Euro Honed 400x400x40mm

Installation Procedures – PAVERS

1. Clear Your Site

Mark out the area to be paved. Dig out the existing lawn and loose earth to a depth of around 150mm below the required finished height of your pavers. Remove all plant matter including roots, as any vegetation you leave in the ground will break down and cause your paving to sink in the near future. Scrape the bottom of your work area flat with your shovel.

Handy Tips: Dig and shovel straight into your wheelbarrow. No point double handling.

2. Lay a Foundation

Tip in your foundation material(s) to the minimum required depth as indicated below. A flexible installation is suited to light traffic and a rigid installation is better suited to driveway or heavy traffic. Fire up your Wacker Packer and compact 2 or 3 times until you have a nice firm surface. If you’re foundation is concrete, make sure it is at least 20 MPa in strength and is screeded to a smooth and level pad.

Handy Tips: Use ear muffs when you use a Wacker Packer.

3. Add Your Bedding Type

The most common bedding type used for paving is washed coarse sand. A minimum 25mm layer on top of your foundation should do the trick. Tip in the sand and rake it around until you have an even level distribution of sand. If you are using concrete, you have the option of bedding your pavers in sand, mortar or a suitable propriety adhesive.

Handy Tips: Please refer to manufacturer’s instructions for the correct use of mortar or adhesives as an alternate bedding type.

4. If Bedding Sand, Screed Smooth

Working from the far end, screen your sand smooth with a long straight float. Timber edge rails at half a paver depth below the existing ground level might help here. Use a spirit level to make sure your compacted sand slopes away from your house and towards your lawn or garden for rainwater runoff.

Handy Tips: You can’t be too smooth. Make sure yours and bed is nice and flat before you lay any pavers.

5. Start Paving

Set up a string line and carefully place your first row of pavers in position. Make sure your line is dead straight. Space your pavers a few millimetres apart using the blade of a trowel to get a consistent gap. If you are using mortar or an adhesive as a bed, you can butt your pavers together to achieve that contemporary look you have always wanted. However, if you are going for this option then expansion joints are required. Expansion joints need to be provided at intervals of no more than 4 meters and must mirror all concrete base control joints.

Handy Tips: Keep close to the ground (not arched over) when laying pavers to protect your back.

6. Cut Corners

If you’re paving out into an area bounded by grass (or a movable garden bed edge) you might get away without needing to cut any pavers. But if you want to in-lay a pattern, do a curved edge or fit your paving snugly around things like down pipes, it’s time you went to your local hire place and get yourself an electric brick saw. While you’re there, ask them about the correct procedures for cutting concrete pavers.

Handy Tips: Choosing the right sized paver for certain jobs can eliminate the need to hire a brick saw.

7. Set Square

With the first line of pavers laid, it’s time to head off in a different direction. Grab a big right-angle square to set a course at exactly 90 degrees to the first row and off you go. As you work forward, use a rubber mallet to tap your pavers down for a nice flush surface.

Handy Tips: Don’t walk on your screeded bed of sand.

8. Edging

Unless your pavers are being laid up against a wall they should be secured at every edge with pre-mixed concrete (add water only) or a mixture of coarse sand and cement at a 4:1 ratio. The finished edge of your paved area should be raised a little bit above any surrounding lawn.

Handy Tips: For a neat job, trowel the excess concrete up against the paver at a 45-degree angle.

9. Sweep in Sand

This is the easy bit. With all your pavers now in position, it’s time to tip a load of fine sand (joint filling sand) on top and sweep it into all the little crevices. Note: All expansion joints shall be filled with an appropriate flexible material.

Handy Tips: For ease of filling the joints, the joint filling sand and pavement surface should be dry.

10. Pack it in

Drag the Whacker plate (see handy tip below) onto the paved areas and begin compacting the pavers. Once or twice will do the job. If you have returned the compactor to the hire yard, don’t panic, a piece of solid timber used in conjunction with a rubber mallet will do the job. Note: this is ONLY to be done if your bedding type is sand.

Handy Tips: An old piece of carpet under the compacting plate will avoid chipping any pavers.

11. Seal Your Pavers

It is not compulsory to seal your pavers; however, doing so will assist in reducing the chances of permanent staining and water penetration. It will also improve the aesthetic appeal of the finished pavement. Speak to your distributor for an appropriate sealer for your project.

CHECKLIST –

1. Check With Your Council

Pavers can usually be laid around your house without council approval. However, if you’re doing a driveway or working in an area where water run-off is an issue, you may need to contact your local authority. Some of the newer residential communities have covenants covering the use of driveway materials. If so, get authorisation before proceeding.

2. Check Off Your Equipment

• Road base
• Rubber mallet
• Coarse sand
• Garden gloves

        To lay courtyard/pathway pavers, you will also need:

• Fine sand
• Ear muffs
• Spirit level
• String line
• Cement
• Wacker packer
• Brick saw
• Straight edge
• Broom
• Small trowel

         To lay a driveway, you may also need:

• steel reinforcement
• Concrete

3. Work Out How Many Pavers You Need

1. Grab a pencil, paper and tape measure. Measure the length and the width of the area to be paved. Then multiply one by the other to determine the total area in square metres. Make an appropriate allowance for irregular shaped areas or curved edges.
2. Multiply the number required per m2 by the area to be covered to determine total number of pavers required. Add 2% to this figure to allow for mishaps and cut pavers. Below is a guide to how many of each type you’ll need to lay one square metre.

Paver Size (L x W) Number of Pavers Required Per m2

600 x 600mm – 2.8

500 x 500mm – 4.0

400 x 400mm – 6.25

390 x 190mm – 13.5

387 x 290mm – 8.9

300 x 300mm – 11.1

250 x 500mm – 8.0

200 x 400mm – 12.5

200 x 100mm – 50.0

200 x 200mm – 25

4. Always wear eye protection when you’re splitting or cutting Adbri Masonry pavers. Wear ear protection if you use a Wacker packer. Bend your knees when lifting heavy pavers. Wear work boots to protect your feet and gardening gloves to protect your hands. Slip, Slop, Slap if you’re working in the sun and keep your fluids up.