[Joel 67]

Hello,

I am getting ready to lay pavers over a 5" base of compacted gravel. My plan is to use a 1" sand base under the pavers.

While I'd like to lay and screed all the sand and then lay all the pavers at once, the reality is I might have to do this over several days due to other commitments.

Can I screed out say 1/3 of the sand, lay the pavers over that sand, and then move on to the next 1/3 and so on? If so, how do I manage that transition between 1/3's? How have others done this successfully.

Thanks!

Joel

[TrickyDick]

I'm not sure what you mean by managing the transition but as for the rest of your question...yes you can and should do what you said. Screed your bedding sand only for what you intend to do at that time.

[jshilan]

You should have extra screed boards/pipes that you can set before you pull the first 1/3 up, this way there won't be any obvious bump or dip at each third. You would do this regardless if you did the work in one day or over several days. Just make sure no one steps on the boards/pipes, or conversely double check them before you start each day.

Also see what other materials are available besides sand. There are many different opinions and choices. I'm not a big fan of sand, we use stone dust.

Good luck with it and spend as much time as you need prepping the base. If that's good, then laying pavers is easy.

[Pelican]

What I do in this situation is screed the sand in the area we can cover, and leave about 12" of sand exposed at the edge. Cover this sand with plywood and plastic to prevent both mechanical and moisture compaction so you can pick up at the same density when you start again. Also make sure your additional sand will have the same amount of moisture as when you started so it has the same density. You can feather the sand between your paving days with a flat trowel. This should minimize any transition you have between paving steps.