Do Pavers Have to Touch Each Other?

Solid

• Pavers for a patio, driveway or sidewalk need to be installed close together, sides touching, to make a solid pavement. This is especially true with some modern interlocking pavers, whose edges are designed to fit together in a tight bond. Small gaps between paving units normally are filled with sand, often a polymeric type that solidifies when dampened, or sometimes with dry cement, which is moistened to seal it.

Gaps

• Brick and stone pavers often are placed with gaps between units to provide a thicker space for cement or sand bonding and a more decorative look. Flagstone and fieldstone pavers, which are irregular in size and shape, are almost impossible to set with all sides touching, so usually are placed with some fairly even gap to be filled with sand or cement.

Decorative Spacing

• Some large concrete, slate or quarried stone pavers are spaced with wide gaps for a decorative effect. The wide space can be filled with colored gravel, to provide contrast to the pavers, or grass. Very large stone pavers in regular shapes, like squares, can be alternated with gravel or grass to provide almost a checkerboard pattern for a broad entry walk or even a driveway.

Stepping Stones

• Garden path and lawn walkway pavers frequently are set in stepping stone patterns, with large spaces between them. Flagstones often are placed one stride apart, especially on a slope, to take advantage of their varied sizes and shapes. Bricks, slate and concrete pavers can be arranged in blocks, set a stride apart, with edges touching but with grass or decorative gravel between blocks.