Pavers & retaining walls

A paver surface is only as good as the base under it. We dig out the topsoil, lay geotextile where the native soil is clay, and build a crushed gravel base in compacted lifts: about four to six inches under a patio or walkway, and eight or more where cars will drive. Then an inch of bedding sand, the pavers, a concrete or spiked edge restraint, and polymeric sand swept into the joints. Done this way, pavers ride out freeze-thaw better than most surfaces, and any that settle can be lifted and reset.

Segmental block walls hold back soil by weight and by geogrid, a mesh laid between courses and run back into the compacted backfill. The bottom course is buried, there is a band of clean drain rock behind the block, and a perforated pipe at the base carries water out, because a wall full of trapped water in January is a wall that bulges. Walls over about four feet, measured from the bottom of the footing, or walls holding a driveway or slope above, generally need a permit and an engineered design; we check with your city first.