Paver Drainage Solutions, from the subgrade up
Whatever it takes to stop water sitting where it should not.
What actually goes wrong
Here is the honest version: a sunken paver is a symptom. The base under it lost material, usually to water, and the surface settled into the gap. Resetting the pavers without correcting the base just buys you a season.
Sand over limestone is what most properties in the region are built on. Sand drains well until it is saturated, and a two-inch-an-hour storm saturates it fast. That is the moment a base gets tested, and a poorly built one starts losing material.
Trees are the other common culprit. A paver base stays damp underneath, which is exactly what roots are looking for, so they grow into it and lift the pavers from below.
None of this is visible in a finished photo, which is why the cheap version and the right version look identical on day one. They stop looking identical around year two.
How we run this job
We come look at it
Somebody from the crew walks the property with you, looks at where water goes, and tells you what we actually see. If the fix is smaller than you were expecting, we will say so.
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
Laying the field is the fast part. The care is in the cuts at the edges and the restraint that locks the whole field in place.
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.
Where the water goes when it rains here
The heaviest thing that ever crosses the surface sets the depth, even if it only comes once a week. A walkway for people can sit on a shallow base. A home driveway that sees a loaded pickup needs a deeper one. A commercial drive where delivery trucks pull in needs deeper still. If somebody hands you the same base depth for a garden path and a driveway, they did not measure anything.
We do not move on to the next layer of base until the one below it is compacted. Each lift is a few inches of aggregate. It is slower than filling the excavation and running a plate over the top, and that is precisely why the faster method is so common: on day one, both look identical. The difference shows up a year later as patchy settlement.
Start at the bottom and work up. The subgrade is the soil your property already has, and nothing we do changes what it is made of. On top of it goes the base: crushed aggregate, compacted until it carries weight on its own. Then a thin course of sharp sand, screeded flat so every paver beds at the same height. Then the pavers. Three of those four layers get buried on the first day, and they are the three that decide how the job ages.
A sunken paver is a symptom. The base under it is the disease.
The manufacturer’s instructions on a bag of polymeric sand are worth following to the letter. The product binds when wetted, which is what keeps it in the joints when plain sand would wash out. Install it dry and sweep the pavers properly before any water goes on, then water it the way the bag says. Patios with a cloudy residue over the pavers are almost always jobs where somebody cut those steps short.
Joint sand looks like filler between the pretty parts, and it does more work than anything else you can see. Sand packed into the joints is how one paver hands part of its load to the ones around it, and that sharing is what turns loose units into a surface. Lose the sand and the sharing stops. Each paver bears its own load, and that is exactly when rocking and cracking begin.
Compaction
A compactor can only reach so far down. That is why aggregate goes in lifts, each compacted on its own, instead of one deep pile with a firm crust on top.
Fall
About an eighth to a quarter inch of fall per foot. Underfoot it reads as level. In a downpour it carries the water off and away from the house.
Restraint
A perimeter edge restraint is what stops the field creeping outward and the joints opening from the outside in.
More drainage work
Across the region, these are some of the areas where we do this work most often:
What it asks of you afterwards
Most sealing problems come down to the product. A sealer that is wrong for the material can leave a plastic-looking shine or hold moisture under it, and that is hard to undo. The right one, applied at the right time, deepens the color and keeps joint sand in place. Sealing stays optional, and we give you a straight answer on whether it is worth it here.
It does not take much. An edge lifted a little more than a quarter inch looks minor and still catches toes. That makes it the item to act on quickly once an install has settled in. If the pavers serve a commercial property, the stakes include liability, beyond keeping the surface in shape.
Small problems stay small on pavers if you catch them. A low spot fixed early is a quick reset. Left alone, it collects water and grows. Beyond watching for that, keeping the joints full and clean covers nearly everything a good install asks of you.
Pick clay brick if you want a surface that still looks like the day it went in twenty years from now. Its color is the fired clay, so it stays put. You will pay more and have fewer shapes to choose from.
Most travertine requests come from pool owners, and the heat is why. It stays noticeably cooler than concrete when the sun is on it. Expect variation between units, as you would with any natural stone. Sealing is worth it if the surface will catch oil or heavy stains, and less necessary if it will not.
Of everything we install for homeowners, porcelain is the newest. What it brings is density: it soaks up almost no water and resists staining better than nearly anything else. What it demands is precision, both in the base, which has to be truly even, and in the cutting.
The shortcuts that surface two years later
These shortcuts all pass a walk-through on day one. The problems arrive later, and that delay is why they stay common.
Sealing too early
Leave new concrete pavers unsealed through their first month. They are still curing, and efflorescence is still working out of them. Seal over that and the white haze can be locked under the sealer permanently.
Laying over the old surface
It is quick, it is cheap, and it inherits every problem underneath. If the base was the reason the old surface failed, putting a new one on top of it just hides the failure for a season.
Skipping the geotextile
When we tear out a failed paver job, a muddy base with no fabric under it is a common sight. The soil and the stone have blended into one weak layer. That is exactly what separation fabric is there to prevent, and why resetting pavers on top of that mess never holds.
Using the wrong sand in the bedding
Beach sand and mason sand are round, so they roll under load like ball bearings. Bedding needs sharp, angular concrete sand that locks together and keeps pavers where they were set.
The edge restraint is the piece nobody thinks about and the reason the field holds.
Common questions
Do I need to be home while you work
No. Access and a working hose bib are all we need. We will keep you posted as the job goes, and if we uncover something we did not expect, you get a call that day so you can decide with us.
Will the new pavers match what I already have
Concrete pavers drift a little in color as the sun and the years work on them, so a fresh unit next to one that has been down a while can stand out. Sometimes we match exactly and sometimes closely. If we cannot get close enough, you see the options before we order.
What happens to the old surface
Breaking out the old surface is the first stage of the job. It gets loaded and hauled off, and we recycle the concrete and old pavers when a recycler is in reach. That work is written into the scope.
How do you keep it from settling again
Pulling up the low pavers is the easy part. Keeping them level means fixing what let them drop, which is usually water undermining the base or a base that was weak to begin with. We correct both before anything goes back down, and handle a root if one is involved.
Do you work with HOAs and property managers
Often. Board approvals move on their own calendar, so we plan the job around it. Send us your submittal requirements and meeting dates and we will have what the board needs ready when it meets.
Do you cover Miami, FL
Yes. Miami, FL is inside our regular working area and we are out that way most weeks. Call and we will tell you honestly when we could get to you.
Let us walk the property
Send pictures to info@paverson.com or call 786-717-9244 and describe what is going on. We will give you a clear answer on what is wrong and what it would take to fix, even when the answer is to leave it for now.
Quality you can stand on