If your pavers have one of the following issues you’re probably in need of a repair. Many times pavers can be damaged from root growth beneath the pavers or grass or weed build up. But these are not the only causes. Uneven pavers means you have something going wrong underneath. In addition to natural causes you may find these additional paver issues at your home or business:
- 1. The pavers along a fixed edge are disappearing.
- 2. An area of pavers has settled.
- 3. The border pavers look like they’re falling off.
- 4. Water is puddling on the pavers.
- 5. Pavers are uneven and tipping.
- 6. Grass coming in between pavers from bad install.
1. The pavers along a fixed edge are disappearing
Cause: The gravel base and sand setting bed have escaped and washed out from under the pavers.
Solution: Using a filter fabric under the base and up the sides of the project excavation will prevent this from happening. It is possible to fix just this one area, without starting completely over. A piece of fabric can be patched in and new base can be added and the pavers reinstalled
2. An area of pavers has settled.
Cause: A lack of compaction is the biggest reason for an area to settle. We see this most often when we’re on a project site where the house or pool is newly constructed and backfilled. The backfilled soils were most likely not compacted as they were filled in. This is also common when the ground under the pavers has been dug up and not filled in properly – like if a tree stump was dug out or if an underground utility line needed repairing.
Solution: This is fixed by pulling up the pavers, adding more gravel base making sure it is compacted in intervals as it’s added. Once the base is brought back up to the proper level and pitch the bedding sand and pavers can be reinstalled.
3. The border pavers look like they’re falling off.
Cause: there was no edge restraint installed to hold the pattern tight together.
Solution: There are a couple of types of edge restraints that paver installers can use. The most popular one used in our area is a PVC edging that gets spiked into the gravel base that the pavers are installed on. In order to fix it, the pavers need to be pulled up, more base and sand need to be added underneath and an edge restraint needs to be installed.
4. Water is puddling on the pavers.
Cause: There could be 2 things that happened here. If water is puddling, the base may not have been installed at the proper pitch and may have had a slight low spot OR the base was not compacted enough and it has settled over time.
Solution: The way to fix it is to pull up the area that has settled, add more base, compact it and reinstall the pavers.
5. Pavers are uneven and tipping.
Cause: This is what happens when the pavers are not swept in with joint sand and compacted into the setting bed.
Solution: After the pavers are completely laid in the pattern of choice, the border is in place and the edging has been spiked down – a concrete sand or polymeric sand is swept into all of the joints. Next a vibratory plate compactor should be run over the entire project. More sand is then usually required to top off the joints and the project is compacted again 2 or 3 times.
6. Grass coming in between pavers from bad install.
These 8 situations are common when short cuts are taken while preparing an area for a paver installation. These examples may not show up right away after the project is completed, but over time they will only get worse.