How to DIY paver patio. I say for “normal people”, because I read quite a few blogs on this, and they weren’t all conducive to someone who has NO experience with extreme manual labor, digging into sod and clay, heavy lifting, setting pavers or making 128 trips to Lowes all in one weekend. Just to make another 128 trips the following weekend…only to eventually realize that if you are buying that much they will actually deliver for free!!!
All this to say, I promise if we can do it, you can do it. That is, if you so desire. I’m certainly not against outsourcing these kinda projects, but theres no “i” in marriage…or there’s no “i” in team…something like that.
My disclaimer would be, this project is NOT for the faint of heart. Be prepared for soreness, everywhere, and, please, keep your Tylenol, hot bath, lavender oil, massage therapist, and bags of frozen peas close at hand.
Alright – lets get started. Here are the supplies you will need:
Side note:
I am giving you the amounts we actually used of materials, however this will vary based on the size of your paver patio.
Our paver patio is a 9.5X14 foot rectangle of pavers with a 6-10 inch stone border on the sides. Most materials will give you calculations on the the side of the bags as to how much you will need. So go to Lowes, scoop it out, and bring your calculator.
Equipment:
- Gloves – a set per person
- Shovel- one per person (I highly recommend a straight shovel, meant for cutting sod, vs a scoop shovel, however the either will do)
- Wheelbarrow
- Tamper
- A long 2×4 that spans the full width of your patio (ours was 9.5 feet, this is for leveling the sand)
- Broom
Materials:
- Sandbags (we used 85)
- Paver bases (we used 25) ** (these are expensive foam rectangles that claim to help level the pavers **If we did this again I would not use them. I didn’t think they added the value that they cost, but we can discuss this in a post on DIY Paver economics later)
- 2 pieces of PVC pipe the length of your patio (ours was 14.5 feet long) again this is for leveling.
- Pavers – we used a square cobblestone paver (we used 77)
- Quickcrete (the sand that sets the pavers in place – we used 3 buckets)
- Plastic paver border (we used 3 sets)
- Rocks (if you want a rock border, we used 8 bags)
Paver Patio Step 1.
Make a plan
This seems like a given, but having a vision for what the outcome will look like is crucial. Notice ours is pretty raw, no measurements or anything, (in fact you’ll notice the boy being silly by labeling everything as “the girl’s”…but we all know this project was for him as much as it was for me).
If you need help with your plan, I recommend Pinterest, as it has no short comings on grand patio ideas.
Paver Patio Step 2.
Measure out your patio size
This is where you do need to be extact. Our patio paver size was 14.5 by 9.5 but the sod square we measured was 15×10 – the extra was to account for our rock border.
Paver Patio Step 3.
Dig up the sod
Friends, this is where it gets tough and if you are considering contracting any of the project out, I would contract this part. But we did it, so I know it can be done with a shovel. Just plan to listen to some good tunes and take lots of breaks, because digging sod is a B****.
I know what it looks like here – but trust me I helped dig A LOT!! I just happen to not be in the pics, because I was the photographer. Pinky swear.
Finally after about 4 hours of digging, it was time for step 4.
Paver Patio Step 4.
More Digging
Once you remove the sod you will have a 2-3 inch deep square in the ground. Unless you want your pavers to sit above the grass (our pavers alone were 2 inches thick), you will need to dig another 2-3 inches down – which is just what you’re in the mood for after a day of digging ๐
Paver Patio Step 5.
Tamp the ground
The good news? You’re FINALLY done digging! The not so good news? You’re not done yet. Here you will want to use a tamper to get the ground as flat and compact as possible before laying sand. Our ground was already pretty compact, so we just went over it a few times to try to get it as flat as we could.
Paver Patio Step 6.
Lay Weed Barrier
Praise the lord – finally an easy step!! Well honestly, after all the digging, its all a bit easier so who hoo! We just bought a large roll of the black weed barrier and rolled it out over our entire square. Its cheap and hey, no one wants to have to weed the pavers.
