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HomeBuildHow To Install Patio Pavers On A Slope

How To Install Patio Pavers On A Slope

Accurately Measure Required Base Material

Part 1 – How To Build a Paver Patio on a Slope

What depth of base materials is necessary? There is no absolute rule to determine how required depth, however recommendations vary by use. The guidelines are 4 to 6 inches for pedestrian walkways and 8 to 12 inches for driveways. Local soil conditions also impact depth needs. Generally, clay bases need to be dug deeper to facilitate drainage.

Consult your local dealer for further guidance.

Things To Consider About Rubber Pavers

While there are very little disadvantages or downsides to the use of rubber pavers, there are a few things to keep in mind when planning your project.

  • Before installation, rubber pavers cannot get wet. Because of their porous nature, they will absorb water and expand making installation very difficult.
  • Do not allow your rubber pavers to absorb much sunlight. If your rubber pavers are left out in the sun for too long, it can result in thermal expansion or contraction. This will ultimately lead to the development of gaps within the structure of the pavers.
  • If there is additional work nearby your project site, your rubber pavers should be covered with a protective material. They have an open surface that, aside from being absorbent to water, is also absorbent to dust and paint.

If you factor these few considerations into the prep and planning of your project, you should run into little to no issues during the process.


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Gather Your Tools And Materials

The materials you need include your pavers, class II road base, bedding sand, joint sand, concrete, and sealer. You will also need one-inch PVC pipes to use as screeding guides and a 2×4 to use as a screed. We also strongly recommend using geotextile fabric. While this is not an absolute must for installing paver patios, driveways, or walkways, it protects your foundation from the soil and helps secure the longevity of your paving stone project.

You likely already have most of the tools you will need on hand. You may need to rent or buy a tamper or a concrete blade for your circular saw, but most of what you need you probably have in your shed or garage.

Here are the tools you will need:

  • Tape measure
  • Protective gear

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Mixing Mortar In A Cement Mixer

Pour about a quarter of a bucket of water into the mixer. Add half the sand, then the cement. Run the mixer, then add the rest of the sand and more water if necessary. Mix it thoroughly until you have a soft consistency.

Dont allow mortar to dry on your tools. Clean them with a stiff brush from time to time. If using a mixer, wash the drum thoroughly after use.

How Can I Level Out The Ground For Patio Pavers

How to Lay a Circular Patio

Good paving is like good cake frosting: all the effort it took to create a perfectly smooth surface is not noticed by anyone. Therefore, visitors are likely to applaud the color, architecture, and ingenuity of your paving project without complimenting you on how beautiful it is. Normal paving is a challenge. Apply patience, work step by step and let the silence of your viewers signal a fine job well done.

Step 1

To mark the outer edge and form of your project, layout a rope or garden hose. Suppose its a rectangle 10 feet by 12 feet, for instance.


Step 2

At the corners of the rectangle, pound stakes into the ground. Wind string and tie securely around the stakes at ground level. Remove the garden hose or chain.

Step 3

Slide the carpenters level all the way around the rectangle along the string. The ground should be level for pavers to drain, but with a slope of 1 inch to every 4 feet in length, to encourage drainage. To demonstrate a slope of 3 inches over a length of 12 feet, use your measuring tape to change the string as required. Verify that the strings slope is also at the level of your carpenter. The bubble will be slightly off-center on the slope at bubble-level. At the off-center point, mark the level gauge with tape or a marker, so you can check for a clear slope across the field. For a level slope, youre calculating, not just a flat surface.

Are You Considering Purchasing Patio Pavers?


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How To Compact Pavers Without A Plate Compactor Simple Steps

Before you lay pavers or your patio, the ground you will be using must be level, and the dirt underneath must be compact. If you dont have a plate compactor to compact pavers, use road rollers, vibratory paver rollers, or tamping rammers.

As a DIY-er, its just normal to try and find an alternative method to use to compact pavers other than plate compactor. While road rollers can do better than plate compactors, they are super expensive and need more space to move freely without breaking things. Rammers are great for compacting cohesive soil. Compared with a plate compactor, they can compact a deeper amount of soil since the force from its plate is more direct.

Apart from compacting soil, the vibratory paver rollers are highly recommendable for running it on top of pavers to join your polymeric sand material. But you need to know that every situation is different. So, its crucial to understand the type of soil and the job requirement when choosing a compact method to use.

Compacting the soil is the most significant step in preparing your paving project. If you fail to do so, the ground movement will wrap after a while, creating humps and hollows. Make sure you have a strong sub-base for a long-lasting, structurally sound pave installation to avoid any unwanted air gaps in your system. The sub-base needs to be compacted very well also, to prevent sunken or raised pavers down the road.


