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Pavers Fort Lauderdale

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Do you live in Broward County?  We have served Fort Lauderdale and greater Broward county for years.  We specialize in both residential and commercial pavers Fort Lauderdale.

Brick Pavers Fort Lauderdale

There was an interesting controversy a few years ago (2010) where the City of Ft. Lauderdale had invested almost $800,000 in brick paver crosswalks throughout the heart of the city.  These pavers were originally installed in 2001 and a short 9 years later, these crosswalks were in disarray.  Thankfully, we didn’t install these pavers!  The City had a an annual $13,500 maintenance budget to simply repair broken and settled pavers every year!!!  This story was strung through the local media briefly with City officials weighing in on the costs and headache caused by brick pavers.  They considered alternative pavement options such as stamped asphalt to look like pavers.

Unfortunately for the City and the brick paver industry in the area, this was bad news and bad press.  The biggest issue at hand wasn’t the durability of the pavers though, even though that’s all people would focus their attention on simply as a bi-product of not knowing any better.  Well, if you’ve read this far down the article, we’ll share with you a little secret about this controversy and what caused the pavers to constantly settle and crack – improperly installed base materials.

Brick pavers are produced to standards which results in products which are 3 to 4 times stronger than concrete.  So when pavers settle and crack, it’s not their fault.  Brick pavers are only as good as their base material.

For residential purposes, here are some tips to consider when having your paver estimates – ask how much dirt the paver company is going to excavate beneath your driveway or future patio.  You can also ask how many inches of base material the paver company will use.  The default answer will be 3-4 inches of base material.  Most paver companies don’t come close to this though.  They’ll simply strip off your grass or old concrete, throw down some wheel barrels of base material, compact it for five minutes and start laying pavers on top.

This is a BIG problem.  If you don’t want your new patio or driveway to wind up like the streets of Ft. Lauderdale, make sure your paver company is excavating several inches of dirt beneath the grade and that they ACTUALLY install and compact 4+ inches of base and sand.  Thick pavers are 2 and 3/8 inches thick.  If you take that and add 4 inches compacted, the distance between grade level and surface of the new pavers needs to be 6-7 inches at minimum.  This is for residential jobs.  City streets, parking lots, and high traffic commercial applications require even more!

Contact us today to learn more about our Pavers Fort Lauderdale and how we can help you make your property more beautiful!