Tip, throw a tarp in your truck. So the gravel doesnt get stuck in all the tailgate assembly parts when unloading. Then when near the end of the load you can drag the remainder of whatever material out with the tarp. Reducing the amount of cleanup needed in the truck bed.
One of the best tutorials for anything I’ve seen on RUclips. Not just what to do, but the reasoning behind it and timeline projections to make the best use of time.
This is the most comprehensive, understandable, well-illustrated instructional video on how to do pavers I've ever seen. And I've watched hundreds over the years, but this is the first one I've seen that gives me the confidence to be able to tackle this project. Thanks!
One of the best tutorials I've ever had the pleasure of watching on YT! I love that you're so clear in your speech, you show visual examples in sync with your explanations, and you repeat steps a second time to refresh our memories. I learned a lot from this tutorial, but also, a lot of it was just common sense that we already know on some level, but often times need to actually hear in order to truly grasp. Thanks a lot for this.
Your expertise and attention to detail is worth every penny. This is backbreaking diy , $1000 is very affordable for good contractor to get it done right.
Such a awesome way to explain the process, even the proper way to move your body. The clear box demonstration is really helpful to understand the process. Thank you, this is so helpful! Congratulations!
Compacting with a 150# plate, does not need to be in 1in increments. That unit will do 4in increments. One consideration might be that the sand could displace down into the clear crush gravel. That gravel has spaces between each rock that sand can get into. If there's lots of rain on the surface that can slowly move the sand into those spaces. Using a crush gravel with fines instead would prevent that. Or using a geotextile cloth between will prevent the sand displacing into the crush gravel
This is such a great video! As someone who misses steps and forgets details, the way you repeat reminders and reshow your posited visuals and diagrams is super helpful! I've watched this video a ton of times, and after a month of planning, I'm taking the plunge tomorrow.
There's a way to prepare your ground faster for something like this, which is an old engineers trick from the UK I believe.. Lightly dig your soil until you can rake and level it, mix in cement, level it, water it and the ground will become extremely hard.
I used this method for my backyard on a 10x10ft area. It holds well for 20+ years. It did sink on some area a bit, but only noticeable when I step on it. It's one of my first amateur DIY project, very easy to do.
That stone you used in your patio and in your demonstration is clean stone. It has no fines in it. There is void space in that stone so the sand is going to migrate through the base and before you know it your pavers are going to settle because your bedding layer migrated into your base. Also the edging you used isn’t going to hold in the stone. There’s no fines for the spikes to rust into. If you want to use clean stone you need to use a different bedding layer and a different edging.
This is an excellent video on doing pavers. I have done patios and sidewalks but never driveways. Great information as I’m planning a driveway soon. Thanks 👍
I'm working on a large raised bed garden in my back yard which includes a long walkway that provides access to the raised beds. I'm looking for videos like this to teach me how to lay pavers. I'm chuckling at the comments that say, "Pay a few bucks extra and avoid ___." Fill in the blank. I'm building the project myself for a few reasons. I do want to save money vs. hiring someone to do it. But it's also a great challenge and I'm getting a lot of satisfaction out of doing it myself. It's also been a great excuse to buy some tools that I "need". And I can't deny that I'll get some ego boosts when people look at it and say, "You did this?" If you don't have the DIY bug or the time, then hire someone. No harm in that. But the main reason to do something like this yourself is -- you did it yourself.
It’s always good to learn to do something’s your self. So you can say you actually did it yourself. Also if I’m going to pay someone to build me a large patio I would like to find a small area like a walkway I can do my self so I can tell if they are doing a good job or not.
The best DIY backyard I’ve ever seen. Planning to do backyard project with my husband without breaking our pocket. Thank so much for your detailed and helpful video. I’m your new subscriber.
Just had a patio professionally installed. It's 754 square ft more or less. There is also a step involved due to the difference in height of the area where the patio was installed. Probably the biggest difference is that my contractor put down a heavy plastic shield before adding the gravel and then used even smaller gravel, really small, to level the tiles. I asked why he didn't use sand. He replied that sand will allow grass, etc. to grow. With about 8" of gravel and a finish with a polymer sand, the likelihood of anything growing is slim, and if it does it really won't have a deep root since there is so much gravel. The finished product looks great, and time will tell if it falls apart or allows weeds to grow.
