How to Build a Paver Pathway

Mark the pathway on the ground where you want to install it. Use two garden hoses for a rounded pathway or hammer wooden stakes into the ground and extend string along them for a straight path. Use a framing square along corners of the straight pathway to form right angles.

Insert a shovel into the turf along each hose or string line to score the perimeters. Remove the hoses or stakes and string. Set them aside. Pile stones and debris from between the perimeters of the pathway in a wheelbarrow and discard.

Roll the turf from within the perimeters and set it aside for patching up bare parts of the landscape later. Excavate the soil to a depth of 8 inches with a trenching shovel. Level the base and tamp the exposed soil until it is firm.

Pour and compact layers of crushed gravel into the trench until it forms a 4-inch layer. Lightly mist each layer of gravel you pour to reduce friction caused by rubbing stones before compacting them with a tamper. Ideally, your footprints should not be visible on the gravel base when you walk over it after compaction.

Edge the walls of the trench with lengths of plastic, metal or wood to define the pathway and hold the material in place. Lay lengths of lumber into the trench, flush against its walls, or pound stakes into the stake pockets provided along the lower edges of the metal or plastic edging.

Pour coarse sand into the trench and smooth its top with a 2-by-4-inch screed board. Ideally, the thickness of the sand bed should allow the brick pavers to fall 1/4 inch above the final elevation when installed. Dry fit a paver over the bed to determine the depth, and add or remove sand as required. Mist or tamp the sand bed lightly to help the particles settle in place and reduce shifting.

Lay the paver bricks over a corner of the prepared bed in your desired pattern, spacing them 1/8 inches apart. Tap the tops of the bricks with a rubber mallet to help them set into the sand. Check the tops of every few pavers you set to ensure they are in line with the surrounding pavers. Add or remove sand underneath to adjust their depth. Continue the process of laying pavers until you complete the entire span.

Cut the pavers in the final row with a brick saw, if required, so they fit the provided space. Sprinkle fine sand over the pathway and sweep it into the tiny gaps between pavers.