Paver height

[beaver1]

How high would you set the pavers initially to allow for settling after going over it with a plate compactor. A good example would be matching the paver height to the height of the coping on stairs. My coping thickness is three inches. If the sand bed is 1", and the thickness of the paver is 2 3/8", that will leave the pavers 3/8" higher than the coping. Is 3/8" too much? This being my first job, I would like to see how you guys do it rather than experiment.

[stoneridge]

I set them at 1/8" higher than curbs. concrete, etc.

[GLAN]

Here is an interesting theory.........

Compact the gravel base.........spread the 1 - 2" of sand.........Why not compact that? In theory you wouldn't have to compact ontop of the pavers




OK, ok..........reason why I mention that. Some 12, 13 years ago or so I had the opportunity of doing 1,500sqft of paver for my sisters new home in So Cal.

It worked out sweet..........was able to walk on it, stack pavers where I needed them and never having to fuss with the sand. The job came out as good as any of the professionals working in the area........one contractor doing a neighbor was awe struck that I......one person was able to layout more pavers in a day than 3 of his guys combined.........well I had a hard surface to begin with.

I did one other neighbors patio that same winter I was out there......the following winter I did 2 new patios and ripped out and redid the neighbor who had the work done by the contractor I mentioned.

Now here is something realy interesting. So Cal. is no stranger to having the earth move and shake.........The 5 paver jobs I did had some ground shaking as every one in the region.........the jobs I did settled out nicely and for the most part didn't need repair. Where local contractors did work........cracking and elevation shifting occured, necessitating costly repairs.


OK maybe a fluke.........maybe a strange coincidence?


The local contractors I watched doing pavers layed out pavers in loose sand and compacted over the top...............me......I compacted the sand of the entire area being paved and in 2 years or less........the work of the locals didn't hold up.

[Raj Venugopal]

This is an awesome topic for a technical specs thread.

I've been precompacting my screed beds, then make micro-adjustments to the level to make it deadly level and stable.

No problems with that technique yet.

I don't buy the argument that pavers "settle" into the soft screed bed and create interlock. I've done tests and see no evidence of that when the screed is crusher dust as opposed to sand.

The polymeric when vibrated and properly wetted is what creates the stability, not driving the pavers into the screed bed.

[skahuna]

beaver - 3/8'' sounds about right, scree out a little bit and tap the pavers in with the back of your hammer this will give you an idea of compacted height. I set my base 3'' low but i use 1.25" pipes so it will be a little different

[Fine Edge]

We don't run a compactor over any of our paver jobs and haven't had to fix one in 10 years. We prep just as Glan was saying and maybe a little minor top screeding once everything is compacted to the max.
So much for following all the technical booklets!!

[bricknblock]

I agree with most posts here, although my technique is somewhat unconventional, I've had many oppurtunities to look over my past jobs (some several years old), I have yet to find one that needed repairs...all I use for my base is slag sand (crushed limestone), I compact the hell out of it, then compact it more, level it out and that's it...no layer of sand...I lay my pavers, sweep in my sand (polymeric these days of course), and that's it...they stay where I lay them, for good!

[beaver1]

These are some really interesting theories, far from the conventional. I am eager to give it a try. Like most of you, I'll compact about 1/2" on top of the gravel base, and I'll be using crushed limestone like bricknblock does, and just fine tune it with a thin layer of concrete sand. I'll finish it by applying the polymeric sand.

[EpicInterlock]

These theories are nothing new for me, I've never used sand on top of my screenings (limestone). I compact the absolute hell out of it every 2-3" until my final height which I then level. I spend about 1-2 hours doing this for a patio approx 200-300sqft. This is a lot of prep, but I've never ever had a customer call me again to repair any of my patios in the 9 years I've been landscaping.

Call me crazy, but hey, whatever works. Expecially in winter country up north.

cheers