Paving Stones in West Vancouver BC

ICPI (International Concrete Paver Institute), is an internationally recognized body that governs the industry with best practices for installation. Their specifications provide minimum requirements for base material and depth (taking into account the designated use of the area), the thickness of sand, space between the pavers and surface grade deviations that all ensure a long lasting product that will not settle, rut or have pooling water. By adhering to their standard, your pavers will last a lifetime.

“Our installers are ICPI certified (International Concrete Paver Institute) and have installed thousands of square feet of beautiful walkways, driveways, and patios.”

Beyond adhering to ICPI Standards, our attention to detail on the finishing elements of your paver project is what people will notice as being above and beyond a typical installation by our competition.

Although we may strive to give you nothing but the best, we can also help you with repairs to fix other peoples mistakes.

There are many common issues that arise on many paver projects just after a few years that have not been installed to standard.

Most common paver issues include :

Settling – usually caused by an insufficient base and/or base failure. Even when meeting the minimum recommended base depth, site conditions can warrant further precautions including additional base depth and/or the use of geo-textiles to prevent the base gravel material from settling into soft subsoils and/or reinforce the base itself. Geo-textiles are also effective to prevent settling where natural stone pavers butt up against concrete structures such as garage pads, foundation walls, catch basins or curbs. This type of settling is usually most prevalent in concrete coping of a pool.

Rutting – usually caused by an excessively thick layer of sand over the base material (occasionally completely devoid of the base material). Sand is only stable at a depth of up to one-inch sand that exceeds this thickness can be susceptible to displacement resulting in ruts, depressions, ridges and/or heaving. Correcting the sand depth in the affected areas is sometimes all that is required. This is achieved by lifting the natural stone pavers, removal of the sand layer and installation of more base material to allowable tolerances, reinstallation of the sand layer and paving stone.

Weeds – usually result from jointing sand that is either deficient and/or contaminated with organic matter. Most often occurs when the jointing sand has been washed out by either excess surface water runoff (where concrete pavers are installed on a slope greater than 2% and particularly when there is a paver pattern that has continuous joint lines) or more often due to heavy or frequent pressure washing. The use or installation of polymeric sand to replace the contaminated jointing sand will not only prevent weeds from returning but because it sets up like mortar while remaining flexible t6o prevent chipping and cracking, it will not be washed out by surface water or even reasonable pressure washing.

Edge restraint failure – usually associated with the edge pavers separating and/or settling. This can be corrected by lifting the affected paving stones, making any necessary corrections to the base and sand layers, reinstallation of the patio pavers and installation of an ICPI approved edge restraint.

Staining, discolouring and fading – there are many products available for use in the restoration of brick pavers. At BUR-HAN we use Technical product line (we are Technical certified applicators) which includes an array of cleaners for every application as well as a selection of sealants including colour boost. When professionally cleaned and applied, these sealers will extend the life of your pavers, prevent stains and enhance the appearance of your brick pavers while making them far easier to clean and maintain.