How to Extend Concrete Patios with Pavers

Whenever you need more room on your concrete patio, you can use pavers to complete the process. Pavers offer more room for you and your guest with a few extra tools and a little bit of time.

Step 1. Planning out the area for the pavers

Using some wood stakes and a hammer, mark out the area in which you will be laying down the new pavers from your concrete patio. Section out the area that you will be using, by placing a wood stake at each edge of the patio and hammer them down into place. Add a string line to the bottom of the stakes to attach them to the rest of the other stakes to make a guideline for you to know where to place the pavers.

Step 2. Excavate space

Now that the area is marked out by the stakes, you need to start digging the area you wish to pave. Make the bed 9 inches deep to leave enough room for the paver and soil. With a shovel, start digging up the area and make sure that when you are done that the level of the additional pavers is even so that it will seamlessly blend from the concrete patio into the pavers.

Step 3. Subsoil

Next, you need to compact down the subsoil by using a hand tamper. Then you will need to add the finely crushed soil to the same area and cover only 3 inches of space at a time. Pour in the soil and rake up the area until it is flat. Spray on some water to loosen up the soil gravel and use the hand tamper to compact the soil again. This process needs to be used again to compact the soil another time until there is enough room for the pavers which are around 2 1/2 inches thick.

Step 4. Lay down the pavers

If the design of the pavers is going to be circular then you need to mark a center point by finding the vertical and horizontal area from your house. A straight paver design needs to have bond lines marked out by placing a chalk line that is perpendicular to your house.

Next, you want to bring this paver towards the other one already laid down and slide it next to the other one until they click together. Lay down the pattern around the outside of the paver and add support for people stepping on and off the pavers. Add a paver edge restraint around the edge of the soldier.

Step 5. Compacting the new area in place

With the coarse sand, you want to brush these over the top of your pavers to fill in the spaces that are left. When you have swept the coarse sand so it is up to the top level of the pavers you need to compact it down. You can use plywood or an old carpet to lay down over the pavers so when you compact it the pavers will not crack or break. Sweep more coarse sand one more time and compact the area again. Use some water and spray over the pavers to make the coarse sand pack together in the crevices between the pavers.