The way people lay paver bases drives me up a wall

I pulled up a 2-year-old patio last week where they just dumped gravel over dirt and called it a base, and the whole thing had sunk 4 inches in one corner. Why skip the compacted base when you're already spending $800 on the pavers themselves?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_jennifer8d ago

I read somewhere that skipping base layers is the number one cause of patio fails.

grantp146d ago

The base layers are a big deal but @piperbailey nailed it about compaction. I've seen people throw down gravel and call it good, then wonder why their pavers look like a roller coaster after one winter. Edge restraint is huge too. I watched a neighbor regrade his whole patio because the edges just crumbled out after a few years. A little effort upfront saves a lot of headache later.

piperbailey8d ago

Oh man, that's rough. But actually, the biggest problem isn't skipping the base entirely. It's not compacting what you put down. Even if you dump 6 inches of gravel, if you don't compact it in 2-inch lifts, it's gonna settle. Also, that old base probably had no edge restraint either. That's what really kills patios - pavers spreading out sideways over time. So yeah, proper compaction matters way more than most people realize.