Escaut crazy paving, natural split, in random pieces roughly 200 to 600mm across and 20 to 30mm thick. The stone is a creamy grey limestone, cooler than the travertine crazy paves and warmer than bluestone, and it is the one people usually have in mind when they picture a French or Belgian courtyard.
The Grout Line Does Half the Work
On crazy paving the grout is not a detail, it is a design decision, and Escaut shows this more than most. A pale grout against the creamy grey gives the classic European look, with the stone reading as separate flags and the joint drawing the pattern. A darker grout makes the surface read as one textured field and the individual pieces almost disappear.
Decide before you lay. Regrouting crazy paving is unpleasant work and it is very hard to get all the old grout out of a split-face stone.
Ordering and Waste
Crates cover 25sqm. Allow around 15 percent over your measured area, more than you would for square pavers, because random pieces need trimming to close out edges and fit around drains and steps. The offcuts are not wasted; a good layer works small pieces into the field rather than discarding them.
Escaut lays on a concrete base with adhesive. On a path or a patio the joints take standard outdoor grout. Sort the pieces roughly by size before you start and set the largest flags first, then infill. Jumping straight in with whatever is on top of the crate is how you end up with a corner full of small awkward pieces.
Where It Suits
Courtyards, garden paths, alfresco areas and pool surrounds. The random format handles curves and awkward boundaries that would need constant cutting in a grid, which is why crazy paving keeps coming back for older houses and irregular gardens.
Limestone stays cool underfoot and the split face grips wet, so a pool surround works. It is not the stone for a driveway; for vehicle traffic look at Porphyry crazy paving, which is dense volcanic rock.
Other tones are on the crazy paving range: bluestone for cool grey, travertine and Sunrise Gold for warmth, Indiana for off white. Samples are free and worth taking, since crazy paving colour varies across a crate more than cut stone does. Direct import, Melbourne dispatch, freight Australia wide.
