How To Install Pavers On Concrete

I accept a small poured concrete patio, and that I'd like to cover with brick pavers. Tin I practise this without using mortar?

According to several paver manufacturers, paving blocks can be installed on peak of physical without mortar if you commencement lay down a ane/ii″ to 1" bed of fibroid sand. The process is nigh identical to laying a paver patio over ground.

However, this type of installation should be done with caution, since drainage, settling, and groovy can be a problem. Keep these tips in heed when laying pavers over a physical patio:

Drainage: The biggest problem with laying pavers over a concrete slab is the inability for water to drain through the blocks and downwardly into the earth. Earlier you begin, make sure your physical is properly sloped and doesn't pool. Keep this drainage slope in mind when adding your pavers, and brand sure the border that drains h2o stays low and permeable. You lot can also drill minor drainage holes through the concrete every few inches, to assist whatever puddling water seep into the ground.
Sand in Joints: When you're finished laying the blocks, house them up past filling the joints with polymeric sand. While sand joints are even so permeable, if properly set they can help backlog water run off the surface rather than puddling.
Edging: Like any other blazon of installation, a physical slab paver patio needs to be firmly edged, to continue the sand and pavers from settling and squishing around. However, your edging needs to let for water to drain; if it's watertight, your patio could turn into a bowl of h2o when it rains.

Semi-Mortared: Rather than dealing with edging, some builders use mortar or adhesive to hold the perimeter course of pavers in place. To do this, you'll need a make clean perimeter around the sand bed, so the blocks can stick directly to the concrete. Make sure the mortar and sand bed are the same thickness, so the blocks volition be level. This method tin create a nonpermeable edge that could crusade water to pool under the pavers.
Height: Your new patio will be up to three" higher than the original physical slab. Be sure to programme for transitions to other areas, particularly if the patio adjoins your house. Most edifice codes specify how far a masonry patio should exist from a home's siding, and you may need to install flashing to keep water away from the house.
Concrete Condition: If the concrete slab is broken or in terrible shape, you lot might be meliorate off ripping information technology upwardly and starting over.
Not for Driveways: In general, this isn't a good method for driveways. The underlying physical doesn't let for the pavers to give, so they're more likely to stone and crevice.
Patio Extension: Yous tin can as well extend the size of your patio, by digging out the soil around it and installing a proper gravel and sand bed, then screeding and tamping the sand across both the old and new areas to make information technology level. However, go on in listen that the not-concreted areas will be more likely to settle, and over time your patio may get uneven.
Don't Rule Out Mortar: If yous're new to this project, don't exist intimidated by the prospects of mortaring a permanent paver patio. In my opinion, mortar would be less piece of work!