mixture is completely compacted. Punch and die in this case, do not vibrate. The mixture is compacted by applying high pressure to a small area. After the cycle is completed, the matrix rises, the punch only rises slightly, pushing the finished product out of the die onto the pallet.

The resulting tile, has a high degree of compaction of the mixture, similar strength vibrocompressed product, using less cement. However, despite all the advantages, this technology is rarely used for the production of paving slabs and is mainly used in the manufacture of materials such as facing bricks, facing and plinth tiles.

Vibrating

The production of paving slabs using vibrocasting technology is based on the use of plastic mixtures, containing cement, water, fillers and additives. The form is placed on the vibrating table (vibrating table) and stay on it for a while.. After, how the concrete mixture in the form was compacted, the form of paving slabs is removed from the table and stands in a warm place near 48 the client needs to do the following, after which the finished product is taken out of it.

The main disadvantage of this method, is the low strength of the product. Sometimes, through the use of special modifiers and additives, product strength can be improved. But, in the end, product quality is unstable due to sedimentation of the inert components of the mixture as a result of vibration on the vibrating table.

This type of product does not have a strict geometry of shape and parallelism of surfaces. Tile, obtained by this method, has a smooth face, which makes it slippery and reduces service life at low temperatures. The smooth surface of such a tile does not breathe to the extent, to what extent, so that the surface does not collapse when water freezes in the tile and does not lead to cracking.

It should be noted, that products manufactured using this technology, actually not used in developed countries due to the low quality of finished products and the inability to achieve compliance with standards. The advantages of this type of products include an attractive appearance and the ability to receive a huge range (large range of colors, rich selection of shapes, variety of surface textures).

How to determine the quality of paving slabs

It is quite difficult to determine the quality of paving slabs without the use of special instruments and equipment.. However, if you know, what exactly should you pay attention to when choosing products of this kind, you can protect yourself from some mistakes.
At first, remember, that a good tile can't be cheap. Too low prices indicate that, what, probably, the product was made without complying with the technical specifications, maybe, and the materials were not the best.

The smooth surface of a tile does not necessarily indicate its quality.. If smoothness is achieved by introducing special additives into the mixture, this only has a positive effect on the quality of the product. If the gloss is achieved by increasing the amount of water, this negatively affects the strength of the product. The quality of the tiles is checked by lightly hitting each other: ringing sound indicates, that they were manufactured in accordance with the rules and conform to the standard, deaf, signals that, that they obviously overdid it with water.

Special attention should be paid to the brightness of the color of the tiles.. It can be achieved either by using expensive pigments, And that will definitely affect the price., or an overdose of conventional dye – in this case, along with the price, strength also decreases.
The choice is yours!

If you have any questions, leave them in the comments, we will gladly answer them!