Managing a rental garden

Home improvement: 4 Tips to Having an Ideal Paver Patio

by Glen Shelton

Designing and building a paver patio is not an easy task. You need to account for a lot of factors including the drainage, land architecture and surface levelling. You also need to ensure that the patio is built to last for generations if you really want to spend your money's worth. So before you get to work, here are some amazing tips to put into consideration for the best results.

Consider the drainage

You need to think ahead and one of the main considerations to make is on the drainage. How will the water flow once it rains? Or worse, if it storms? When designing the paver patio, give it a slight slope away from the house, around one to two inches will suffice. This will lead the water away from the foundation of the house preventing the basement from flooding and pools from forming. You can use a gas-powered compactor to level the dirt and achieve the slight slope towards the yard.

Dig deeper

When digging you need to get deep into the soil when installing you paver patios. Digging deep keeps the vegetation from interfering with your patio. However, you need to ensure you start your construction below the root level of the vegetation. Before you dig, ensure you're not going to cut your way into any plumbing cables or electrical wires. If you are unsure of the wiring, call your local utilities before proceeding.

Keep the foundation level

Before you start, the foundation of your patio needs to be set. The ground needs to be extra solid and you can pack in the base using a compactor or tamper before layering the stones.

On layering, you need to ensure that the stones at the foundation layer are as level as possible. This is because as you add the stacks of stones, the tilt will become more pronounced and this can really put you off. So if some stones are higher than others, pound them down with a mallet to get them back to level. For the stones that sit at a lower level, you'll have to add some sand beneath them.

Give it a tight edge

The edge of the patio is the most vulnerable. Any weeds or patio movements affect the outer edge the most so you need to find ways of keeping it solid. You can use a cement lip on the edge or even have vinyl edging all round. This additionally leads to a more stable patio.

For more tips or assistance, contact local experts such as Lifestyle Patios.

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