@@mitreswell Time will tell. Anything that may grow will be on the surface with no deep roots, and easily removed. With the barrier 8" of stone, and the moisture reactive polymer sand acting as grout, I'm not concerned about being overwhelmed with weeds. If you have only gravel, of course weeds will grow.
At 3:15 you say, "grab square footage and MULTIPLY by this coverage rate". I think you need to DIVIDE by the coverage rate. If you have 100SqFt. patio and the pavers are 0.5 Unit/SqFt. Your method states 100 x 0.5 = 50 pavers. When in fact you need 200 pavers because each one is only 1/2 a square foot. 100/0.5 = 200. May want to add a "correction: DIVIDE" at that segment of video. Thanks for the video, it's really well explained.
No problem. You did a terrific job and I'm sure this video is helping tons of people. Keep up the good job. Happy Holidays and may 2025 be prosperous for you and your loved ones!!!
Yeah, I'm a paver fanatic. Wherever I want to remove the possibility of mud in my backyard, I put in pavers. My backyard serves 2 purposes - a place for me to relax, and a place for my dogs to have fun. So, anywhere I want to remove mud from the equation, I've laid down pavers. My dogs love it, too. They now follow the paver paths to come in and out of the house so they don't get their feet dirty (I didn't even train them for that). They're still allowed to dig in THEIR areas. But, my areas are neat and clean.
To get good compaction (on the dirt not the stone) you need to add water, not too much (muddy), not too little (won't compact). Take a handful of wetted dirt and squeeze it in your hand, when it holds together, and you feel little to no dampness, your there. If you use a blower to blow off the excess sand, you need a n95 or better mask. Your lungs cannot break down sand nor extract it, so it stays forever, it is called silicosis, do it enough times and you won't be able to breath. Masks are cheap, hospitals expensive. These comments are right, this is really the best and most compressive one I have seen, good job.
OMG!!! YOU ARE HANDS DOWN THE BEST OF THE BEST OF TEACHERS WITH SUCH DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING AS DETAILED AS YOU WERE. IMMENSELY HELPED WITH MY PROJECTS!! 🙏🙏🙏 Your family must be SO VERY PROUD OF YOU!! God Bless You and will be looking forward to more videos from you Sir!!!
Great DYI video. Thank you. I just have one question. How do you keep the weeds/ grass from growing through it. Don't you need to add some type of weed fabric? Be great if you provide an update on your video adding this step. Thanks again
I wonder if you could cover making your own pavers using quick creet mix using the mold that store like Lowes and Home Depot and Manards sell. My wife has decided next summers house project is going to be a walkway out of self made pavers using those molds to her garden area in back yard. Every video of yours I have watched today have been useful information to me. Thank you.
You should be able to find some solid videos on YT doing that if you search around. My gf contemplated wanting to do this so I found some vids covering it haha.
I just got a job in a landscape supply yard. I'm going to take this information to work and if anyone disagrees with me I will explain to them I learned everything I know from a youtube video
Wow, exactly what I was looking for! This video is awesome. One question - I've got gophers in my backyard. What extra steps, if any, do I need to take to protect pavers from gophers messing up the gravel underneath?
Such a good tutorial... ... unfortunately i see so many areas that contractors cut corners on... at least now i know what is wrong when i see deformed pavers!
That is called screeding. You lay down the pipes and run your screed (usually a level or piece of wood with a flat edge) across them and the sand so that it gives you a flat and level surface to lay the pavers on. Also, the ‘bedding layer’ of sand is usually 3/4 to 1 inch in height, so using a pipe that is a similar height to that will guarantee it’s not too deep or too shallow and that the entire area is the exact same depth. After getting a level, compacted base layer it’s a crucial step to get a nice looking paver install.
A LOT of work! Tho very well done, did you compare prices of doing a dry set with QuickCrete? It's an excellent, fast, & easy technique for a foot-traffic only project... if done correctly.
