Interlock driveways built to stay flat.

Why interlock costs more than asphalt

Asphalt arrives hot and gets machine-laid in two passes. Interlock is placed piece by piece, cut around every curve and obstacle, then edged, jointed and compacted. The material costs more, but labour is where the real difference sits — a driveway that takes two days in asphalt takes five to eight in pavers.

What you get for that is a surface that can be repaired without a seam. A cracked asphalt driveway gets patched, and the patch is visible forever. A damaged paver gets lifted out and a new one dropped in. Ten years later nobody can tell where it happened.

Patterns, and what they actually do

Herringbone is the strongest bond for anything a car drives on. The 45° or 90° interlock spreads load sideways across neighbouring pavers instead of pushing straight down, which is why it resists the rutting you see in running-bond driveways after a few years. It costs more to lay because of the cutting at the edges, and it is worth it.

Running bond and stack bond suit patios and walkways where the load is foot traffic. On a driveway they move.

Random ashlar mixes several paver sizes into an irregular layout. It reads as natural stone and hides minor colour variation between pallets, which is useful on larger areas.

Whatever the field pattern, the perimeter gets a soldier course — a border row running the long way around the edge. It frames the work and, more importantly, it is what the edge restraint locks against.

The two things that fail first

Joints. Regular masonry sand washes out with the first heavy rain and the first freeze-thaw cycle. Once the joints are empty, pavers have room to shift, the pattern opens, and weeds arrive. We use polymeric sand, which sets when wetted and holds the joint closed.

Edges. An interlock driveway with no restraint spreads outward a few millimetres every season. Nobody notices in year one. By year five the border row has migrated into the lawn and the field has gaps. Every perimeter we lay gets a concrete haunch or heavy-duty edging, buried below grade so you never see it.

Permeable pavers and the Toronto rule

The City of Toronto requires stormwater retention for new hard surfaces above roughly 50 square metres. In practice that usually means permeable pavers — wider joints filled with clear stone, over a deeper open-graded base that holds water and lets it infiltrate rather than run into the storm sewer.

Permeable systems cost more, around $26 to $40 per square foot, because the base is deeper and the aggregate is washed. They are also the only route to approval on many new or widened driveways, and there are municipal rebates that offset part of the cost. We confirm which rules apply to your property during the site visit.

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