What separates a paver from a tile
Thickness, mostly. The bulk of this range runs 1 1/4 inch in natural stone and 20 mm in porcelain, against the 3/8 inch a floor tile is usually cut to. That mass is what lets a piece bridge the small irregularities in a base, where a tile would need a solid slab under it.
The joint is the other difference. A paver is usually laid with an open joint, filled with sand or left to drain, so the edges are cut for that instead of for the tight line a tile is set to.
Porcelain and stone pavers
Porcelain is the largest group and the one with the fewest variables: fired to a fixed thickness, dimensionally identical piece to piece, and printed in limestone, travertine, slate and bluestone looks. What you see in the photograph is what arrives, in the quantity you ordered.
Natural stone is the other half and it behaves the opposite way. Travertine leads it, with marble, limestone, sandstone and granite behind, and each piece comes out of a block with its own color and movement. That variation is the reason people choose it and the reason a stone terrace has to be ordered in one go.
Paver thickness
Two thicknesses carry almost the whole range and they split by material. Porcelain sits at 20 mm, which the catalog also writes as 3/4 or 0.79 inch because those are the same measurement in different habits. Natural stone sits at 1 1/4 inch, around 32 mm, and a smaller stone group at 1.18 inch.
Above both is a 2 inch group, and it is mostly coping, because the edge of a pool takes more handling than the middle of a terrace does. Thickness is not a quality ladder here: porcelain is thinner because a fired body does not need the mass that a sawn stone does.
Patio pavers, pool decks and walkways
Three surfaces take almost all of this range. Patio pavers are the largest use by a distance, with a pool surround second and the walkway between them third. All three are pedestrian surfaces, which is the specification the thickness and the finish here are built around.
The same product goes by several names depending on who is asking. Patio stones, paving stones and paver stones all describe what is on this page; the trade tends to say paver and the garden centers tend to say paving stone.
A driveway is a different question and worth saying plainly: a surface that carries a car is specified on load, and it asks for a thickness and a base build that sit outside what a patio paver is made for. That is a conversation with whoever is building the drive.
Paver sizes and the French pattern
24x24 is the largest single group, with 12x24, 16x24 and 24x48 behind it. A bigger unit means fewer joints across a terrace. It reads calmer from the house and takes longer to set out at the edges, where every piece has to be cut.
The French pattern is the exception to the whole size field. It is four sizes sold together and laid as a repeating block, listed under Various, since there is no single measurement to give. It is the layout most people picture when they picture a stone terrace.
Outdoor finishes
Matte leads the porcelain and tumbled leads the stone. Tumbling rounds the edges and opens the face slightly. That is what makes a new travertine terrace look settled from the first day. Sandblasted and flamed are the harder textures, worked with abrasive or with heat until the surface is deliberately rough.
None of these is a slip class. A texture is a description of a face, and a class is a measured behavior on a slope; the tiles made to one carry it in their name, and a project that has to document the number gets it from the maker.
Pool coping in the same stone
A good part of this range is coping: the edge piece that finishes a pool, usually with a bullnose or a rounded lip. It is sold in the same stones and the same finishes as the field so the two match at the one line everybody looks at.
Coping is also where the thickest pieces are, since that edge takes more handling than the middle of a terrace does. The pool coping range holds those on their own.
Choosing between the materials
Variation usually decides it, well before durability does. Porcelain pavers give a terrace that is the same from one end to the other; travertine and marble give one that changes as you walk across it.
The stone pavers range collects the natural materials together, and outdoor tile holds the thinner formats for surfaces that sit on a slab instead of on a base.
