# Compacting patio pavers



## jelconga (Jul 17, 2010)

Hello, got a question for you all...

Just finished laying abt. 250 sq. ft of pavers. We did compact all layers of the foundation with a plate vibrator. My first course of pavers is butting against the house, with about 3 inches of each paver resting directly on top of the foundation footing, (only about 1/4 in bedding sand between that half of the pavers and the cement footing) which juts out from the house about 3 inches. The other half of that first course is resting on the base sand like the rest of the pavers. We had to lay the first course on the foundation footing like this because of height issues. We compacted the base sand before laying the pavers, then added a little more sand to seat them in. I am a little worried about running a plate compactor over the finished patio. Problem is, we'll have to skip this first course when we run the compactor, bc/ it'll break them right where they cross over the foundation footing, right? However, if we skip that first course, then run the compactor over the rest, will they sink too much and look lower than that first uncompacted course of pavers? Can we just sweep in lots of joint sand and water it to settle the sand and lock in the pavers, or is the compactor totally necessary?

Thanks!


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## slownsteady (Jul 22, 2010)

My totally unprofessional opinion is no, you don't need to compact the pavers. I did my patio a few years ago and it is holding up just fine. I compacted the base thoroughly and then swept sand between the pavers.


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## mudmixer (Jul 22, 2010)

The bad detail is setting portion of the paver patio on the concrete foundation because the long term settlement near a foundation can cause problems.

The setting bed of sand is intended to be not more than 1" because good sand does not really compact.

Dick


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