Paver driveways — a patio spec will not survive a car

Establishing the load case and the design

Passenger cars, a truck, an RV, or a delivery vehicle that has to turn on the apron are different design cases. So is the apron itself, which usually sees the heaviest and most concentrated loading of the whole driveway.

Watch for: A driveway quoted as square footage at a patio rate. If nobody asked what parks on it, nothing about the specification was decided.

Right-of-way, aprons and the part the town controls

The section between the property line and the street frequently sits in the public right-of-way, and work there is often permitted and specified separately by the municipality, sometimes with its own material requirements.

Watch for: A quote that quietly stops at the property line, or one that includes the apron with no mention of a permit. Both leave you with the hardest part of the job unresolved.

Excavation to a driveway depth

Considerably deeper than a patio excavation, because the base has to be thicker. All organic material comes out, the subgrade is proof-rolled or compacted, and soft spots are excavated and replaced rather than covered.

Watch for: Subgrade that pumps or ruts under the machine and is then built over anyway. That soft area will show up as a dip in the finished surface within a couple of years, right where the wheels run.

Base construction and geotextile separation

Aggregate is placed and compacted in lifts to a depth suited to the soil, the climate and the traffic. Over soft or clay soils a geotextile separation layer is often placed between subgrade and base so the two do not mix and the base does not sink into the ground.

Watch for: Base depth quoted the same for a driveway as for a patio, and geotextile omitted over clay. Neither is visible at handover and both are why one driveway ruts and its neighbour does not.

Choosing the paver and the pattern

Driveway pavers are thicker than patio units, and the laying pattern is normally herringbone at an angle to the direction of travel, because interlocking units at an angle resist a turning wheel far better than a running bond does.

Watch for: Thin patio-thickness units, or a stack bond or running bond used because it looks tidier. Pattern is a structural choice on a driveway even though it reads as a decorative one.

Heavy edge restraint

Driveway edges take far more force than patio edges, especially where a wheel clips the edge. Restraint is heavier duty and, where the driveway meets soil or lawn, often a concrete haunch rather than a plastic profile.

Watch for: Light-duty edging carried over from the installer's patio work. The edge is where a paver driveway starts to spread, and vehicles find it quickly.

Drainage and, where it applies, permeable design

The surface has to shed water somewhere legitimate, and not into a garage or against a foundation. Permeable paver systems do something different: open joints and an open-graded stone reservoir below let water infiltrate rather than run off, which some municipalities treat favourably in stormwater and coverage rules.

Watch for: Permeable systems sold as a straight swap. They use a different aggregate, a different jointing stone and a different maintenance regime — the joints need periodic cleaning to keep working — and whether they earn you any regulatory credit is genuinely local. Verify it with your municipality before it becomes a reason to buy.

Compaction, joints and the transitions

The laid field is vibrated, joints are filled and re-filled until they stop taking material, and the transitions are detailed — garage threshold, street apron, any gate, and the junction with a walkway.

Watch for: The garage-door transition. It has to keep water out of the garage while giving the door something clean to seal against, and a rushed detail here is a lifetime of water in the garage.