I wasn't looking at price, I see vin, I picked up 2. When at the regs, I just about dropped a #2 in my pants. lol I bought 1, mixed with 2 reg, damn did it work. The next day the 3ft and higher weeds were brown and going down. The epsum salt work good as will.
Probably just as cheap and easy to do that size of a pad in concrete yourself. Just build some level forms and screed with a 2x4. Don't compare hiring someone to do concrete vs DIY pavers. A better comparison would be DIY concrete vs DIY pavers or hiring paver work vs hiring concrete work.
Makes a reinforced concrete surface look like a lot less work --- less depth to dig, no need for multiple rounds with a heavy (and costly) plate compacter, less time down on your hands and knees, and zero risk of weeds, ants, and settlement.
Pavers look great but i miss my concrete patio. Pavers are higher maintenance, harder to clean, and they are never fully clean, always tracking paver sand indoors.
is it a good idea to add more of the polymer sand years later if weeds were to start coming out of the joints? obviously after killing/ pulling the weeds. Or what would be a good way to mitigate that issue.
No, no fabric needed, and it won’t help, plants will not grow in the gravel and sand, and the fabric will only last a couple of years before degrading, weeds are very common, but on properly built patios the weeds come from dirt sitting in between the cracks of the pavers, not from below the pavers
1 inch per foot gradient seems like a crazy slope away from the house. I'm not a pro, but a 12 foot patio from the house being 12 inches lower on the far end seems very excessive.
Tip, throw a tarp in your truck. So the gravel doesnt get stuck in all the tailgate assembly parts when unloading. Then when near the end of the load you can drag the remainder of whatever material out with the tarp. Reducing the amount of cleanup needed in the truck bed.
Saves so much time & reduces wear & tear on the truck. 👍✊
Also a trailer @@walterkaiyuenpang3556
Great idea! It's those little things that can make a huge difference
One of the best tutorials for anything I’ve seen on RUclips.
Not just what to do, but the reasoning behind it and timeline projections to make the best use of time.
This is the most comprehensive, understandable, well-illustrated instructional video on how to do pavers I've ever seen. And I've watched hundreds over the years, but this is the first one I've seen that gives me the confidence to be able to tackle this project. Thanks!
One of the best tutorials I've ever had the pleasure of watching on YT! I love that you're so clear in your speech, you show visual examples in sync with your explanations, and you repeat steps a second time to refresh our memories. I learned a lot from this tutorial, but also, a lot of it was just common sense that we already know on some level, but often times need to actually hear in order to truly grasp. Thanks a lot for this.
Your expertise and attention to detail is worth every penny. This is backbreaking diy , $1000 is very affordable for good contractor to get it done right.
Such a awesome way to explain the process, even the proper way to move your body. The clear box demonstration is really helpful to understand the process. Thank you, this is so helpful! Congratulations!
Compacting with a 150# plate, does not need to be in 1in increments. That unit will do 4in increments. One consideration might be that the sand could displace down into the clear crush gravel. That gravel has spaces between each rock that sand can get into. If there's lots of rain on the surface that can slowly move the sand into those spaces. Using a crush gravel with fines instead would prevent that. Or using a geotextile cloth between will prevent the sand displacing into the crush gravel
This is such a great video! As someone who misses steps and forgets details, the way you repeat reminders and reshow your posited visuals and diagrams is super helpful! I've watched this video a ton of times, and after a month of planning, I'm taking the plunge tomorrow.
There's a way to prepare your ground faster for something like this, which is an old engineers trick from the UK I believe.. Lightly dig your soil until you can rake and level it, mix in cement, level it, water it and the ground will become extremely hard.
I used this method for my backyard on a 10x10ft area. It holds well for 20+ years. It did sink on some area a bit, but only noticeable when I step on it. It's one of my first amateur DIY project, very easy to do.
Best instructions ever !
I just want to watch the video again just to listen to the instructions 💪🏼👷🏼
My back hurt watching this but I’m gamed. Thanks man.
That stone you used in your patio and in your demonstration is clean stone. It has no fines in it. There is void space in that stone so the sand is going to migrate through the base and before you know it your pavers are going to settle because your bedding layer migrated into your base. Also the edging you used isn’t going to hold in the stone. There’s no fines for the spikes to rust into. If you want to use clean stone you need to use a different bedding layer and a different edging.
