This patio boasts Belgard Belgian Cobble interior pavers. Unlike most pavers that have a clean joint line, these cobblestone pavers’ shapes give a more random look. It’s outlined with Belgard Dublin Cobble Ardennes 6x9s.
Start at a Corner
When you begin laying your pavers, try to start in a corner to make things easier. Set up a string line so that your patterns have seams that line up. You don’t want your joints lining up all the way down the patio, however. You just want the joints, wherever they happen to appear, to fall in line as you look across.
Grab the paver by the sides and gently lay the paver in the sand. Be careful not to apply any downward pressure into the sand. Continue laying pavers. Listen for the “click” or “tap”. Tap the paver next to the paver you’re holding to ensure a snug fit before gently laying it down into the c-33 sand. You want the pavers as snug as possible.
Wait to stand on the pavers until have a pretty good amount laid, say a 7’x7′ area. Then, you can stand on the pavers while you continue laying more. Be careful not to stand close to a paver that is near the edge, because one side will sink. If a paver’s edge sinks, pull it up, add a little sand, smooth out, then reset the paver.
Laying the Pavers’ Border
Above is a 6″x9″ Herringbone pattern with a sailor course border. See how all the joint lines are nice and lined up. String lines can help with this.
Notice the walkway section above. As shown, you can lay interior pavers first and leave cutting the borders in for the end. This technique is especially useful for curved borders.
Method #1: Frame out your patio with all or two sides of border pavers and then fill in the inside. This technique is good when building rectangular or square patios.
Method #2: If you have a lot of curves, method #1 will be tough. In this case, continue with your pattern until the interior pavers are all laid. Go beyond the border just a tad. Now You are ready to cut in your exterior border pavers. Line up your border pavers how you want them. Mark your cut line. Remove the border pavers and then the paver you need to cut and cut it. Continue until all pavers are cut and then lay all your border pavers. There are all kinds of border styles you can incorporate into your patio design. “Soldier course” is when you take a paver and turn it so the short end is facing the inside. You continue with the same beside and all the way around. The short ends of the pavers create a strong and clean border. “Sailor course” is when you lay the pavers lengthwise side by side. the border is thinner but has longer individual units. Only consider using sailor course if you don’t have a bunch of curves. Curves mean cutting more, and with sharp curves you would be cutting too much of each paver.
Sailor course double borders strengthen the patio edges, giving it a nice look.
Clean After Laying the Pavers
Here, a concrete saw was used to cut the border pavers on-site without water. That’s fine. Just make sure to clean the dust off the pavers really good before installing the polymeric sand. This project needed scrubbing with Gator Shampoo and then dry for 2 full days. Then it was ready for the polymeric sand.
If it’s not overly dusty, then you can skip rinsing the pavers off. But, at least use a leaf blower to clean and blow the dust off of the patio. Be very thorough getting the dirt, dust, and debris off before proceeding to the next step. If it’s so dirty or dusty that you cannot blow off, rinsing is fine. However, you will need to wait until pavers are totally dry before the next step. Not just the paver tops, but all the way down to the bottom of each paver must be dry before applying the polymeric sand. So wait an extra sunny day or 2 if not thoroughly dry.
Conclusion
You’re finished laying the pavers! See, that step wasn’t all that difficult. All of the preparation beforehand was a lot more involved than the actual installation of the pavers. If you’re a perfectionist and some of your cuts don’t quite look perfect, don’t beat yourself up! Once you install the polymeric sand, it will help cover some of the imperfections.
See how the two pavers right above the open space didn’t quite line up? This is where a rubber mallet can help straighten the joint lines up. You may have to remove a couple pavers to get it right. Try to keep the joint lines straight as you go. That way, you’re not having to remove a lot of pavers. Also, see if you can spot the crooked cut next to the border a couple pavers up. That would eventually need fixing because it would exceed the margin of error suggested by the previous paragraph!