Everyone loves a good before picture right? This is where we started! Loads of different (an uneven) pavers, overgrown bushes and bad news water issues!

After we took out the old pavers and bushes along the Merc, we were faced with the cold hard truth that the grading (the slope in the ground) was angled so that water drained into both buildings on our property. Water is quite literally any building’s worst nightmare, so that issue needed to be addressed immediately.

Once your grading is correct, there is some ground prep that needs to happen before you can lay your pavers.

While I was on homedepot.com I came across a paver base panels. I dove head first into every bit of info that I could gather and ultimately decided they were perfect for our project.

Paver base panels are a foam mat that you can use under pavers to replace the 4-6” of road base that you traditionally need to use. They have killer reviews and saved us hours of physical labor hauling literal tons of material! If you are laying a patio or walkway, you should definitely do your research and decide if they are right for your project!

Start by compacting the soil on your freshly graded ground. You can rent a plate compactor that looks like a little lawn mower. It vibrates as you push it along and compacts the dirt. You’ll want to do a few passes to make sure that it’s compacted well. Skipping this step can cause pavers to be extremely uneven.

Once your soil is compacted, lay down weed barrier. This will prevent weeds from growing up through the pavers as well as keeping the next layer of sand from washing away.

Speaking of sand, once your weed barrier is down, lay 2 pieces of ¾” PVC pipe on the ground about 3 feet apart. They’ll follow the slope of the grading (super important!)

Shovel paver base sand in between and slightly over the top of the PVC pipe. It’s important to use sand that is made to be compacted. Playground sand won’t work for a project like this, it's too smooth!

Use a 2×4 or large rake to screet the sand. You’ll do this by putting it on top of the PVC and shimmying it down the pipe. This will level the sand between the PVC. Make sure you don’t step on it after you’ve leveled it!

Remove the PVC pipe and fill in the gaps. Smooth the surface so that it’s level with the other sand.

Lay your paver base panels on top of the leveled sand. Once the panels are down you are free to walk on it!

The first thing that you need to decide is the direction that you want your pattern to lie. It’s easier if your pavers run parallel to a building or hard edge, because you can easily work off of that.

If you’re ambitious (or a glutton for punishment like I am!) you can lay them perpendicular to the structure.

Start by setting a masonry line that will sit just above the tops of your pavers. This line is your guide for the entire pattern, especially if you aren’t working off of the edge of some sort of structure.

I had a few different ones that were my guides, if you look close you can see them in the picture below!