Paver Patio STEP 7
Pour Sand
Its hard to say how much sand you will need, but we used a whooping 85 bags. The flatter your hole is the less you will need, however because we used shovels to dig we had some pretty large discrepancies in the dirt. We ended up needing about twice what we originally thought in order to get this thing flat. You will just have to spread the sand and see how flat you can get it, if its not flat = more sand :(.
If you have a big enough area, I would highly recommend looking into your local sand, dirt, gravel company to see if they can deliver a truck load to your yard. We probably would have saved a lot of money and time had we gone this route.
Paver Patio Step 8.
Screeting Sand
Let me start by saying that this step is NOT OPTIONAL. I would know, because we tried to skip it, and um, that didn’t work out. My neighbor who is a contractor introduced us to this fancy term “screeting” which basically means pull a large board over and over the sand until its flat. Important to note that the board must be the full length of your paver patio. Also this is where the PVC pipes come into play. We had 3-4 inches of sand, so we dug a little 1.5 inch trench to put them in and then pulled the board over the pipes. If your hole is flat and shallow enough you may be able to lay the PVC directly onto the weed barrier and then pour sand on top of them. I recommend looking at this very short Youtube video for a screeting tutorial.
Paver Patio Step 9.
Tamp the Sand
Look at that boy work, he must be a good one ๐
This step is also not optional, unless you want your patio shape to morph as the sand settles. As I said many times to myself, you want it to be DIY, not look DIY.
Repeat steps 8 and 9 until your sand is flat.
Paver Patio Step 10.
Lay Paver Bases
**OPTIONAL, (not recommended, unless you have a flat hole to begin with)
We used these, but really didn’t feel like they did much good. We ended up needing so much sand to get our hole flat that we felt we probably could have skipped. And at 12.50 a pop, we could’ve saved a few hundred bucks leaving the 25 of these bases out.
However, if you have dug out a pretty flat hole, they may be a good option. This would work if you only need .5-1 inch of sand to get everything flat as they will help cushion your pavers and hold them in place.
Paver Patio Step 11:
Set Pavers in Place
Also do a happy dance – because it is actually starting to look like a patio!
Paver Patio STEP 12.
Add Paver Borders
Finally the end is in sight! This part is easy, so enjoy it, because nothing else about this process is easy. Place the edges around your stones and hammer/stomp in the stakes.
Paver Patio Step 13.
Pour quickcrete
Quickcrete is some kinda magic sand that turns into concrete. Just like everything else, you can find it at Lowes. Read the instructions on the bucket. We used 3 buckets and it was pretty simple – pour sand, sweep, mist with water, and allow time to dry (24-72 hours). Of course we live in Louisianamal and only a few hours after we poured the quickcrete the weather decided to monsoon all weekend. Luckily, we had it covered by a tarp and it did fine (whew!)
Paver Patio Step 14.
Add Rock Border
Rock border just consisted of pouring rock into the extra border space we dug out. Although this is optional, I recommend it. I think it defiantly gives the paver patio a nicer feel. We also extended our existing flower bed to go behind the patio to keep some flow in the back yard. We used marble chip rocks because we liked the contrast, but any rocks will work.
We also added the fleur de lis stepping stones to lead to the patio, since we are in Louisiana and all.
Step 15.
Bottle Poppin’
Most important step, the point of all the hard work – enjoy the patio!
For us this meant pjs and champagne and backgammon. Thats kinda how we roll. But you should customize this step to your favorite things. We’ve also already had a movie night out on the pavers, since the boy has a projector screen. And I have future ambitions of a paver patio popsicle party with the neighbors ๐
We decided to purchase chairs, a fire pit and umbrella to finish our space which all worked out pretty well in the space. Cheers to DIY paver patios! – and may I never embark on such a physically demanding project again ๐