Paver Driveway Installation – Bedford, MA

At this home in Bedford, MA we are replacing an old asphalt driveway with a paver driveway.  Pavers are a manufactured concrete product that are colored and textured to look nice, are thick and sturdy enough for vehicle traffic, and cost less than natural brick or stone.  We will also be edging portions of the driveway with granite cobble stone, and installing a step and walkway to the front door.

Paver Driveway – Prep

When installing a paver driveway the most important part is the prep.  With the weight of a vehicle you must make sure that there is a sturdy, properly compacted base so the pavers do not shift or settle.  To do this we excavate a full foot or until all organic matter is gone, and we are down to solid, well drained subsoil.  We then compact the subsoil with a heavy compactor, and start laying the base material.  The base material is a mix of crushed stone and stone dust.  It does not drain as well as pure crushed stone, but, it does compact better which is the primary concern in this case.  The base material is compacted in 2″ lifts to ensure proper compaction.

Paver Driveway – Installation

Once the base is prepped a thin layer of sand is used to achieve final level.  The pavers go down on the sand in the specified pattern, and the edges are secured with either cobbles stones or spiked plastic edging.  Once all the pavers are in, polymeric sand is swept into the joints.  This is a very find sand that has adhesive mixed into it.  When wet down for the first time the polymeric sand will set and harden.  This will keep the joints from washing out, and is meant to discourage weeds and ants.  Once the joint sand is swept in we run the compactor over the pavers again to make sure they are set and compacted, and to vibrate the joint sand down into the joints.