Thinking about installing a paver driveway? Pavers can be a great material to use for a drive, and they will give you a space that looks very different from the other houses on your block. If you’re considering a paver driveway, here are a few tips that will make installing it a little easier.
Make Sure the Area is Leveled Correctly
Putting in a paver patio is fairly simple since you only need a slight slant away from your home to ensure that water doesn’t pool against your house. A driveway, though, can be a little trickier because it may slant a lot. If your home is level with the street, you may not have this issue. You might only need to, like a patio, make sure the drive slants a little to keep water from pooling. If your drive is at more of an angle, though, you may need to work with a professional to ensure that everything is slanted like it needs to be. Pavers are a little more difficult to use with steep drives since they don’t easily mold to the ground like concrete will, but they can still easily be used if you prepare the area correctly.
Put in Edging
If you don’t have some sort of edging around your driveway, the pavers will slowly begin to drift apart, and eventually the spaces between them will become a problem. You can use plastic edging, or you can put in a concrete border around the space to hold your pavers in position. Either way, you want to be certain you’ve measured correctly and know where to install your edging since it typically is put into place before the pavers themselves. If you measure wrong, you may find that your pavers don’t fit into the space correctly. With plastic edging, you can move it, but if you’ve used concrete, your best bet here may be to cut your pavers.
Be Sure to Tamp Down the Pavers
After your paver driveway is in place, you want to be certain that you rent or borrow a plate compactor to pack the stones down. These machines produce vibrations that help settle the pavers, and you really do need to do this before you start using the drive. You can rent these machines from many home improvement stores. Another good tip is to run the plate compactor across the stones diagonally to help them settle correctly.
Have questions about using pavers for a driveway? The team here at Island Block and Masonry Supply has the answers!
