I finally figured out why my patio pavers kept sinking

Watched a neighbor lay a whole patio last summer and he just threw sand down on dirt. No base layer at all. Fast forward 8 months and his pavers are crooked and water pools everywhere. I used 4 inches of crushed gravel and then a proper 1 inch sand base for mine, compacted the gravel with a hand tamper. It took me 3 tries over 10 years to get this right since I kept skipping the gravel like every DIY video says. Why do people think skipping that heavy base rock will work out? Has anyone else dealt with the mess of fixing sunken pavers after a year?

3 comments

3 Comments

grays1328d ago

like every DIY video says" - man that hits so hard lol. I've noticed this pattern everywhere now. People skip the hard boring foundation work in all kinds of stuff, then act surprised when it falls apart. Its the same with starting a garden where everyone just throws seeds on top of clay dirt or learning guitar where beginners jump straight to solos without learning basic chords first. You spent 10 years figuring out what should be common sense but nobody wants to hear about gravel when they can start building in an afternoon.

victor_robinson28d ago

Watch how people react when you tell them they need to read the manual before assembling furniture versus just winging it. Same exact thing. Nobody wants to hear that you should check the foundation before decorating the room or that learning the boring basics of any skill saves you years of frustration later. But its the same with everything from cooking to relationships. You can skip learning how to make a proper roux and just throw cheese on everything, but eventually youll hit a wall where that shortcut doesnt work anymore. The people who actually stick with stuff long term are the ones who treat the boring prep work like its the main event.

alexbennett28d ago

My backyard patio project taught me this the hard way. I watched like 6 videos and thought I had it figured out, skipped the base gravel layer because it didnt seem important. Two winters later the whole thing was cracked and shifting, had to rip it all up and start over. My neighbor who's been doing construction for 20 years just shook his head when he saw what I did. He told me that base layer is the only thing holding everything together and I basically built a house on sand. I ended up spending triple the time and money fixing my mistake. Now I tell everyone the same thing, you gotta do the boring stuff first or you'll be doing it twice.