Hi Jan. I don't know how to keep them away. Maybe someone here will have some answers. Those chicken snakes are awful. My family lived in TN for many years and my mother had a business raising and selling American Budgies, finches and ring neck doves. When she went on vacation I took care of all the birds. I found a HUGE chicken snake in the birdhouse one day. He'd been eating whatever he pleased. I went and got my husband to help me with him but neither one of us could get near enough to him to kill him. He hid up inside a cabinet top and we had to take the top off to get to him. He was so big...ugh...He hissed at us and just looked so evil and then he took off again. Finally he went up inside of an old over stuffed chair. My husband was so tired of it that he just opened up the back door and booted that chair with the snake inside down the steep hill on that side of the bird house. Thing is I can't claim that we made him go away permanently.

I just stumbled upon this discussion and felt compelled to make my contribution. I know brick because I work for a brick manufacturer. However, I will try to keep my personal bias at bay. The first issue to address is durability. When installed properly, either option will provide many decades of service. Both materials have the compressive strength and moisture absorption ratings to withstand the harshest climates nature can throw at them. There is actually another factor affecting cement pavers, but since it doesnt actually cause failure of the unit, I will address it in the appearance section. Either way, make sure your bricks/pavers are designed to go in the ground. Not all cement materials, nor are all bricks designed to do this. It was mentioned that the deterioration of house bricks in a patio was unheard of and that it would actually be an advantage to find reclaimed bricks from a demolition project. DO NOT DO THIS! For a segmental paving material to withstand Mother Nature, it must have a minimum compressive strength of 8,000 psi and a maximum absorption rate of 7% after a 24 hour soak in cold water. I have seen historical test data from the mid 1900Âs that showed that many solid house bricks (which were often used mistakenly as pavers) had compressive strengths around 5,000 psi and absorption rates in the double digits! Needless to say, those ill-fated patios are either long gone or a horrible eyesore now. Now that you can be comfortable in choosing a durable product, the second issue to address is appearance. Additional factors besides just the look of the brick/paver should be considered. For instance, do you want your pavement to match the colors of the bricks on your house? Will you be incorporating any retaining walls in your project? No matter how hard you try, you simply cannot match a clay color in a cement product and vice versa. Brick makers do not currently make a dry-stack retaining wall system; therefore a brick retaining wall will require more work. However, if you are trying to create a stately atmosphere it may be worth the additional work (or hiring of a mason contractor) to build your retaining wall. The first factor of appearance, the look of the actual brick/paver does speak pretty much for itself. However, I do want to address some comments from the thread. To my knowledge (I have not researched this) cement pavers have always had their colors mixed throughout the paver. (End lack of research warning.) What is actually happening is fading due to ultraviolet radiation. This can be mistaken for the coloring only being on the surface because with time cement pavers will actually wear down. This is evident in a cement paver project once it has been installed for about 10 years. Because the erosion is visible (you can actually see the aggregate) it is commonly believed that coloring is superficial as well. I do not see the issue of erosion as a durability factor since the units will still be in one piece and the pavement system as a whole will not fail. (Personal bias warning in effect)However, after all your hard work and money put into your project, wouldnÂt you want it to look the same as it does now in ten years? (End bias warning.) To be fair, cement pavers can be sealed on an annual basis to ensure their color retention. However, when you add up the cost of initial construction and yearly maintenance over ten years, you could probably install solid granite for about the same cost. (I havenÂt done the math and may have exaggerated, so research it for yourself and see.) There are advantages for both products (Although one list may be longer than the other!) and your unique concerns and application should be considered. In addition, other pavement options such as bluestone and granite are worth researching and considering as well. I know this has been an extremely long reply, but I sincerely hope it helps you make an informed decision. While there are not as many "genuine clay paving brick" retailers as paver retailers, we are out here. Do your research and you will find us!

We are in a real mess because of bad concrete on an almost 4 year old pool. The entire 1000 square feet is failing. It started showing signs of problems from the first week. Our builder has been evasive and defensive concerning this issue. Finally he said "call my lawyer." So, even though it is not "our style," we are forced to go the lawsuit route. We have paid about $1000 for a core sample which said it was a bad mix due to lack of entrained air, and needed to be entirely torn out and replaced. We have spent MONTHS trying to get an estimate on the tear-out and replacement. No one wants this kind of job! Finally today we should get a written estimate which is likely going to be about $16,000. I am very concerned about what else might break as the concrete is being chopped up. I keep wondering if the replacement should be something other than concrete......

Sure, I can go deeper into it. The problem is excessive amounts of concentrated liquid nitrogen fertilizer in the form of urine all in one spot. Urine (from mammals), urea (from birds and other dinosaurs ;-)), and ammonia (from fish) are all processed by the bacteria, fungi, protozoa, microarthropods living in the soil. When these little critters are well fed and watered, their populations can usually handle the occasional concentrated dose of urine, urea, or ammonia. The problem comes when the soil does not get regular feedings of microbe food or when the soil dries out for too long. If these things happen, then the microbe population falls resulting in not enough critters to handle the concentrated dose of urine. In the wild world of Nature, normal microbe food is urine, dung, dead animals, hair/fur, scales, blood, dead plants/roots, and whatever natural materials that drip or drop to the ground. Also, they consume each other as they die and the waste products from the other tens of thousands of microbe species. The soil microbial food chain is called the soil food web, because it is so interrelated from species to species. The appearance of a dead spot of grass from dog urine is a dead giveaway that the soil microbes are not working right. "Normal" turf and soil should be able to handle it. By applying sugar, the microbes should convert from trying to process the urine over to repopulating. Then, once the population is more balanced, the sugar is gone and the new population of microbes should take care of the excess urine. In my case the spots appeared in the dead of winter when the grass had been dormant for 2 months. About 3 weeks after using the sugar, the spots had 8 inch tall lawn grass, deep green, and very dense. That is what you would expect to happen by applying fertilizer to one spot IN THE SUMMER, not in the winter. Somehow the sugar fed microbes also awakened the grass in those spots and then fertilized that grass. As I recall the grass returned to dormant as it was still winter. If you are way more interested in soil biology, then try this link to the USDA Soil Biology Primer. Get some refreshments and get comfortable, because there's at least 50 pages of reading, but lots of that is illustrations.