My patio paver project turned into a muddy mess after one rainstorm

I laid down about 200 square feet of pavers in my backyard last month near Austin, Texas. Got them all level and compacted with sand. First decent rain came through and now half of them are sinking and shifting. I thought my base layer was deep enough but guess not. Anyone else had to tear up pavers to fix drainage? What did you do different the second time?

4 comments

4 Comments

terryr461mo ago

Yeah that Texas clay is a beast, sounds like you NEED at least 6 inches of base down there.

taylor.phoenix1mo ago

My cousin out in Arizona tried the same shortcut with decomposed granite instead of proper base and within a month her whole patio was a minefield of wobbly stones. She ended up skipping the landscape fabric too which just made everything worse when the weeds started pushing through. Took her an entire weekend with a pickaxe to fix it all.

the_jason1mo ago

Had a buddy down in San Antonio deal with the exact same thing last year. He thought he dug deep enough but turns out his base was only like 2 inches of crushed rock instead of the 4-6 you really need for Texas clay soil. He ended up pulling all the pavers up by hand, renting a plate compactor, and laying down a proper 4 inch base with landscape fabric underneath to keep the dirt from mixing in. After that he added drainage gravel around the edges too, which helped a ton with the water runoff. He said the second time was way more work upfront but he hasn't had a single shift since.

bethcarr1mo ago

Oh man @the_jason, your buddy's story is basically mine from last spring! I thought I was being thorough with my paver base but only did about 2 inches of crushed limestone and within months everything was wobbly and shifting. The Texas clay is no joke, it expands like crazy when it gets wet. I ended up doing the exact same redo - pulled everything up, dug down to 6 inches, put down landscape fabric, then 4 inches of crushed rock compacted in layers. I also added some perforated pipe along the low side to channel water away. That second time was brutal work in the heat but it's been solid for over a year now with zero movement.