Keep on reading!

Fixing A Patio With An Improper Slope

If your patio has a problem with standing water, its possible you may have an improper slope.

Dont worry just yet, several solutions are available to fix your problem. However, dont get your hopes up! Its very possible the only fix is to demolish the existing setup and start over. It boils down to how flat your current patio is.

In a perfect world, your patio would have been constructed with ¼ inch of slope per foot of length. If this is not the case, it can cause terrible problems and possibly damage the foundation of your house.

One way to correct this problem is by adding a drain.


The drain should be placed close to where the standing water is collecting. You can mark this location and use a jackhammer to dig up the pavement. Once the concrete is removed, you will dig a trench until it can hold a two-inch layer of sand and the drain channel.

The sand should be sloped away from the house at the rate of one inch per 20 feet. Once you lay the drain channel in the sand, you can cover the drain with a gate.

Although you can add a drain to an improperly sloped patio, the best way to handle this is to make sure that the patio is sloped correctly when it is built. If you have a concrete pad for your patio, you can actually fix it.

If there are no cracks in the concrete slab, you can pour concrete right over it and slope it properly. However, if you have pavers or stamped concrete, you might have a more difficult time.

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A Simple Rectangle Paver Patio

Since you can basically build your backyard patio in any size or shape you want to, its easy to get distracted by all the different possibilities. However, the best option is most often the simplest and most obvious one. A simple rectangle might not seem very exciting but can end up looking amazing once all the pavers are in place. We really like how this design turned out and if you want to find out more about the process theres a video on that you can check out.

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How Do You Lay Paving Slabs On A Slope

Part 5 – How To Build a Paver Patio on a Slope, 1yr later

Use this guide to begin.

  • Determine the Walkway’s Location. Before working on the sloped area, you must decide where you want the pathway to be located.
  • Prepare the Ground.
  • Spread Crushed Rock Over the Ground.
  • Install Your Pavers.
  • Spread Sand Over the Pavers.
  • Wash Away Excess Dirt.
  • . Likewise, how do you lay patio slabs on a slope?

    Use a spade and shovel to excavate six inches into the soil. Begin digging out the soil at the lowest part of the slope. You will need to dig more soil from the highest part of the slope so that the entire area will be level. Use a level to ensure that the area is flat and even.

    One may also ask, how do you lay a path on a slope? How to Build a Path on a Slope

  • Hammer stakes into the ground and connect string to them to show the outline of both sides of the path, which should be at least 3 feet wide to account for the width of the railroad ties.
  • Remove 2 or 3 inches of dirt so the path becomes lower than the ground around it.
  • Place the level every few feet along the path.
  • Just so, should a patio be sloped?

    A patio should slope away from the house at the rate of 1/8″ per running foot. Generally, a 4″ thick slab set 2″ above ground level is suitable. To ensure that the height and slope are correct, begin the excavation, layout and form construction where the patio meets the house.

    How do you level a sloping patio?

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    Secure The Concrete Pavers In Place And Fill The Gaps

    Once you have finished each section and the pavers have all been laid, make sure none of the paver stones wobble. Youll want to check this before filling the joints.

    I had about five that had some wobble and just about every time, the culprit was a raised bit of larger gravel that had been pulled near the surface. The concrete paver stone was resting awkwardly on the raised gravel.

    The way to fix this is to gently remove the paver and check for the larger gravel that is raised. Remove it and fill in the hole with sand. Carefully place the paver back down into position.

    If you dont see any gravel, then something in that spot isnt level. It could be that theres a bit of a bump, or just one edge needs a little more sand. Use the float to level it and place the paver back into place.

    With all the pavers set as you need them, you can start filling in the gaps. Use the square nosed shovel to scoop the sand or paver dust and place it into the joints, but only add about ½- ¾ of the paver dust/sand.

    Try to distribute it evenly between them. You can use a hand spade and/or a broom to help with this.

    Now finish filling in the gaps with your decorative top layer. I used marble chips.

    Spread these evenly throughout, but be sure to leave them recessed about ¼ from the top so you dont end up with a big mess of overflowing joint filler.

    Those are all the steps! Now youll be ready to entertain on your new concrete paver patio!

