Paver Patio Replacement done so it stays flat
Removing a failed patio and rebuilding on a base that will hold.
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.
Base work matters more in South Florida than it does up north. Water moving through sandy soil carries some of it along, and a summer storm can dump a lot of water fast. A paver base built here has to hold up to both, every single year.
Large trees near a paver surface cause a lot of lifting. Their roots follow moisture, and the base under pavers holds plenty of it. Over the years they push in and raise the surface.
That is why the schedule on our jobs is mostly spent on the part you will never see again. The surface takes a day or two. The ground it sits on takes the rest, and the ground is what you are actually paying for.
How we run this job
We come look at it
Somebody from the crew comes out, stands on the problem, and tells you what is actually going on underneath it. No sales visit, just a look and an honest read.
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
Joints filled and set, everything washed down, our own debris on our own truck. The site is yours again the same day we finish.
What makes a patio last
Fall away from the building is the whole game. A patio wants a gentle slope carrying water into the yard, never toward a slab or a door threshold. On a tight lot with no fall available that means a channel drain or a permeable section built in from the start.
Furniture is the quiet load. Table and chair legs concentrate weight on a tiny footprint and will dish an under-compacted patio in a season. Sun umbrellas with heavy bases are the usual culprit.
A patio carries people and furniture rather than vehicles, so the base can be shallower than a driveway. What it cannot be is badly drained. A patio that holds water grows algae, gets slick, and pushes moisture back at the house.
If nobody talks to you about drainage, they are quoting a different job.
Plain sand in the joints works until the first few hard rains start carrying it away. Polymeric sand binds when wetted, so it stays in the joint, and that is why it is now the standard choice. The binding is also the risk. Any of it left on the paver faces when the water goes on will set there, so we install it dry, sweep it clean, and water it in to the manufacturer’s spec.
Hard rain and pressure washers both pull sand out of paver joints, and that matters more than it looks. The sand is structural. It carries load across from each paver to its neighbors, which is the whole reason a bed of loose units behaves like a solid surface. Empty the joints and every paver has to hold up its own share, and that is when they rock and crack.
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
We pitch the surface roughly an eighth to a quarter inch per foot away from the building, enough to shed water without anyone noticing a slope.
Restraint
A perimeter edge restraint is what stops the field creeping outward and the joints opening from the outside in.
More patio work
We cover the whole region for this. Areas we work in regularly include:
What it asks of you afterwards
A paver surface that was built properly asks for very little. Keep the joints topped up, keep organic debris from composting in them, and deal with a settled area while it is small. That is genuinely most of it.
Think of sealer as a coat you can choose to put on, and then have to keep putting on. It helps the joint sand stay put and gives stains less grip. Pick the wrong product and you get a shiny, plastic look you will not like, or a film that holds water under it. We tell people plainly when theirs is better left alone.
A lifted edge is the one problem worth fixing the week you notice it. Past about a quarter inch it becomes a trip hazard. Catching it early usually means resetting a few pavers. On a commercial property, waiting also means carrying a liability question until it is done.
Brick gives you fewer shapes to work with than concrete, and it costs more. Its advantage is color. Fired clay holds its color essentially forever, since there is nothing applied to wear away. For a surface meant to look unchanged in twenty years, that is the right call.
Concrete in the midday sun can get uncomfortable on bare feet. Travertine stays noticeably cooler, which is the main reason it is the paver people ask for around pools. The tradeoffs are that natural stone varies from piece to piece and that it should be sealed anywhere it is likely to get oil or heavy staining.
Porcelain pavers have only recently become common on homes. They are very dense and take on almost no water, so stains have little to hold onto. The catch is the install. Porcelain shows every flaw in the bedding, so the base has to be exact, and cuts need the right blade and a slow hand.
What we see when somebody else did it
None of these are visible on the day the work finishes, which is exactly why they keep happening.
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.
Using the wrong sand in the bedding
Sand looks like sand until a truck rolls over it. Sharp, angular concrete sand grips. Rounded sand, the mason or beach kind, rolls under the load and lets pavers slide out of place.
Sealing too early
A new concrete paver needs to cure and let its efflorescence work out before it gets sealed. Seal it in the first month and you can lock a white haze under the sealer permanently.
Laying over the old surface
Whatever made the old surface fail is still down there when you pave over it. If the base was the problem, a new layer on top only covers the failure for a season, and then it shows through again.
The pavers are a wearing surface. The base is the building.
Common questions
How long does the job take
A typical paver patio 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
You can go to work as usual. We need to be able to reach the work area and use your water. If anything changes the plan, like what we find once the old surface is up, we call you that day.
Will the new pavers match what I already have
It depends mostly on whether the line is still made. If it is, we can usually get close, though sun and age shift the color of concrete pavers a little over time. If it has been discontinued, we show you the options before ordering, and that can include borrowing units from a less visible spot.
What happens to the old surface
We take it out and take it away. Old concrete and pavers get recycled where a facility is available, and hauling is built into the scope from the start, so there is no surprise charge at the end.
How do you keep it from settling again
Settling is a symptom. The cause is almost always water or a weak base, and occasionally a tree root. We correct whichever one it is, rebuild the base where it failed, and then relay the pavers, so the spot has no reason to drop again.
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.
Let us walk the property
Send a couple of photos or just call. We will tell you what we think is going on, what it would take to fix, and whether it needs doing now or can wait.
Quality you can stand on