You know, it's interesting how when we travel to Europe or other parts of the world where we can see buildings several hundred years old, we appreciate the patina of age on things -- plaster showing its age, cracked stone paving, irregular color in brick, time-worn marble, and so on. In the US we always want to rip out the old, solid materials because of minor imperfectons, and replace them with something shiny, new, and not necessarily of equal quality. If there is a real problem with your tiles -- undermined and unstable surface, safety issues, water leaks, or whatever -- sure, replace them. But otherwise the older material has charm that pavers do not have, in particular with your nice brick wall and balusters. You'd want all your architectural elements to be speaking the same language.

Five years ago we had a company install a paver patio. I can't remember exact dimensions, but I'm guessing it's 17 ft. at its widest by about 40 ft. long. We had them cut a long sweeping curve along the length so it wouldn't be a rectangular patio. They excavated, used minus, and brushed something in between the pavers that is dark and is still in place today. We've never had weed issues. They also installed a retaining wall 4ft tall with natural stone steps leading up to our deck. Underneath our deck area they also put gray rock since that area would be unusable. A large square firepit with the same pavers was installed as well. Total cost for product and labor was about $17,000. They got it done in 3 days and did an amazing job.

Okay, here is a specific proposal as an alternative to Class 2 Base Rock, with the application being a paver base rock layer. Combine 3/8 inch pea gravel together with coarse fill sand. It is yet to be determined what percentage of each the mix should have. I am hoping that this would give good compaction with a tamper tool, and would be easy to move around to get it to level. 3/8 inch rock is going to be much easier to move than 3/4 inch rock. One thing I notice is that the pea gravel below has rounded corners. True crushed granite has sharp edges. Does it matter for compacted base layers? One open question is whether a compaction layer really needs a lot of microscope powdery fines of the type you see in Class 2 Base Rock. I do see how that powder gets the base very stable when it is compressed. But it also slows down the drainage. At this point, I am just hoping to solicit feedback from people with experience. Pea gravel photo here: Fill sand photo here:

Trouble is, while those pavers that allow grass to grow in them looks good at the beginning, they are highly prone to quickly losing their uniform surface. As soon as heavy vehicles drive on them when wet, they depress into the base. It's the nature of the fact that they have holes that allow the sand to squish upward. Consequently, the pavers squish downward. Fake grass is permeable. It's not a reasonable option for a driveway. The reasonable option is a paver driveway and real grass, groundcover or mulch at its sides.