Built a paver patio with a friend and he insisted on no base layer

Helped a buddy lay down a 12x16 patio in his backyard in Austin last summer. He kept saying the sand alone would hold the pavers and that gravel was a waste of $200. I told him my folks did the same thing back in 2019 and their whole patio sank 3 inches after two years. He went with sand only and now he's calling me six months later asking how to fix the dips. Anyone else dealt with a friend who won't take advice on the basics?

2 comments

2 Comments

ray3561d ago

Did you try talking him into renting a plate compactor at least? I had the same kind of argument with my brother in law a few years back when we did his driveway. He was dead set on skipping the base too, but I finally talked him into trying gravel on just one small section first so he could see the difference with his own eyes. After a year that part was still flat as a pancake while the sand only spots were already starting to settle. We ended up digging up the whole thing and redoing it, which was way more work than just doing it right the first time. Might be worth telling your buddy to rent a tamper and some gravel now before he has to pull all those pavers up again in a year.

miller.rowan1d ago

@ray356 People always learn the hard way that cutting corners costs more time and money in the long run.