I Want to Pave My Driveway. Now What?

After a lot of thinking, you’ve decided to pave your driveway. You’re excited! But what’s the most appropriate masonry you should use? Should you go with bricks or concrete pavers? How much will this cost you? And how long this will take to get done? Decisions, decisions… To make this process simpler, our Orlando paver team answers some of these questions so you can jump on this project with confidence.

Choose Brick Over Concrete Pavers

As we’ve mentioned on previous occasions, both masonries have their advantages, but for this particular project, we recommend bricks. Among their benefits, brick pavers resist extreme weather conditions. Beside their durability, these pavers require less maintenance and are stain resistant. In fact, bricks are like wine, meaning that they will look and get better as they age. The best part is the cost; although prices differ from the type of paver and its quality, brick pavers tend to be cheaper than concrete ones.

Building Your Driveway in Seven DIY Steps

1. Prepare The Surface: Accounting for the gravel (if needed), sand bed, and thickness of the brick will be key when preparing the surface in order to excavate enough to keep everything leveled. Don’t forget to remove all the weeds, roots, and large rocks.
2. Install Brick Edging: Provide your construction with the necessary stability by setting a course of bricks on end to protect the pavers from sliding.
3. Weed Barrier: Installing a layer of landscaping fabric between the gravel and the sand is recommended to prevent weeds from starting to growing back and ruining your new beautiful driveway.
4. Spread Sand: Spread the sand over the excavated area and pack it down.
5. Install the Brick Pavers: On the tamped sand, start laying down the bricks tightly together.
6. Tap the Surface: Use a hammer or a mallet to level out the surface and to uniformly bed the pavers into the sand.
7. Fill the Joints with Sand: Once all the brick pavers are in place, spread a thin layer of dry mason’s sand filling out the joints. To make sure you are covering every single joint, sweep the sand into the cracks between the pavers moving the broom in all directions. After that, lightly water the surface with no pressure to avoid dislodging sand from the joints and let it dry.

Paving your driveway is a project that can be accomplished in one day, and you can certainly complete this project on your own as long as you educate yourself first and get all the necessary materials and quality masonry. For your next paving project, don’t forget to ask the Orlando pavers team at Bedrock Industries. Contact us by calling 407-499-8024 or by filling out our online contact form.