Do I put paver base everywhere or just under the stones?
It is often unclear whether gravel and leveling sand should be applied across the entire patio area or only directly underneath the individual pavers. Additionally, failing to establish a clear starting point on this base causes the stones to arc during installation, resulting in inconsistent gaps everywhere.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
Do I put paver base everywhere or just under the stones?
- 1Digging only 2-3 inches of depth for the installationDid this help you?
- 2Applying gravel and sand only directly under the individual paver locations rather than the entire areaDid this help you?
- 3Hiring contractors instead of doing it yourself to avoid the frustrationDid this help you?
- 4Identifying miscut or misaligned stones after laying and asking for them to be refittedDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“In the driveway photo, I would like to lay some 20x20 concrete pavers. In order to do a good job, would you recommend digging up to 2-3 inches, lay a landscape fabric, paver base and leveling sand on just in the places where the pavers will be located, pavers on top of it, and then decorative rocks in between the gaps?”source ↗
“Thank you! Is it recommended to apply gravel and sand to all the area and not just where the pavers are placed?”source ↗
“Been doing my own patio recently and it’s a pig. Struggled to sort a starting point so kinda arced around when i was laying the first bunch, and now I’ve got inconsistent gaps everywhere.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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