I'm a sucker for the neatness of the square.

It is all relative to the entire property, the house and the yard. Is this a part of the pedestrian circulation or a seating area? Are there utilities adjacent, is it in the front yard and viewed by neighbors, or part of your private space. Is it viewed from the dining/living rooms or just from the bedrooms. Will it be used by tricycles or just feet (no golf shoes please). In my experience, (don't you hate it when someone starts off a sentence in which he offers advice with that phrase), the mondo grass is too large for any pedestrian pavement. There are a large variety of more prostrate plants you can walk on at your garden center, I expect. Some can be walked on daily, and others less often. Some are evergreen, some have attractive flowers, some are into more gray or smoky colors than just green. You can mix them up, just as you do with groundcovers in your plant beds. Enjoy!

Hi mluh You've obviously done your research on these products, so it's most likely going to come down to personal preference. As you've mentioned, a natural stone is going to come with an amount of maintenance but the beauty of Travertine is within its variation. Once sealed with a good quality sealer (I recommend Guard Industry), the maintenance is really quite low and most spills are lost within those natural variations. 99% of spills can be cleaned up without too much trouble. Porcelain, on the other hand, can be quite difficult to clean once it's been marked. That said, the external porcelains have a great non-slip texture and are very hardy when used as paving/tiles. I'm personally not a fan of using them as pool coping, but many people love it. Again, both have their advantages and disadvantages so I would recommend using the product that you're happy looking at for the next 10-20 years. - Jordan

I checked the pavers that were left over from the same batch...low and behold 2 out of the 13 pavers also had the same white streaks on them. These are unused pavers. I'm now leaning towards the manufacturing stage and the retailer I have convinced of the same. He is sending someone out on Monday to see if some sort of chemical will clean them. I fear the worse but let's see how it goes on a couple of them. I agree with you all entirely, the streaks and scratches should have been seen before laying and not used. Luck is what I need for Monday, failing that, block your ears as I ask the pool renovator to pull up the defective pavers and lay new ones.... Renovating tests your body, mind and spirit sometimes lol