Broken Paver Replacement without the part that fails later
Swapping broken units and blending them so they disappear.
What actually goes wrong
Almost every paver problem we get called out to is a base problem wearing a surface disguise. The pavers themselves are fine. They are concrete or stone, and they will outlast most of us. What moves is what is underneath them.
Most of what we dig into across the region is sand, with limestone below it. That combination drains fast most days. Give it a storm that dumps two inches in an hour, though, and water has nowhere to go quickly enough, so it moves through the base and tests every shortcut in it.
Look at what is planted nearby. A ficus, a black olive or an older shade tree can lift a walkway from a surprising distance, since their roots run shallow and wide and follow moisture underneath.
We would rather lose a bid than skip the base work, because the base work is the job. Everything above it is finish.
How we run this job
We come look at it
Somebody who actually does the work comes out and walks it with you. They look at the problem, look at the drainage around it, and tell you what they see. Small fixes get called small fixes.
You get the plan in writing
Scope, materials, schedule, and cost on paper before a shovel moves. The number you approve is the number, not an opening position.
We build the base first
Excavation to the depth this job actually needs, aggregate compacted lift by lift, bedding screeded flat. The slow part, and the part that decides whether the surface is still flat in ten years.
Pavers go down and get cut in
The field goes down to the pattern, edge cuts happen on site, and the perimeter gets a restraint so nothing creeps.
Joints get filled and the site gets cleaned
Sand swept in and compacted, the surface washed down, and the property left the way we found it. We haul our own debris.
Working out what actually failed
A good repair is invisible. That means keeping the units that came up, blending replacements so they do not read as a patch, and matching the joint sand so the repaired area does not sit a shade different from the field around it.
Repair starts with diagnosis, not with lifting pavers. The surface tells you where it failed; it does not tell you why. Pull up a sunken section without answering the why and you have bought a season.
The usual why is water: a downspout discharging at an edge, an irrigation head hitting the same spot twice a day, or a neighboring grade sending runoff across a corner. Second most common is a root. Third is a base that was never compacted properly.
If nobody talks to you about drainage, they are quoting a different job.
If your patio has a cloudy film that will not rinse off, look at the joint sand. Polymeric sand binds when water hits it, which is great inside a joint because it resists washout far better than plain sand. On the paver face it is a problem. It must go in dry, be swept off the surface thoroughly before wetting, and be watered in as the manufacturer specifies. Rushing those steps leaves the haze.
A paver that rocks under your foot usually has an empty joint beside it. The sand between pavers is what passes load from one unit to its neighbors, so a step on one is shared across several. Once that sand washes out, each paver carries its own weight alone. That is when they start to move, and once they move, they start to crack.
Base depth
Set by what the surface carries, not by habit. A walkway and a truck-bearing drive are not the same excavation.
Compaction
Loose stone under a firm crust is what a single dump and quick pass produces. Placing aggregate in lifts and compacting each one is how the base gets dense all the way through.
Fall
Set at roughly an eighth to a quarter inch per foot, away from the structure. Subtle to walk on, and the reason water leaves instead of standing.
Other repairs we handle
This service runs across our whole region. Some of the areas where we do the most of it:
What it asks of you afterwards
If the base was built right, you will spend very little time on it. An occasional sweep keeps organic material from composting in the joints, and a top-up of joint sand now and then keeps the pavers locked together. That is the list.
If you like the look of freshly wet pavers, sealing gets you close to that all the time. It also makes stains easier to lift and helps hold the joint sand. What it asks of you is a recoat every few years and some care in choosing a product, since the wrong one can look plasticky or trap moisture. We will be straight with you about whether yours needs it.
Keep an eye on paver edges. A lip of roughly a quarter inch is where a surface stops being uneven and starts tripping people. At home that means a stubbed toe. On a commercial property it also means a liability question, so a lifted edge there should not wait for the next maintenance round.
Around a pool, people want to walk barefoot at two in the afternoon, and travertine is the paver that lets them. It holds noticeably less heat than concrete in full sun. Being natural stone, each piece varies a bit in tone and veining, and if it sits near a grill or anywhere oil lands, plan on sealing it.
Porcelain looks clean and stays clean, because it is dense enough that almost nothing soaks in. It is newer to residential work than the other materials, and it is less forgiving. An uneven bed under it shows, so we spend extra time on the base, and the cuts are slow work with the correct blade.
Concrete pavers are the workhorse and cover most of what gets installed. Widest range of shapes and colors, most predictable to lay, and the easiest to match later. Color is pigment through the unit, so it fades gently with sun rather than wearing off, though it does shift over the first year or two as it cures out.
What we see when somebody else did it
These are the mistakes you cannot catch by looking at a fresh install. That is exactly what keeps them in circulation.
Using the wrong sand in the bedding
Pavers only hold their line if the bedding grips them. That takes sharp, angular concrete sand. Rounded mason or beach sand behaves like ball bearings once there is weight on it.
Sealing too early
Everybody wants the new pavers sealed right away. That is the mistake. Concrete pavers need to cure and clear their efflorescence first, and sealing in the first month can lock a white haze under the sealer permanently.
Laying over the old surface
When someone asks us to pave over what they have, we look at the old surface first. If the base is why it failed, an overlay keeps that problem and puts a nicer face on it for a season. Quick and cheap, and still broken underneath.
Skipping the geotextile
Fabric between the ground and the base is a small step that keeps the base doing its job. Sandy soil especially wants to wash up into the stone layer above it. When it does, the base loses its strength and you get low spots that come back no matter how often they are reset.
The pavers are a wearing surface. The base is the building.
Common questions
How long does the job take
A typical broken paver replacement job runs two to five working days once we start. Base work is the slow part; laying the field goes quickly. Weather moves things, and in summer we plan around the afternoon storms rather than pretending they will not happen.
Do I need to be home while you work
No. Many of our customers come home to a finished section after work. Just make sure we can reach the area and have a water source. Surprises get a same-day call.
Will the new pavers match what I already have
New pavers start out looking newer than the ones already down, because concrete pavers change color a little with sun and age. Sometimes the match is exact and sometimes it is close. When a line is discontinued or the difference is too obvious, we walk you through the options before anything gets ordered.
What happens to the old surface
We remove it. Breaking out and hauling the old concrete or pavers is a normal part of our scope, and where a recycler is available, that material gets recycled instead of landfilled.
How do you keep it from settling again
Most of the time it comes down to the base. If it was laid too thin or compacted in one pass, we dig it out and rebuild it in lifts, then check that water is leaving the area the way it should. Fixing the surface without the base just repeats the problem.
Do you cover Miami, FL
Yes. Miami is where Paverson is based, and we work across the city regularly. Reach us by phone or at info@paverson.com and we will tell you honestly how soon we could get there.
Have somebody come look at it
Call us and describe what you have, or send photos if that is easier. We will be direct about what has gone wrong and how much work it will take, and if it is something that can wait, we will tell you to wait.
Quality you can stand on