This. And landscape fabric is always recommended between soil and the base layer.
So technically, this video is demonstrating what not to do?
Could you comment on what should have been used instead? Thanks for the educational points.
@@AMAM-yf2om For better receipts, see _I Am a Hardscaper_
@@AMAM-yf2omIn UK it's called Type 2 Subbase, also commonly referred to as MOT Type 2
This is an excellent video on doing pavers. I have done patios and sidewalks but never driveways. Great information as I’m planning a driveway soon. Thanks 👍
This is so educational. Thank you for not only explaining the how but the WHY. Great video!
Dude your channel is packed with some awesome stuff. Happy to see someone who clearly loves what they do and knows how to do thing right.
Wow. Actually a really accurate and detailed video installing correctly . Easily one of the best YT videos about this. Nice work bro God Bless
Wow.. so detailed on explaining everything. Showing examples in the small clear cube is genius! You've earned a sub
love the pvc pipe idea, thanks for vid!
Very good instructional video. Many thanks!
the cross section is a game changer for understanding this. Fantastic
I'm working on a large raised bed garden in my back yard which includes a long walkway that provides access to the raised beds. I'm looking for videos like this to teach me how to lay pavers. I'm chuckling at the comments that say, "Pay a few bucks extra and avoid ___." Fill in the blank. I'm building the project myself for a few reasons. I do want to save money vs. hiring someone to do it. But it's also a great challenge and I'm getting a lot of satisfaction out of doing it myself. It's also been a great excuse to buy some tools that I "need". And I can't deny that I'll get some ego boosts when people look at it and say, "You did this?" If you don't have the DIY bug or the time, then hire someone. No harm in that. But the main reason to do something like this yourself is -- you did it yourself.
It’s always good to learn to do something’s your self. So you can say you actually did it yourself.
Also if I’m going to pay someone to build me a large patio I would like to find a small area like a walkway I can do my self so I can tell if they are doing a good job or not.
This is amazing, never seen a DIY video this clear THANK YOU
Only 2 and a 1/2 minutes into this video and I have learned so much. Just the video that I have been looking for.🔥🏆🏅
I tried doing this during covid and failed. Thank you for Making this. Next time I try I know the right way
Sincerely, the best video I find on a YT in a year's!!! Thank you!!!!!!
This is the single most informative video on this process I’ve seen, thank you!
So easy to follow, of all the videos I have seen the last month before starting our own home project, this has been the most helpful. Thank you!
The best DIY backyard I’ve ever seen. Planning to do backyard project with my husband without breaking our pocket. Thank so much for your detailed and helpful video. I’m your new subscriber.
I just did all the same steps without seeing your video, it took me some time to research. I wish I had seen your video first ;)
Fantastic video! Crystal clear and coherent both visually and verbally.
Great Video, always an Excellent idea to add Geo Textile Fabric and GeoGrid for added stability, longevity and better drainage.
Amazing tutorial! And very nice video production, animations etc. Thank you for sharing.
wow love the video. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with such detail. Wish you best
This is one of the best video to learn and do this kind of construction work . Thank you
Awesome work with those VISUALS - you must be an elementary school teacher - thank you!
I came here to learn about paver installation and learned how to calculate percentages in one step. This is going to be a good day.
Just had a patio professionally installed. It's 754 square ft more or less. There is also a step involved due to the difference in height of the area where the patio was installed. Probably the biggest difference is that my contractor put down a heavy plastic shield before adding the gravel and then used even smaller gravel, really small, to level the tiles. I asked why he didn't use sand. He replied that sand will allow grass, etc. to grow. With about 8" of gravel and a finish with a polymer sand, the likelihood of anything growing is slim, and if it does it really won't have a deep root since there is so much gravel. The finished product looks great, and time will tell if it falls apart or allows weeds to grow.
That's a good call. Weeds are the main reason I don't like pavers.
@@slippinslidewayz My wife was also skeptical, but I think weeds, etc. will be few and far between.
Weeds will still grow in gravel. My stalled paving project is proof of that.
