Paving your patio or driveway this summer

Spruce up your property for summer with some freshly laid pavers along your driveway or patio. DIY paving is easy when you have the right tools and a bit of know-how, so follow these tips to get the job done.

What you need

You'll need quite a few materials and tools, and it's best to assemble these before you start work to avoid any stop-start interruptions. Make sure you have plenty of road base, river sand, pavers and edge restraint to cover your surface. Always get too many pavers rather than not enough, as you will need extra to cut around obstacles and edges.

Tools include a sand shovel, builder's level and string, stakes for marking out your work area, timber board for levelling (also known as straight edge), a rubber mallet, broom, turf cutter, rotary hoe, mini loader (for large areas), plate compactor and brick saw equipped with a diamond blade.

Some of this equipment can be hired from Kennards Hire.

How to prepare

Use your pegs and string to mark out the area to pave. Get rid of any plants that obstruct the work area, and excavate the ground to a depth to allow for the road base, bedding sand and pavers, and then level the area.

Your rotary hoe can be used to break up to any surface vegetation you want to remove, and the turf cutter can lift lawn that can be re-used elsewhere on your property. If the site is large, a mini loader is a great machine to quickly get the ground ready to pave.

Spread bedding sand smoothly over the area then install timber sleeper edge restraints.

Laying pavers

Think out your paving pattern and start work from a corner of the section. Work your way across the area, then fill in the gaps around edges or obstacles with cut pavers. You can use the brick saw to get these to the perfect size.

Push the pavers firmly into the sand and tap them down with the rubber mallet, ensuring there's a 2-5mm gap in between each one to be filled with sand.

Use the plate compactor to push these into the bedding sand then use jointing sand to the gaps, sweeping the area afterwards.