A backyard patio is a great place to relax and unwind after a long day.
You might be considering a paver patio to dress up your landscape and create this perfect place for dining outside or sharing a drink with a friend, but you might be worried about some of the paver patio problems you’ve heard about.
While you know you want a functional space, you definitely don’t want an outdoor area that’s going to give you problems, hassles, and the stress that comes with them.
A patio is an investment, and you want to enjoy it.
To help you make the best choice on a patio that will last for years to come, let’s review some common paver patio problems and solutions in Greater Chicago.
3 Common Paver Patio Problems
Investigating potential paver problems and getting to the bottom of them is a smart exploratory step as you research your patio options.
This way, you can get ahead of common complaints or prepare yourself for any required maintenance steps to ensure a long-lived paver patio.
Here are the bigger paver patio issues that tend to crop up and ways to combat them.
1. Sinking or Uneven Pavers
A paver patio that isn’t flat and has areas that sink or rise creating more of an undulating surface rather than a flat one is certainly not what you want in a patio.
This problem can come up many times around a home that is newly built where the foundation hasn’t been set just right and then the soil settles and causes these sinking spots in the first 2 to 3 years after the home was built.
With any paver patio, the foundation, or base, is one of the most important installation steps. Excavating down to clay to ensure the base is set on a solid foundation is crucial. You can’t just excavate to a standard number of inches, particularly if you’re still finding black topsoil, poor soil, or old fill dirt down there. You have to keep digging until you reach clay. Then you must fill it correctly with modified crushed stone that is graded properly and compacted over and over again to ensure your base is solid. In addition to proper base construction, poor compaction can also certainly cause future sinking issues.
To avoid this paver patio problem, seek out a landscape design company that has experience working with paver patios and can talk to you about their installation process, particularly how they prepare their base and compact the patio to ensure sinking isn’t an issue.
2. Paver Patio Edging
Paver edges should never sink or fall apart. They should maintain their integrity if installed properly.
This is another paver patio problem where the base is involved. A patio base shouldn’t end at the edge of the patio. It should be 6 to 8 inches wider than your patio so pavers aren’t sitting on the edge of your base. When a paver patio is installed correctly, you shouldn't have an edging issue other than maybe 10 to 12 years down the road due to the freeze-and-thaw climate of Chicago that requires minor maintenance. But if you notice edging issues after only one year, then your paver patio may not have been installed correctly.
For this one, remember to talk to your patio installation company about how they construct their patio and manage edges before you choose the business to put in your new space to ensure you don’t have paver patio problems.
3. Weeds Growing In Patio Joints
When your patio is newly installed, it’s a work of art that seems like it will never be touched by ugly weeds.
But those weeds are persistent, and they always find a way through.
That’s why when people say paver patios are maintenance free, that’s not really true.
Nothing is truly maintenance free. With paver patios, you must keep up the integrity of the joint sand between pavers every 3 to 5 years to prevent weeds from coming through. This is a normal maintenance issue that can easily help manage this paver patio problem.
Avoid Paver Problems With The Right Partner
As you look at these common patio paver problems, you can see that most of them come down to poor construction practices. The right company can mitigate or even eliminate them by building your patio properly in the first place.
You can still have the paver patio of your dreams without these issues with a patio that is built right from start to finish.
Your choice in the landscape design and build company you choose in Greater Chicago matters. Look for a business that has a good reputation and reviews, experience working with paver patios, and one that can take the time to explain their process and construction steps to you.
Ultimately, you just want to have a patio you can invite friends and family to enjoy. We understand that.
Let us help educate you on paver patios. We can look at your landscape and show you some ideas for designs and then discuss our installation process so you can feel confident making your patio decision.
Ready to see how KD Landscape can transform your Greater Chicago landscape into something you can really enjoy? We’d love to share our design and installation expertise with you and deliver a space you’ll never want to leave. Get started today with a free consultation. Together, we can prepare a paver patio design that is ideal for your needs.
