I recently scored some travertine pavers at a great price after a concrete contractor noticed them while working on my neighbor's house. He mentioned that they need to be installed on a concrete pad, which makes me a bit suspicious about his advice. I want to know if I can install my 3/4 inch thick pavers over a standard paver base made of gravel, crushed stone, and sand to fill the joints. If that's possible, what sizes of gravel and crushed stone should I use? This was supposed to be a DIY project to keep costs down, so I'd prefer not to hire anyone for concrete work unless absolutely necessary.
1 Answer
While travertine pavers can be pricey, installing them on a concrete pad is indeed a good practice for durability. You could technically place them on compacted soil, but they won’t hold up well in hotter weather. If you're trying to stick to a budget, you could use 4 to 6 inches of compacted subbase gravel or crushed stone, followed by compacted sand before laying the pavers. Lastly, don't forget to fill the joints with either regular sand or polymeric sand to keep everything in place. It all comes down to how much prep you want to do based on your budget.
I totally agree, compacted soil isn't ideal! I'm also going with compacted gravel as my base, but I’m wondering if using decomposed granite would work better as a substitute for sand in the second layer?