@@mitreswell Time will tell. Anything that may grow will be on the surface with no deep roots, and easily removed. With the barrier 8" of stone, and the moisture reactive polymer sand acting as grout, I'm not concerned about being overwhelmed with weeds.
If you have only gravel, of course weeds will grow.
Well done. A great and clear tutorial, well done indeed. I looked at comments too, great cautions and advice. Thank you.
At 3:15 you say, "grab square footage and MULTIPLY by this coverage rate". I think you need to DIVIDE by the coverage rate. If you have 100SqFt. patio and the pavers are 0.5 Unit/SqFt. Your method states 100 x 0.5 = 50 pavers. When in fact you need 200 pavers because each one is only 1/2 a square foot. 100/0.5 = 200. May want to add a "correction: DIVIDE" at that segment of video. Thanks for the video, it's really well explained.
Wow bro, thank you for this. Correction, I literally was taking notes and just so happened to look at the comments and seen this. You rock
No problem. You did a terrific job and I'm sure this video is helping tons of people. Keep up the good job. Happy Holidays and may 2025 be prosperous for you and your loved ones!!!
Yeah, I'm a paver fanatic.
Wherever I want to remove the possibility of mud in my backyard, I put in pavers. My backyard serves 2 purposes - a place for me to relax, and a place for my dogs to have fun. So, anywhere I want to remove mud from the equation, I've laid down pavers. My dogs love it, too. They now follow the paver paths to come in and out of the house so they don't get their feet dirty (I didn't even train them for that). They're still allowed to dig in THEIR areas. But, my areas are neat and clean.
Great video man. I appreciate all the effort you put in to making this video.
The best step by step diy video on RUclips. Thanks
Although I would not do this myself, I found that the video was informative and done very well.
Very well done, thank you for the great advice
To get good compaction (on the dirt not the stone) you need to add water, not too much (muddy), not too little (won't compact). Take a handful of wetted dirt and squeeze it in your hand, when it holds together, and you feel little to no dampness, your there. If you use a blower to blow off the excess sand, you need a n95 or better mask. Your lungs cannot break down sand nor extract it, so it stays forever, it is called silicosis, do it enough times and you won't be able to breath. Masks are cheap, hospitals expensive. These comments are right, this is really the best and most compressive one I have seen, good job.
So glad you added the mask in your comment. People don’t take it seriously enough
OMG!!! YOU ARE HANDS DOWN THE BEST OF THE BEST OF TEACHERS WITH SUCH DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING AS DETAILED AS YOU WERE. IMMENSELY HELPED WITH MY PROJECTS!! 🙏🙏🙏 Your family must be SO VERY PROUD OF YOU!! God Bless You and will be looking forward to more videos from you Sir!!!
5:26 I'm deterred.
But I do appreciate the visual model he made. That's probably the most helpful thing in explaining all of this.
Those look very nice!
Enjoyed watching this!
Quality instructions. Good job. Thanks.
Amazing work and Great knowledge
Great DYI video. Thank you. I just have one question. How do you keep the weeds/ grass from growing through it. Don't you need to add some type of weed fabric? Be great if you provide an update on your video adding this step. Thanks again
I believe you could make some great content on common knots. For construction, fishing and everyday usage. Great content have a sub!
great video, very detailed
Thanks for putting this together!
You should get a Nobel price for this video, ( no kidding) it's the best video .
Man I dig those work boots 😊
Great video... any more tips for drive way extension ... It would be nice to see another full video done for driveway extension only ...
I wonder if you could cover making your own pavers using quick creet mix using the mold that store like Lowes and Home Depot and Manards sell. My wife has decided next summers house project is going to be a walkway out of self made pavers using those molds to her garden area in back yard. Every video of yours I have watched today have been useful information to me. Thank you.
You should be able to find some solid videos on YT doing that if you search around. My gf contemplated wanting to do this so I found some vids covering it haha.
tip: before compacting the soil, wet it. This avoids dust and makes the soil as hard as concrete over time.
I just got a job in a landscape supply yard. I'm going to take this information to work and if anyone disagrees with me I will explain to them I learned everything I know from a youtube video
best video w/ good simple detail explanation so far!
Awesome video!
