Brick Paver Base

What is the most important part of installing a Brick Patio or Walkway? The Base. The base consists of the the materials that go under the brick and forms a solid foundation to build on. Without a solid base your bricks will move around and create an uneven surface that will collect water and be unsightly. Installing a proper base for a walkway or patio requires excavating the area from 8 to 12 inches depending on the area. This part of the job can require an excavator or bobcat to do the work depending on the size of your project. Of course you can always dig by hand!

Patio Base Details

As everyone who lives in the Syracuse, NY area knows, we have a great fluctuation in temperatures as the year goes by. This results in many freeze / thaw cycles that your brick base will go through. Unlike down south where they can just throw the brick down on an inch of sand, we need to install a deep stone base for all of our brick patios, walkways and driveways to support the bricks and provide a solid foundation.

Walking areas like patios and walkways need at least a 4 inch base of crusher run fully compacted for your first base layer. Driveways can need up to 12 inches of crusher run. The second layer is the bedding sand. We only use Concrete sand as our bedding layer and this layer can be from 1 inch to 2 inches thick.

Compaction of the base material

Compaction of the Crusher Run base is a must. A gas compactor should always be used for the best compaction of your base to ensure a solid foundation. On walkways the 4 inches can be compacted in one step. When compacting more than 4 inches you should do it in steps by only compacting 3 to 4 inches at a time then adding more stone and repeating the process. Installing the base for a driveway would require 10-12 inches of base material compacted in lifts, along with a Geo Fabric under the stone due to the weight of vehicles driving on it.

Installing a good base is imperative to a long lasting brick paver installation in the Syracuse, NY area. Always do it right the first time and you will have a great outdoor area to enjoy!

We have several pictures of patios and walkways we have completed on our Gallery Page.



Green Earth Lawn & Landscape offers free estimates on all outdoor landscaping projects! Give us a call at 315-952-1887 or visit our website and fill out our Contact Us form!

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