27
Spent 4 hours on a paver patio only to have it sink in the first rain
I was out in my backyard in Austin last month, finally tackling that paver patio I'd been putting off. Laid everything out, tamped it down real good with my hand tamper, and thought I had it sorted. Then a random thunderstorm rolled through and the whole corner just dropped like 2 inches overnight. Turns out I didn't dig out deep enough for the base gravel, maybe only 3 inches instead of the 6 they recommend. Now I'm hauling all these heavy stones back up and redoing the whole section this weekend. Has anyone else had their paver base fail like that, or am I just bad at reading soil?
2 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In2 Comments
max4151d ago
...and honestly, digging out the base is the part everyone skimps on and then pays for later. I've done the same thing before, tried to get away with a thinner gravel layer to save my back, and a good Texas downpour will find that weak spot every time. Hand tamping is okay for small spots but a plate compactor makes a huge difference if you can rent one for a day. My advice would be to pull up all those stones, dig out to that full 6 inches of compacted gravel, and take your time with each layer. It's a pain now but beats redoing it all again next month.
5
Just bent rebar on a gate last week from the same shallow base problem, ha.
1