Pavers for Backyard

Complete your landscaping project in Southern Orange County to perfection with premium pavers by OrangeBlue Landscaping Contractors. Most of our pavers are manufactured in U.S.A and can be installed as soon as you need them.

If wanting to construct a paver there are several factors to consider:

Do the areas to be connected join in a straight line or will a curve be more complimentary?

Is the garden formal or informal?

What other materials being used in the garden and can any of these be utilised to create a uniform look?

How even is the ground?

How much effort will be needed to construct the path and will the budget allow? The range of products that can be used to construct a pathway is endless and only restricted by your imagination. Different products such as pavers and gravel may be combined to compensate for difficult terrain and awkward shapes. Choose non-slip materials when possible and if spacing the steps ensure they are a comfortable distance for walking. Our pavers are available in special sizes and can be custom made for your project. Use our beuatiful pavers to bring the “Wow-Factor” to your landscape design.

Interlocking Pavers

Preparing the Base It is important to provide a well compacted, stable base on which to begin the paver installation. In some cases, this will require extensive excavation of unsuitable sub-grade material. Excavate the Site:

Excavate all unsuitable, unstable, or unconsolidated sub-grade material. When estimating the depth of excavation, consider the final grade of the project. Add the height of the paver unit, the depth of bedding sand, and the thickness of the compacted base material to get an estimate of needed depth.

Fill and Compact the Base:

Fill the excavated site with the appropriate amount of paver base material compact using a vibrating plate compactor. The base must be well compacted and level to provide a smooth, even surface on which to lay the bedding sand. NOTE: When preparing the grade of the base, be sure to provide a proper drainage.

Installing the Edge Restraint:

If an existing hard edge restraint (such as the side of a house) does not exist, you will need to either install a pre-manufactured polyethylene restraint or install a concrete restraint.

Step 4: Laying the Pavers

It is now time to begin laying the pavers onto the bedding sand and fitting them into the desired area of your paver project.

Field and Border Stones:

When laying the pavers onto the bedding sand, you want to work in a forward motion. Start the process in either a 90° corner or within the field by using a pre set string to guide straightness of pavers. Do NOT step on the bedding sand.

Trimming May Be Required:

As the field moves closer to the edge restraint or concrete border, cutting may be required to fit the pavers to the desired space. Cutting of pavers should be done with a diamond masonry blade and saw or if needed, it can be accomplished using a block splitter, but a splitter will not allow the precision cut provided by a masonry saw.

Short summary of what we have discussed above if you want to do the job yourself

1. Prepare Ground Before you begin laying pavers, prepare the ground. Ensure you have a root and rubble free compatible sand sub-base of at least 50mm thick. The sub-base should be roughly levelled and damped down before tamping down firmly with a hand or mechanical compactor. Hand compaction is usually enough for most domestic applications when laying pavers. Mechanical compaction should be used when laying pavers for vehicle traffic areas.

2. Spread Sand Now you must establish your final level. To do this simply lay two runner boards (timber or metal) on level sand and use a spirit level and the notched screed board to ensure they are level. Loosely spread the sand over the area bound by the runner boards, then screed the sand using the notched screed board on the running boards removing high spots and filling low spots.

3. Laying Pavers Commence at a straight fixed edge if possible. Start laying pavers in the desired pattern. Place each paver onto the sand and tap lightly into place with a rubber mallet or hand tamper. There are a variety of different patterns and modells

4. Compaction and Joint Filling When the laying of pavers and closure units is complete, pavers should be compacted and brought to level by not less than three passes of a high frequency low amplitude plate compactor. The compactor should have sufficient area to simultaneously cover 12 units, and its metal base should be covered to prevent it coming into direct contact with the surface of pavers. Use a 12mm plywood sheet or a thick rubber backed carpet square attached to the base of the compactor to provide a cushioning effect. A thin layer of joint filling sand spread evenly over the pavers prior to compaction will aid the movement of the compactor and further minimise surface damage. When the section is finished, brush clean, white washed dry sand into all joints until filled. Sweep off any excess and continue to lay new sections as previously described in Section 1 to 3. When all paving is completed, continue to sweep sand into joints until all joints are filled. This ensures the paving will achieve lock up.

5. Edge Restraints This final stage is required on all edges that do not butt-up to a solid wall or kerb thus preventing pavers from spreading under loads. The sub-grade and sub-base must be compacted beneath the edge restraint and extend at least 100mm beyond the outer edge of the restraint.