This client in Kitchener reached out to us because their paver patio was failing. It was a fairly old paver patio that was sinking in many areas and the client wanted to have it fixed and expanded in some areas so that they could enjoy it again. We came in with a solution to re-use the existing pavers rather than dispose of them. This is because they were still in really good condition and they already have a matching driveway using the same pavers.

The client did opt for us to re-do the base so that it would not settle again in the near future as it had already. The benefits of this are that our client gets our warranty that we extend to them because we prepared the base. Whereas if we were not to re-do the base preparation, we would not extend our paver warranty on the project. This does cost about twice the amount of our least expensive option of lifting the pavers, disposing of the 1 inch bedding material, and re-leveling the pavers on a new bedding material. However, in that scenario we cannot extend our warranty on the project because we did not prepare the base and cannot confidently say that this would not settle in the same way that it had already.

For this project, we cleaned and lifted the pavers. They are then set aside for us to scrape out about 1.5 inches of the bedding layer and base material. The reason why we do not have to excavate the entire 8 inches of base is because we are using a synthetic base using paver base panels. These panels are made of high density polypropylene. They spread the load out over a wider area and insulate the ground which completely replaces the need for a base. This saves in the time and disposal of base excavation, though the material does cost more. Still, the labour savings in using these panels outweighs the cost of them.

After we dispose of the 1.5 inches, we compact the existing base before laying a non-woven geotextile over the area. This separates our new bedding material from the existing base material so that their is no contamination between the two. We then screed HPB (High Performance Bedding) or 1/4″ angular crushed clean chip for our bedding layer. We follow a 1/4″ per foot slope away from the house foundation and then lay our paver base panels on top. These panels get laid in a staggered pattern.

After all of this, we are then ready to re-lay the pavers on top of the panels. In order to expand the patio, we used some old pavers that the client had set aside from the initial installation. However, these pavers were thicker than the pavers that were already laid. So we used these pavers around the border and screeded a layer of concrete sand on top of the paver base panels in order to raise the interior pavers to the level of the border pavers. This added more time than we had expected, but it was worth it to keep the consistent appeal of the driveway to backyard patio.

Once all of the pavers were laid, we could then install our edge restraint. This is a plastic edge restraint that gets secured to the paver base panels using anchor screws ensuring the pavers will not move horizontally. It is important that the panels extend a minimum of 4 inches beyond the final paver to make room for this edge restraint. Top soil is then placed on top with seed to finalize this area.

Polymeric sand is then installed into the joints of the pavers. This sand solidifies and remains flexible to support any movement of the patio. It is swept in dry and compacted into the joints to ensure that the sand moves down the entire joint. Failure to do this will cause the sand to eventually erode away as the entire joint is not covered in the sand. This process is repeated until the sand reaches 1/8″ below the top of the paver. When we achieve this height, the surface is blown off to ensure the is no remaining residue on the surface that when activated will adhere and discolour the surface of the pavers. With a shower setting on a hose we activate the polymeric sand following the manufacturer’s instructions and the patio is ready to be enjoyed by our client.