After a long day’s work, you want to have a usable room where you can dine outside, have your drink around the fireplace, or even just sit back and relax outside, the last thing you want is to have a room with problems and unnecessary tension.
It’s a smart move to investigate possible paver issues and reach the bottom. In a patio that will last for several years to come, you want to make the best choice.
Here are some of the common complaints and some relevant information about paver patios.
1. Pavers Sinking
Not only is sunken paver an eyesore, it is also usually a warning sign of a greater problem. Yes, a pavement that sinks in areas could have a drainage problem that was not addressed before building. This issue must be fixed and corrected, followed by re-laying of pavers.
It could of course also be that before the pavers were laid the base was not prepared properly. The base material layer of the whole patio building is the most critical element.
A proper excavation (depending on factors such as soil type and drainage) is required to build a foundation. Another explanation for sunken pavers and eventual patio failure may be failure to excavate deeply enough. Bad soils and trash left by builders must be removed during the excavation because the site of the patio is very critical for its integrity in over-stabilization. The regular 10 inches can’t just be excavated and passed on. You will continue to go if you go down to 10 inches, you find old fill dirt and bad soils or other issues. The lower soil found during the excavation also results from house water problems, which also have to be corrected. The proper quantity of filling of modified crushed stone is also part of the preparation of the foundation. Such stone is carefully graded and then compacted to form a solid foundation several inches at a time until the completed depth is reached.
If pavers sink, the compaction of the basic material may be unsuitable. The pavers may be sinking if they loosen over time. Additionally, not enough gravel could have been used in the beginning as well.
2. A Paver Patio with Poor Drainage
A problem with uncorrected drainages may lead, as the ground underneath the patio begins to sink or “sink in.” In reality, pavers will start cracking as this happens.
The sunken pavers on top of the patio may lead to “pool” water. Pooling may also happen if the pitch is not right. This could lead to small areas where water is always collected. Nevertheless, poor drainage can also cause other problems. When water rushes through the courtyard we see plant beds around a patio washed away rather than adequately channeled away from the home or the countryside. Poor drainage can also contribute to the extraction of rainwater under the patio or force it to destroy the integrity of your house.
Believe it or not, poor patio drainage can even influence the interior of the home. Water can get stuck in a poor design. It can flow nowhere to your house and wind up into your cellars, resulting in repair work costing tens of thousands of dollars. All these issues can be avoided when a grading and drainage plan starts the patio building. It is crucial that this plan shows precisely where the water will go. All too often, sadly, landscape contractors simply install a courtyard without really worrying about drainage issues (or the construction of the court will generate them). This failure to plan will potentially be a costly error.
3. Weed Growth in the Joints
We also learn of paver patios because weeds can grow in the joints. Nevertheless, it will make a huge difference to use a different sand (known as polymer sand) in the joints. Polymeric sand is a fine sand combined with (usually silicon) additives and becomes a binding agent when mixed with water. Using special sand will decrease the number of weeds that will move instead of losing sand through which weeds will grow. Nonetheless, this can pose problems if polymeric sand is not properly installed. We can see many complete patio faulty installations with polymer sand. If the synthetic sand is improperly applied, it can not remain in your joints, leaving nothing. This could lead to a weedy patio! However, the construction of geotextile cloth, a material with high strength underneath the pavement, is also a deterrent to any weeds from below the ground. Geotextiles are a bridge over soft areas that also support the foundation of your patio.
4. A Trip Hazard Paver Patio
An uneven patio can produce dangerous trip hazards. This is most likely again because of a problem with the building of the base. The earth may not have been compact enough to support the weight of the pavers and of the people above it, and thus some have fallen or vanished. A courtyard that causes uneven gaps in its entirety can also become a travel risk. Usually, extra space between pavers is induced by a faulty base, including the lack of compaction. That would change and remove the pavers over time. The lack of workmanship during construction also can create a gap between pavers. It’s quite possible the pavers were installed with too much extra space to begin with.
5. A Leaning Edge
The pavers on the banks can begin to lean and detach from the courtyard without a strong border system along the perimeter of your patio. To hold pavers in place, an edging system is required. The correct edging helps in the preservation of pavers. Proper implementation requires a good edging system. All this begins with the foundation. The base should be at least six inches beyond the patio edge element so that the base remains solid and secure. If you don’t have a solid edge system or if it was improperly installed, you will likely end up leaning or even dropping off the edge.
Various edging options are available, from plastic frames built into a base material to other hardcapes like wall blocks or edgestones.
