Paver Reconstruction, from the subgrade up
Taking it back to subgrade and rebuilding when repair is throwing money away.
What actually goes wrong
When a paver surface goes wrong in Florida, the pavers are rarely the thing that failed. Water got into the base, the base moved, and the surface followed it down. Fix the surface only and you are back in two years.
The water table sits high across a lot of the coast, so there is less room for water to go down and more reason for it to move sideways. That is what takes the sand out from under a driveway edge.
Roots are the other big reason pavers lift around here. Ficus and black olive trees, and plenty of older shade trees, spread their roots shallow and wide, and those roots chase the moisture that collects under a walkway.
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
We come out and see it with you. The walk covers the surface and where the water goes after it leaves. You get a plain answer, and if the fix is smaller than you feared, we tell you that first.
You get the plan in writing
Everything in writing up front: what we are doing, what it is made of, how long it takes, and what it costs. Nothing changes without you signing off on it.
We build the base first
The base comes first and gets most of our attention. Excavation goes as deep as the load requires. Aggregate is compacted layer by layer, then the bedding is screeded flat. You will not see any of it once the pavers are in.
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.
Working out what actually failed
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.
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.
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
Aggregate goes down in lifts and each one gets compacted. One dump and a quick pass gives you a crust over loose material.
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.
Other repairs we handle
Our crews handle this across the region, and these are some of the areas we see most:
What it asks of you afterwards
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.
On a commercial property, a lifted paver is a liability item before it is a repair item. An edge that rises more than about a quarter inch above the surface around it is enough to catch a toe, so it deserves a quick response rather than a spot on next year’s list.
Debris in the joints is the thing to stay ahead of. Leaves and grass clippings break down into soil, and soil in a joint is where weeds start. Sweep it out, keep the sand topped up, and a well-built surface will ask very little else of you.
Concrete pavers carry their color through the whole unit. Sun will mellow it slowly over the years, and there is no surface layer to wear off. Expect some shift in the first year or two while the paver finishes curing, which is normal. This is the material behind most of the driveways, patios and walkways we build, because it is predictable to lay and easy to match later.
With clay brick there is no pigment to fade. The color comes from the clay as it is fired, so the paver looks essentially the same for as long as it lasts. The trade is a higher price and a smaller choice of shapes.
Two things to know about travertine. It is natural stone, so expect differences in tone between units. And it stays cooler than concrete underfoot in direct sun, which makes it the usual pick around a pool. If the spot gets oil or heavy staining, add a sealer to the plan.
Where these jobs go wrong
None of these are visible on the day the work finishes, which is exactly why they keep happening.
Skipping the geotextile
Without a separation layer, the subgrade and the base slowly trade places. Soil particles ride water up into the stone while the stone presses down into the soil, and the base gets thinner every year. Surface repairs do nothing for that kind of settlement.
Using the wrong sand in the bedding
Using whatever sand is on the truck is a common shortcut. Bedding has to be sharp, angular concrete sand, because rounded mason or beach sand lets pavers drift once weight goes on them.
Sealing too early
Of all the shortcuts, early sealing is one of the hardest to undo. A new concrete paver has to cure and let its efflorescence come out before sealing. Seal it in the first month and that white haze can stay under the sealer permanently.
Laying over the old surface
A new surface laid over an old one usually looks fine for about a season. After that, the base that ruined the first surface starts ruining the second. Speed and price are the only things the shortcut buys you.
The pavers are a wearing surface. The base is the building.
Common questions
Do I need to be home while you work
You do not. As long as we can get to the work area and hook up to an outside spigot, the crew can work while you are out. If something unexpected turns up, you hear from us that same day.
Will the new pavers match what I already have
First we find out whether your paver line is still made. Older lines get discontinued, and even a current one can look a little different from units that have sat in the sun for years. If we can match, exactly or closely, we order. If not, we show you the options first, like pulling pavers from a less visible area.
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
By fixing the reason it settled. That usually means correcting drainage and rebuilding the base properly, and sometimes it means dealing with a root or a downspout that is dumping water in the wrong place.
Do you work with HOAs and property managers
Yes, HOA and condo work is part of what we do. We prepare submittals for the board and phase the job so residents still get in and out. Tell us your approval steps and we follow them.
Do you cover Miami, FL
Yes. Being Miami-based means we are in and around Miami, FL almost every week. Ask us about scheduling when you call and you will get a clear answer.
Tell us what you are looking at
A real answer comes from being there. We will walk the property, follow where the water goes, and give you a written account of what we see, so you are not guessing from a phone call.
Quality you can stand on