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Transform Your Outdoor Space with Paver Walkways and Patios
Welcome to the ultimate solution for elevating your outdoor living experience—paver walkways and patios. Whether you're a homeowner looking to boost curb appeal or an outdoor enthusiast eager to create a cozy gathering spot, pavers offer a versatile, durable, and aesthetically pleasing option.
Why use pavers?
Versatility at Its Best
Pavers come in an extensive range of colors, shapes, and patterns, making them the perfect choice for customizing your outdoor space. Whether you prefer a sleek modern look or a rustic charm, pavers can be tailored to fit any design vision. Their adaptability allows them to seamlessly integrate with your existing landscape and architectural style.
Unmatched Durability
Designed to endure heavy foot traffic and withstand harsh weather conditions, pavers are built to last. Unlike concrete or wooden decking, pavers resist cracking, chipping, and fading, ensuring your walkways and patios remain beautiful for years to come.
Easy Maintenance
One of the standout features of paver walkways and patios is their ease of maintenance. Individual pavers can be replaced if damaged, sparing you the hassle and expense of repairing entire sections. This flexibility makes maintaining your outdoor space simple and cost-effective.
Eco-Friendly Choice
Pavers are an environmentally responsible option, allowing water to penetrate the ground beneath them. This feature reduces runoff and helps replenish local water supplies, making them a sustainable choice for eco-conscious homeowners. It also solves many drainage problems that we often see in Washington due to our heavy rainfalls and clay soil.
Boost Your Home's Value
Investing in well-designed paver walkways and patios can significantly enhance the aesthetic appeal and resale value of your property. A beautifully landscaped outdoor area is a highly sought-after feature among prospective homebuyers.
How do you build a paver patio?
Installation steps include job planning, layout, excavating and compacting the soil subgrade, applying geotextiles (optional), spreading and compacting the sub-base, installing the proper amount of base aggregates, constructing edge restraints, placing and screeding the bedding sand, placing pavers, making custom cuts, and installing jointing sand.
The following is the basic process of how to install pavers for a typical patio or walkway. These are guidelines that can help you understand the process, but each situation is unique and some installations may vary from this standard. These steps are not the same for permeable paver installations.
Step by Step
Step 1
Job Planning
Prior to excavating, call in a dig ticket at 811 to have all underground utilities marked. Overhead clearances should be checked so that equipment does not interfere with wires. Determine site access and other logistics such as where materials will be placed.
Step 2
Layout
In preparing for excavation, the area to be removed should be properly marked with stakes & string lines to establish grades. Proper sloping needs to be planned out at this stage to ensure water will drain enough and in the right direction.
Step 3
Excavation & Preparing Sub Base
The base is excavated to the proper depth (this will vary depending on each unique situation), the sub base is compacted, and geo textile fabric is installed. Contrary to popular belief, geo textile fabric is not weed fabric. The purpose of geotextile fabrics is to separate the existing sub base from the crushed aggregate that will be installed.
Step 4
Base Aggregates
For paver walkways & paver patios, a minimum of 3-4" of crushed stone base is needed. More is needed for driveway pavers. We typically use 5/8 minus crushed rock, however in some situations we may choose a different stone.
Step 5
Compaction
Proper compaction is a critical step to ensure your paver patio or walkway will withstand the test of time. Adequate compaction will minimize settlement. The gravel must be compacted in layers. If you are installing DIY, we highly recommend that you rent quality compaction equipment t.
Step 6
Bedding Sand
No more than 1" of bedding sand is screeded over the compacted base. Screeding sand is an artform of itself, and may be more difficult than it looks. Reach out to us for some helpful tips. In some situations, no sand is recommended, such as with some porcelain or permeable pavers.
Step 7
Paver Installation
Pavers are laid over the bedding sand in the pattern you choose. Each material has it's own pattern options. When installing driveway pavers, be careful to choose a pattern that will provide maximum load bearing support. Keep in mind proper slopes and angles, and use chalk lines to keep joint lines straight. Joint widths between the pavers should be consistent. Most pavers are made with spacer bars on their sides, but in the case of porcelain pavers, you will need to use spacers. Cut pavers should be used to fill gaps along the edge of the pavement. You will need a concrete wet saw for custom cuts.
Step 8
Edge Restraints
A common mistake we see is using a plastic edging material to keep the edges in place. This plastic edging is almost guaranteed to shift over time, and there are very few situations we would recommend using it. Instead, all border pavers not adjacent to a structure or hard surface should be set in place using a concrete bond beam method.
Step 9
Jointing Materials
The final step is to install jointing materials between the pavers. You can use either fine play sand or polymeric sand. Each one has it's own pros & cons, and tricks to installing. Some pavers need to be compacted after this step as well, but not all can. Thinking about installing DIY? Be sure to ask the manufacturer, a professional, or ask us for whether or not your pavers can or should be compacted.