Have you noticed some of the pavers in your patio have become uneven? There are a number of things that can cause this, including sinking pavers. When the soil under a paver can’t support the paver’s weight, that stone will begin to sink downwards. Fortunately, there is a pretty easy way of repairing this issue so your patio will look great and won’t present a hazard.
Remove the Paver
The first thing you need to do is to remove the sunken paver. If you didn’t use cement, this is a fairly easy procedure. Use a flat-tip screwdriver or other item as a small pry bar to pull the paver up. You may need to use one on either end to extract the paver. Sometimes, it helps to tape the pavers with a rubber mallet. This can help loosen them. In many cases, it’s not one paver that has started sinking—it’s several. You’ll need to take out all of the pavers that are no longer level.
Use a Leveling Tool
To level the area, you will need a screed board or something similar. These are the boards that are used to level concrete. Anything that you know is level will work. You want to level out the ground where the pavers sat. If this is a fairly small space, you’ll need a pretty small tool. Do your best to get the entire space as level as possible.
Add Filler Sand
Next, you will add some all-purpose sand to fill in the space. You don’t want to add too much—that will make these pavers a little taller than the rest, creating a tripping hazard. You don’t need to be too exact, though—once you replace the pavers, you can use your rubber mallet to tap them down and level them out as long as you didn’t put a lot of extra sand in the space. Once you’ve reset your pavers and leveled them, you can sweep some paver sand into the crevasses between the pavers to set them in place.
Need some help with an uneven paver patio? The team here at Island Block & Masonry Supply can help. Contact us today with your questions.
