Cement Paver Patio Base

[Mary Meyer]

Husband and I are fixing up a rental home and want to add a patio. We have thick cement pavers and are looking for the right base material. I've heard everything from crushed granite (expensive!!) to limestone, to crushed concrete to stabilized sand. We live in Houston Texas so it very wet. What have you tried? What do you recommend?

[Bob H.]

I once built one of those. I used plain, medium-sized gravel with sand on top of it, then more sand to sweep into the joints once the pavers were down. It worked well.

The one thing I'd change is that I saved a little money by not renting a compacting machine to settle the base. Because of that decision, I probably had a little more uneven settlement than necessary. My main problem over the years, though, was that a tree nearby had roots under the patio and eventually would push up the pavers. That required removing some pavers and sand and trimming the roots in some areas before resetting the pavers.

[Michael Clanton]

Hi @Mary Meyer, most contractors in my area will install a base (the depth of which will be determined by the condition/type of soil at the proposed site, usually 8"-12") of very well compacted 3/4" or 1/2" gravel which is blended with smaller aggregates all the way down to a sand-like size. Then, before installing the pavers, they may install a 1"-2" layer of sand or gravel screenings on top of the compacted gravel fill. This layer will be graded to exactly the right planes/heights so that the pavers can be installed directly on top with little to no adjustments. Then, sand/screenings will be sprinkled and swept into the joints between the pavers, and a final round with a plate compactor will settle the pavers firmly into place. 

Also, the gravel doesn't need to be anything fancy or expensive, just whatever your local rock quarry offers that meets that description. They should be able to make a recommendation what you should use.

I've included a website that explains it pretty well also. Hope this helps, good luck!

http://www.pavetech.com/guides/Walkways.htm

[Jim Adrian]

Pouring a concrete patio is cheaper than pavers.  I wanted to do pavers and it was going to cost me double. I ended up with 400 sf  concrete patio for $2000. It was done in a day! Dont get me wrong pavers look nicer! 

[Andy Luick]

Pavers are nicer - I think your area has a sandy soil.  Go with @Bob H. and rent a compactor at Home Depot to risk it settling over time, little gravel base with sand swept into the joints will do the trick.  A benefit with pavers is that if a root ever pops them up, you can trim the root and lay them back down....can't do that with concrete.  We've done a bunch of these over the years for clients and on some of our rentals with great results.

[Matthew Paul]

When we do them , its 2 inches of CR6  , 1 inch stone dust , then 1 inch mason sand , the first 2 are compacted with a plate compactor , then the pavers , then hit it with the plate compactor .  Then tale 3 motrin when finished ,