How to lay an area of clay pavers.

Laying a driveway, garden path, or patio needs craftsmanship. However, you can do it yourself if you know a little of what you’re doing. Read up well first. The following are some basic instructions.

Start by measuring and marking out the area of the garden that you want to pave. Never pave more than a third of your garden. This prevents overheating and flooding. A green garden is also more attractive to people and animals.

Have you picked the right paver?

When you start to dig, take into account the differences in height in your garden and the slope. The slope should be a gentle 1 centimetre per metre, which will ensure that rainwater can flow away to prevent ponding on the paving. 

Before laying a garden path or patio, dig out the height of the paver, plus 20 cm extra. Start by creating a sand bed of approx. 15 cm fill sand topped with a road layer of 5 cm road sand, fill sand, or crushed sand. Vibrate each layer with a plate compactor with rubber base. Remember that the layers will sink a little as you do this. 

A driveway needs a sturdier base. You will drive over it with a heavy vehicle after all. For a driveway, you need to start with a min. 25 cm grit mix or mixed aggregate. Then, apply a road layer of 5 cm road sand, fill sand, or crushed sand. A laser and a long spirit level is the best way to measure the depths and the slope .

Start thinking about the laying pattern for your pavers and the edging that you want to use. The edging prevents the paving from moving. There are countless options, from concrete kerbstones to stainless steel. Lay a row of pavers together to see how it might look. Make sure to leave a small gap between the pavers. 

Laying patterns and garden paving

You now need to smooth out, the road layer. Start by pressing the spacing battens into the road layer. Then, use a smoothing batten or long spirit level to draw the excess sand over the battens towards you. Fill the grooves of the spacing battens with sand. Don't walk over the road layer that you have just made.

It's now time to lay the pavers. Always start at the outside and take into account where you will end up. Always work with a gap of 2 mm. Once you’ve established the pattern, the convenient pavers will make the rest of the work go faster. If you’re not using edging bricks, you’ll need to cut the pavers to size at the edges with a diamond saw or paving splitter. 

After laying, sweep over the paving with crushed sand or joint filler (e.g. 0 - 2 mm). Joint filler can be obtained in various colours. Vibrate over the pavers well. Do this several times a days, until the gaps are filled.