When placing the stones, place them directly in the sand and place them tightly together. Make sure you don't drag the cobblestones through the sand and never place a cobblestone in its place. Place the pavers on the base of coarse-grained sand. Walk gently on newly placed cobblestones to reach the next rows.
Keep pavers tight to each other, as wide joints cause weeds between pavers. Excavate all unsuitable, unstable, or unconsolidated subsoil material. When estimating the depth of the excavation, consider the final slope of the project. Add the height of the paving unit, the depth of the sand of the sand layer and the thickness of the compacted base material to get an estimate of the required depth.
Fill the excavated site with the right amount of paver base material (a class II road base is recommended) and compact with a vibratory plate compactor. The base must be well compacted and leveled to provide a smooth and even surface on which to place the bed sand. A stable adjustment of the edges is necessary to eliminate any lateral movement of the pavers and sand. Edge restraints can be an existing hard edge restriction (such as the side of a house), a vinyl-molded retainer, or a concrete hold.
Now is the time to start placing the pavers on the sand in the bed and placing them in the desired area of your paving project. When you place the pavers on the sand in the bed, you'll want to work with a forward motion. Start the process at a 90° corner or inside the field using a pre-set string to guide the straitness of the pavers. DO NOT step on the sand on the bed linen.
As the field approaches the border of the edge or the edge of the concrete, cutting may be necessary to adjust the pavers to the desired space. Cobblestone cutting must be done with a diamond masonry blade and a saw or, if necessary, can be done with a block divider, but a divider will not allow the precision cutting provided by a masonry saw. This single pass will help place the pavers in the sand in the bed and cause some sand to move between the joints of the pavers. This is the initial stage of the interlock.
It is highly recommended to use geotextile fabric, especially for areas with clay soil commonly found in Southern California. To get the pavers flush with the ground level, dig approximately 5 inches down to allow 4 inches of base material, plus 1 inch of sand bed, plus the 1-inch thickness of the pavers. Using the vibrating plate compactor, pass over the sanded pavers to allow sand to properly fill the gaps between the pavers. Be sure to keep the height uniform throughout the area, as this is the last layer; its height will determine the final height of the patio.
The best way to water polymer sand is to adjust the hose nozzle to a soft shower and gently water the pavers until no more water enters. If you have a large project or if you want to use large format pavers (24 inches by 24 inches or more), you may want to have a contractor or gardening company do the work for you. The following guide is an overview of the appropriate steps for installing interlocking concrete pavers when there are no special circumstances. Be sure to remove excess concrete from the outer edges of the pavers for a clean and beautiful finish.
It is this layer of sand that will provide the final leveling properties and help secure the cobblestone units in place. Concrete pavers come in many different colors and textures, some even simulate natural stone or brick. While laying patio pavers is a fairly simple and straightforward exterior project, handling base materials and pavers is an exhausting job. Once the entire field and the edges of the paver have been placed, you will need to pass a vibrating plate compactor over the paver project to begin the interlocking process.
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