Wow, exactly what I was looking for! This video is awesome. One question - I've got gophers in my backyard. What extra steps, if any, do I need to take to protect pavers from gophers messing up the gravel underneath?
Such a good tutorial... ... unfortunately i see so many areas that contractors cut corners on... at least now i know what is wrong when i see deformed pavers!
Quickly realized this is out of my league, thanks.
Great video, demonstration!
Great video. At this, I’m a novice, so I learned a lot. What is the purpose of the pvc pipe and removing them? Thanks in advance.
That is called screeding. You lay down the pipes and run your screed (usually a level or piece of wood with a flat edge) across them and the sand so that it gives you a flat and level surface to lay the pavers on.
Also, the ‘bedding layer’ of sand is usually 3/4 to 1 inch in height, so using a pipe that is a similar height to that will guarantee it’s not too deep or too shallow and that the entire area is the exact same depth.
After getting a level, compacted base layer it’s a crucial step to get a nice looking paver install.
A LOT of work! Tho very well done, did you compare prices of doing a dry set with QuickCrete? It's an excellent, fast, & easy technique for a foot-traffic only project... if done correctly.
Excellent !!!
I wasn't looking at price, I see vin, I picked up 2. When at the regs, I just about dropped a #2 in my pants. lol I bought 1, mixed with 2 reg, damn did it work. The next day the 3ft and higher weeds were brown and going down. The epsum salt work good as will.
Excellent work! But I sit here thinking concrete would be so much easier lol
Great vídeo
Vary well done info video.
Great video
Thank you 🤗
I have a question. I live in the southwest where the dirt is extremely hard. Do I still need gravel before the sand?
Awesome. Thank you.
Overall nice work thank you.
I’m 2 mins and I rather pay the $1000. Thanks for the educational video though.
😂😂
Alright Mr moneybags
💀💀😂
Two minutes in and this is my thoughts exactly. 😂
I'm a beginner DIYer and this is a bit much for me.
Fact
very detailed. nice
Great stuff
Probably just as cheap and easy to do that size of a pad in concrete yourself. Just build some level forms and screed with a 2x4. Don't compare hiring someone to do concrete vs DIY pavers. A better comparison would be DIY concrete vs DIY pavers or hiring paver work vs hiring concrete work.
Makes a reinforced concrete surface look like a lot less work --- less depth to dig, no need for multiple rounds with a heavy (and costly) plate compacter, less time down on your hands and knees, and zero risk of weeds, ants, and settlement.
Pavers look great but i miss my concrete patio. Pavers are higher maintenance, harder to clean, and they are never fully clean, always tracking paver sand indoors.
Great Video. Thank you
Great overview
is it a good idea to add more of the polymer sand years later if weeds were to start coming out of the joints? obviously after killing/ pulling the weeds. Or what would be a good way to mitigate that issue.
I believe it’s common practice to add more over time as it disappears from the elements
What size spacers did you use?
will it pass a typical city inspection?
Highly recommend adding knee pads to that buy list
7:06 what kind of tool is that to lift the compactor?
Did I miss the part where you lay down a layer of fabric (woven or non woven?)?
No, no fabric needed, and it won’t help, plants will not grow in the gravel and sand, and the fabric will only last a couple of years before degrading, weeds are very common, but on properly built patios the weeds come from dirt sitting in between the cracks of the pavers, not from below the pavers
@james_gatlin i was wondering the same thing. Thank you for your answer!
nice truck 😩
The UOM is very 🦅🦅🦅🦅
What's stopping wind from making the polymeric sand erode / blow away
I would just pay those guys $1000 to do it without breaking my back doing all those steps LOL
Hmm. Does anyone know if the gravel will prevent squirrels and rabbits from digging underneath
Did you need to get a permit?
1 inch per foot gradient seems like a crazy slope away from the house. I'm not a pro, but a 12 foot patio from the house being 12 inches lower on the far end seems very excessive.
I quote “1 inch per 4 foot”, that is equivalent to 1/4 inch per foot, NOT 1 inch / foot, a 12 foot patio should have a total of a 3 inch drop
@james_gatlin ah ok. Sorry I misunderstood!
WOW 🤯🤯🤯 !!!
👌👌👌