How to lay a paver patio, step by step

What you need

Tools: a plate compactor (usually rented), shovels, a wheelbarrow, a bow rake, a long level, string line and stakes, screed rails (1 in pipe works) and a straight 2×4, a rubber mallet, and a way to cut pavers — a masonry saw (rentable) or a splitter. Eye, ear and dust protection for cutting.

1. Plan and mark out

Pick a size that works with your paver dimensions if you can; a 12 × 12 ft patio in 16 in pavers is exactly 9 × 9 pavers with no cutting (see How many pavers for a 12×12 patio). A small starter patio is worked out on How many pavers for a 10×10 patio. Mark the outline with stakes and string, then mark a second line further out for the dig: the base has to run past the finished edge so the edge restraint sits on stone. ICPI’s guide specification asks for at least the base thickness beyond the edging spikes, so on a 4 in base that is 4–6 in past the pavers; Oregon State University Extension’s guide simply marks 8 in outside the outline.

Plan for drainage. The finished patio should slope away from the house by about 1/4 in per foot (2%), and never less than about 3/16 in per foot (1.5%, ICPI’s minimum). On a 12 ft deep patio that is 3 in of fall from the house to the far edge, and at least 2¼ in. Set your string lines with that slope built in.

2. Excavate

Dig to the depth of the base plus the sand plus the paver thickness, measured down from the finished surface, over the whole marked area including the overbuild. For a 4 in base, 1 in of sand and 2⅜ in pavers (a common thickness), that is about 7⅜ in — call it 7½. Remove sod, roots and soft organic soil. Keep the bottom of the excavation following the same slope as the finished patio.

excavation depth = base depth + 1 in sand + paver thickness
example: 4 + 1 + 2.375 = 7.375 in → dig about 7½ in below finished grade

Compact the exposed soil with the plate compactor before adding stone. If you hit soft, wet spots, dig them out and replace with gravel. On clay or soft ground, lay a woven geotextile over the soil to keep the base from sinking into it. Remember the dug soil fluffs up — typically by 20–30%, more for clay — so the pile is bigger than the hole.

3. Build the base in lifts

Spread the crushed base in layers of 2–3 in, dampen it lightly, and compact each layer with several passes of the plate compactor before adding the next. Compacting 4–6 in all at once leaves the bottom loose. Check the slope and flatness as you go with a long level or string line — the base, not the sand, sets the final shape of the patio.

Dense-graded base (crusher run, DGA) loses 20–30% of its loose volume when you compact it, so order about 1.25 times the compacted volume (clean stone like #57 settles only 5–10%). Add a little for low spots too; it is better to have a spare half ton than to stop halfway for a second delivery.

4. Screed the bedding sand

Lay two screed rails (1 in outside-diameter pipe is common) on the compacted base, parallel and following the slope. Pour coarse concrete sand between them and drag a straight board across the rails to strike it off flat. Pull the rails out, fill the grooves with sand, and trowel them smooth. Don’t walk on screeded sand. ICPI’s bedding-sand spec keeps this layer between 1 and 1½ in loose; if you need more than that somewhere, the base is low there — fix the base.

5. Lay the pavers

Start at a straight, fixed edge — usually the house or a corner — and work outward, standing or kneeling on the pavers you have already laid, not on the sand. Place each paver straight down against its neighbors rather than sliding it into place, which plows sand into ridges. Most concrete pavers have small spacer nubs that set the joint width; ICPI’s range is 1/16–3/16 in.

• Check your pattern lines with a string every few rows; small drifts add up fast over a whole patio.
• Pull pavers from two or three pallets at once to mix color variations.
• Leave the cuts for last. Lay all the full pavers, then measure and cut the edge pieces.
• Avoid tiny slivers at the edge; adjust the layout so edge cuts are at least a third of a paver where possible.

6. Install the edge restraint

Set the edge restraint tight against the outside row of pavers, sitting on the gravel base — not on the bedding sand or the soil — and spike it down at the spacing the maker calls for. Snap Edge’s spec prefers 10 in spikes about 12 in apart; curves take them closer. Sides that butt against the house or an existing slab don’t need restraint. Without it, the outer rows creep outward and the joints open up.

7. Compact and fill the joints

Sweep the surface clean and run the plate compactor over the pavers (with a protective pad if the manufacturer recommends one) to seat them into the sand. Then sweep joint sand into the joints and compact again. Repeat until the joints are full.

Polymeric sand hardens after it is misted with water, which resists weeds and washout. Alliance Gator asks for the sand to finish at least 1/8 in below the paver top. Follow the bag’s instructions exactly — too much water or leftover dust on the surface can leave a haze that is hard to remove.

A worked example: 12 × 16 ft patio

This is the same patio as How many pavers for a 12×16 patio, which also shows other paver sizes and base depths. Here the base runs 6 in past each edge; the calculator’s default is the minimum, the base depth itself. In metric, the 3 × 4 m patio page does the same for paving slabs.

• Area: 192 sq ft.
• Pavers (6 × 9 in): 192 ÷ 0.375 = 512, plus 10% = 564.
• Base: the base runs 6 in past each edge, so 13 × 17 ft = 221 sq ft. At 4 in compacted that is 2.73 cubic yards. Crusher run compacts about 25%, so order 3.41 cubic yards loose ≈ 5.12 tons, or about 5.37 tons with 5% for waste. (With a 4 in overbuild it is 5.13 tons with waste.)
• Bedding sand: 1 in over 192 sq ft = 16 cu ft, plus 10% for screeding = 17.6 cu ft (about 0.65 cubic yards, or 36 bags of 0.5 cu ft).
• Joint sand: with 1/8 in joints, a 50 lb bag of polymeric sand covers about 77 sq ft of 6 × 9 pavers, so 3 bags.
• Edge restraint: perimeter of 56 ft, less any side against the house; about one spike per foot.
• Excavation: 4 in + 1 in + 2⅜ in ≈ 7½ in deep over the 221 sq ft base area, which is about 5 cubic yards of soil in the ground — roughly 6.3 cubic yards once it fluffs up in the pile.

Mistakes that cause sinking and rocking

• Too little base, or base compacted all at once instead of in lifts.
• Ordering base for the patio area only: forgetting both the overbuild past the edges and the 20–30% that crusher run loses when compacted.
• Using the sand layer to fill low spots in the base. Thick sand shifts.
• No edge restraint, or restraint sitting on soil instead of the base.
• Too little slope, so water sits on the patio and freezes in the joints.
• Skipping the final compaction, so pavers settle unevenly later.

If the patio is next to a slope, a low retaining wall can create a level area — see the retaining wall block calculator and How many blocks for a 20 ft retaining wall, 2 ft high for that part. Words like crusher run, compaction and edge restraint are explained in Words you’ll hear at the yard.