What Goes Wrong When Installing Pavers?
Pavers are a durable, lasting surface when installed correctly, but mistakes, in the base, edge restraint, drainage, or installation, can lead to a paver surface that settles, shifts, spreads, or fails prematurely. Avoiding the common ones ensures a paver surface that stays beautiful and intact for years. Here’s what goes wrong and how to avoid it.
Mistake: Skimping on the Base
How to avoid it: The most consequential paver mistake is an inadequate base, too shallow an excavation, insufficient or poorly compacted base material, which causes the pavers to settle, sink, and become uneven over time. Avoid it by ensuring a proper base: adequate excavation depth and quality compacted base material appropriate to your soil and the surface’s use (deeper for a driveway). The base is the foundation of a lasting paver surface, and skimping on it, invisible once installed, is the leading cause of failure. Insist on a proper base, it’s what makes pavers last.
Mistake: Skipping or Skimping Edge Restraint
How to avoid it: Without proper edge restraint holding the pavers in place, the edges spread and the whole surface shifts and loosens over time, a common cause of paver failure. Avoid it by ensuring the installation includes proper edge restraint around the perimeter. Edge restraint is what keeps the pavers locked together and the surface stable, and skipping it to save a little leads to spreading and deterioration. A quality installation always includes proper edge restraint, so make sure yours does, it’s essential to keeping the paver surface intact. (For more on this, see How Long Does a Paver Installation Take?.)
Mistake: Ignoring Drainage and Slope
How to avoid it: Failing to grade the surface properly and manage drainage causes water to pool, run toward your home, or undermine the base and pavers. Avoid it by ensuring the surface is graded to shed water correctly and that drainage is addressed. Even though pavers allow some water permeability through their joints, proper slope and drainage still matter to protect the installation and your home. Ignoring drainage leads to pooling, base erosion, and paver problems, so proper grading and water management are essential parts of a good installation.
Mistake: Inadequate Base for the Use
How to avoid it: Using a base suited to a walkway for a driveway, that will bear vehicle weight, leads to settling and cracking under the load. Avoid it by ensuring the base matches the surface’s use, a driveway needs a deeper, more substantial base than a patio or walkway. Under-building the base for a heavy-use surface is a recipe for failure, while the right base for the load ensures the surface holds up. Matching the base to how the surface will be used is essential, especially for driveways bearing vehicle weight.
Mistake: Hiring an Inexperienced or Cheapest Installer
How to avoid it: Choosing the cheapest or least experienced installer risks poor base work, skipped edge restraint, uneven laying, or shoddy work that fails, costing more to fix than a quality job. Avoid it by choosing a reputable, experienced installer based on their work and reviews, not just price. Paver installation requires skill, in base preparation, laying, and finishing, and a cut-rate installer who cuts corners on the fundamentals leaves you with a failing surface. Quality installation is worth paying for on a lasting paver surface. (For more on this, see Questions to Ask a Paver Installer.)
Mistake: Poor Joint Sand and Finishing
How to avoid it: Neglecting proper joint sand (which locks the pavers together and stabilizes the surface) or skipping recommended finishing leaves the pavers loose and prone to shifting and weed growth. Avoid it by ensuring the installation includes proper jointing (filling the joints with the appropriate sand) and any recommended finishing. Well-filled joints are what interlock the pavers into a stable surface, and skimping here undermines the installation. Proper joint sand and finishing complete a quality paver surface, so make sure they’re part of the job for a stable, lasting result.
The Mistake of DIY Without the Right Knowledge or Tools
A tempting but frequently regretted mistake is attempting a significant paver installation as a DIY project without the necessary knowledge, tools, or experience. Pavers can look deceptively simple, just laying units on the ground, but a proper, lasting installation depends on getting the invisible fundamentals right: excavating to the correct depth, building and thoroughly compacting a proper base (which requires the right equipment, like a plate compactor), establishing correct slope for drainage, installing edge restraint, and laying the pavers level with consistent joints. DIY installations that skip or botch these steps, an inadequate base, poor compaction, no edge restraint, incorrect slope, commonly result in a surface that settles, becomes uneven, spreads, or fails within a short time, turning the money and effort spent into a costly lesson. (For more on this, see Hidden Costs of a Paver Project.)
This isn’t to say pavers are never a DIY project, an experienced, capable homeowner with the right tools and knowledge can successfully install a modest walkway or patio, but it’s to say that the difficulty and the importance of the fundamentals are often underestimated. The base work in particular is both physically demanding and technically critical, and it’s where most DIY paver projects go wrong. For a larger project, a driveway, or anything where failure would be costly to fix, the expertise of a professional installer, who knows how to build a proper base, establish correct drainage, and lay the pavers to last, is usually well worth the cost. Before committing to a DIY paver project, it’s worth honestly assessing whether you have the knowledge, tools, physical capacity, and patience to do the base and installation properly, because a paver surface is only as good as its base, and the most common way DIY paver projects fail is by underestimating exactly the fundamentals that determine whether the surface lasts. Recognizing when a project exceeds your DIY capability, and calling a professional for those, is itself a way to avoid one of the more expensive paver mistakes.
Staying Ahead of Mistakes
The common paver mistakes, skimping on the base, skipping edge restraint, ignoring drainage, inadequate base for the use, cheapest installer, and poor jointing, are all avoidable with a proper installation. When you’re ready to connect with a qualified local pro, connect below.
Frequently Asked Questions
An inadequate base, too shallow an excavation, insufficient or poorly compacted base material, which causes the pavers to settle, sink, and become uneven over time. Ensure a proper base with adequate excavation depth and quality compacted material for your soil and the surface's use (deeper for a driveway). The base is the foundation of a lasting paver surface, and skimping on it is the leading cause of failure.
Because without proper edge restraint holding them in place, the pavers' edges spread and the whole surface shifts and loosens over time, a common cause of paver failure. Edge restraint around the perimeter keeps the pavers locked together and the surface stable. Skipping it to save a little leads to spreading and deterioration, so a quality installation always includes it, essential to keeping the paver surface intact.
Yes. While pavers allow some water permeability through their joints, proper slope and drainage still matter. Failing to grade the surface and manage drainage causes water to pool, run toward your home, or undermine the base and pavers. Ensure the surface is graded to shed water correctly and that drainage is addressed, ignoring it leads to pooling, base erosion, and paver problems.
Yes. A driveway bears vehicle weight, so it needs a deeper, more substantial base than a patio or walkway to prevent settling and cracking under load. Using a walkway-suited base for a driveway leads to failure. Matching the base to the surface's use is essential, under-building the base for a heavy-use surface is a recipe for failure, while the right base for the load ensures it holds up.
Because proper joint sand locks the pavers together and stabilizes the surface, interlocking them into a solid whole. Neglecting it or skipping recommended finishing leaves the pavers loose and prone to shifting and weed growth. Ensure the installation includes proper jointing (filling joints with the appropriate sand) and finishing. Well-filled joints are what make the surface stable, so skimping here undermines the whole installation.