Paver Patios & Driveways

Pavers do not fail because of the pavers. They fail because the base was too thin, was not compacted, or was laid on soft ground — and the only repair is lifting the entire field.

The base is the job

Four inches of compacted base under foot traffic. Six to eight under vehicles, and eight on clay or anything that has been filled. Then one inch of bedding sand, screeded flat and never compacted before laying.

Compact the base in lifts of no more than four inches. This is the single most skipped step and the single most common cause of a wavy patio.

Excavation is the line people cost last

Base plus sand plus the paver itself is typically 7 to 11 inches of soil out of the ground — and off the property. That is the measurement that decides whether this is a weekend with a shovel or a week with a skip and a mini-digger.

Pattern changes the paver count

Running bond and basketweave waste about 5%. Ninety-degree herringbone about 10%. Forty-five-degree herringbone 15%, because almost every edge paver takes two cuts and the offcuts fit nothing else.

On a driveway the extra cutting earns its keep: herringbone interlocks against braking and turning loads in a way no straight pattern does, and a running-bond drive spreads over a few seasons however good the base is.

Edge restraint is not optional

Spiked into the base around the whole perimeter. Without it the outer courses walk outward, the joints open, and jointing sand washes out from the edge inward until the field unravels.

Before anything goes down

Slope away from the house at about ¼ inch per foot. Fixing drainage after the pavers are laid means lifting them.