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    Get Masonry Industry News In Your Inbox

    Designers, contractors and homeowners often ask what the maximum slope is for a driveway constructed with concrete pavers. The best example of a steeply sloped project is a street in Colma, Calif., with an 18-percent grade. While there might be driveways and streets with steeper slopes, the Colma project provides the current upper limit in North America at 18 percent . Of course, higher slopes have been achieved. Figure 2 shows a Costa Rican road with a maximum slope of 25 percent that leads to a mountain hotel on the Papagayo Peninsula. Likewise, moving into South America, Figure 3 shows a street and pedestrian walkway with a 14-percent slope just after construction was completed in Medelln, Colombia.For embankment applications without vehicles, the limiting factors are the angle of repose of the bedding sand, base and soil subgrade and, most importantly, the resistance to soil and base sliding under compaction equipment. The angle of repose can be as steep as 35 degrees, or about 70 percent however, the tendency of soil and base to slide during compaction will reduce this limit.

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    How To Install Pavers In 10 Steps

    You can follow these instructions to Install Pavers whether you are installing brick, concrete or stone pavers. The process of installing pavers is something you should be familiar with even if you have them professionally installed.

    Below is a detailed explanation of each of the 10 steps to install pavers:

    1. Planning and Layout 2. Calculating Amount of Pavers Needed 3. Excavation

    1. Planning and Layout

    The first step is to install pavers is plan the area to be paved. Assess whether the space is adequate for pavers. Plan and measure your project on graph paper. Create the outline of the paved area using a hose or some wood. After marking or spray painting the outline, stretch eight inches beyond it.

    Make sure the area has a slope so water can run off the pavers so the pavement doesnt pool or collect, causing damage over time.

    2. Calculating Amount of Pavers Needed

    Measuring the width and length of the area to be paved is the first step. Once you have the width and the length, multiply them together. As a result, youll have the square footage of the paved area. This figure should always be increased by 5% in order to accommodate the pavers that will be shaped to fit rough curves. You should add 10% to your estimate if you expect to cut a lot of pavers.

    Your supplier can provide you with the paver coverage rate that corresponds to the area to be paved. Pavers are priced differently according to their size and shape.

    3. Excavation

    5. Edge Restraints

    How To Build A Patio On A Slope

    Building A Paver Patio On A Slope Home Design Ideas The ...

    A well-built patio adds beauty, value, and a place for fellowship to your home. If your backyard backs right up to a hill, you may be concerned that you wont be able to make your patio dream a reality.

    Im happy to tell you that whether youre using pavers, stone, or paved concrete, building a patio on a slope is not really that different than building on a level surface. Stay tuned, because Im about to share what I know about how to build a patio on a slope.

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    Level The Top Layer Of The Concrete Paver Patio Base

    Use the square nose shovel to scoop the paver dust and spread it onto the base layer. Do this in a sifting type of motion to get it even.

    Dont tamp the sand before laying the pavers. The screeding will basically have already compacted the sand for you.

    I recommend only screeding one section at a time, for two reasons. One is that if it rains before you have placed your pavers, you will need to add more sand and relevel with the screed.

    The other is that since you can walk on the pavers as you place them, it will be much easier to get around the patio. Youll be forced to work outside the patio the whole time if you level the entire space at once. Youll also benefit by getting a second set of hands for this.

    To screed the sand for leveling, start at one end and place the screed on top of the pipes.

    Hold the screed tight to the pipes and push it across the pipes. Keep the pressure even as you move along.

    You may need to slide the screed back and forth to help even the sand out.

    If you get to the end and you meet a wall, like the foundation of your house, use a mason float to scoop out the additional sand.

    You can also use the float if there are any spots that you accidentally pulled a piece of gravel through and it made a divot, or your hand hit.

    Do Not Compact The Bedding Layer

    This is the most common mistake.

    There is no such thing as 100% height control in any concrete product. When you do the final compaction, the loose sand will be forced up between the pavers and this will set and secure them. The loose sand will also allow the tamping process to even out the top surface of the pavers.

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    Manufactured Concrete Cobbles That Come In Mats

    Paver patios are definitely practical but laying each paver by hand, one by one gets really annoying quickly. You can make things easier by opting for the more time-saving and practical alternative: manufactured concrete cobbles that come in the form of mats, very much like mosaic backsplash tiles. Theyre super easy to install. Once youve arranged all the mats and filled all the gaps, you just pour grout over everything and you spread it evenly. Youll probably need a few more details so be sure to check out thisoldhouse.

    Use The Correct Bedding Material

    Part 3 – How To Build a Paver Patio on a Slope

    Avoid stone dust or limestone screenings, as these materials usually have too many fines that trap water that can cause early failure of the pavers.Sand is often used. Instead of sand, you can also use a small chip stone called ASTM #9s, HPB or clear 1/8 chip. This material is increasingly popular because it is free-draining and easy to work with in varying types of weather.

    Lastly, only prepare as much area with the bedding course as you can lay the pavers on that day, or you may have to re-level the whole area due to unexpected rain or people walking on the area.

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