Driveway paving
A driveway is a structure, not a surface
Cars are heavier than people think and they do not just sit still. They brake at the garage door, they turn their wheels while stopped, and they hit the same two tire tracks thousands of times a year. A driveway has to take all of that without the surface creeping, and that comes down to how deep the base is and how the pavers are laid into each other.
The other half of it is water. Peninsula winters come in wet, and water that cannot get off a driveway soaks into the base, softens it and takes the support away from under the paving. Every driveway we build gets a fall of at least a quarter inch per foot, sloped away from the garage and the house, with a drain across the apron where the site needs one. Under all of that sit the same layers we build into any paver surface, only deeper.
We only lay interlocking pavers and natural stone, built to ICPI specification. Long estate drives on the big lots out in Atherton and tight town drives in San Carlos get the same build, at different depths.
How deep does a paver driveway base have to be?
Eight to twelve inches of compacted aggregate base, where a patio only needs four to six. That is not us being careful, it is physics. The load from a wheel spreads downward through the base at an angle, so the base has to be thick enough that the pressure has spread out before it reaches the soil underneath. Cut the depth and the load arrives at the clay concentrated, and the clay gives. Those depths are the standard on every job that leaves our yard in San Carlos.
We go to the deeper end of that range when the subgrade is soft, when a delivery truck or an RV uses the drive, and on the hillside lots around Hillsborough where cut and fill ground behaves differently on each half of the driveway. Over soft clay we roll geotextile fabric down first so the base stone and the soil never mix. Then the base goes in around four inches at a time and every layer is compacted before the next, which is the only way the bottom of that base ever gets tight.
Which laying pattern holds up under cars?
Herringbone, set at either 45 or 90 degrees to the direction of travel. In herringbone, no joint runs in a straight line for more than one paver length, so when a tire pushes the surface sideways the load gets passed out through the whole field instead of down one continuous seam. That interlock is the entire reason a paver driveway carries weight, and it is set out in the interlocking pavement specification our installers are certified to.
Running bond, where the joints line up in long straight courses, looks fine on a path and fails on a driveway. The tires find the running joint, the field creeps along it, and within a couple of years you can see the drift with your eye. So running bond stays on walkways and entry paths where it belongs, and driveways get herringbone with a soldier course border around the outside.
Free estimate on your paver driveway
Built to the ICPI vehicular specification, laid in herringbone, and backed by a 20 year warranty.
Call (650) 705-0628What if the old driveway is cracked, or the drive is steep?
An old driveway that has cracked, lifted and dished has almost always failed from below, which means whatever is under it has moved. We break the old surface out, haul it away and start again at the subgrade, because laying a new surface over a base that is already failing just buys you a year or two. We take the same approach when an old back terrace has to come up.
Steep drives need extra thought. Water runs fast down a slope and will strip joint sand out of the top half of a driveway and dump it at the bottom, so we build in a drain line or a swale to catch it before it gets a run at the paving. On hillside lots the cut side often wants a retaining wall to hold the bank back, and we build those too. When the fall is the whole problem, a trench drain and a proper pitch is the answer rather than more paving.
Why choose Exterior Designs for your driveway?
Because a driveway is the one part of this trade with the least room for shortcuts, and shortcuts under paving are invisible on the day. We are family owned and operated out of San Carlos, our owner is an ICPI Certified Paver Installer and a Belgard Master Craftsman, and we lay Belgard, Calstone and McNear.
Every driveway is built to ICPI specification and carries a 20 year warranty. Estimates are free, and we will tell you plainly if the drainage has to be sorted before anything is paved. Call (650) 705-0628 or request your free estimate.
Ask a paver installer
Straight answers about paver installation on the Peninsula
How long does a paver driveway take to build?
A typical residential driveway runs four to seven working days. Digging out and hauling away the old surface is the slowest part, then the base goes in and gets compacted in layers, then sand, pavers and joint sand.
Can I park on it straight away?
Yes. Once the joint sand is in and the surface has had its final compaction, the driveway is ready to use. There is no curing time to wait out. Polymeric sand needs the rest of that day to set.
Will a paver driveway sink where the car sits?
Not when the base is built for vehicles. Wheel track settling happens when a driveway was built on a patio depth base, or when the rock went in as one deep layer and was never compacted properly.
What happens if a paver cracks or gets stained?
We lift that unit and set a new one in its place. Because the field is laid dry on sand, one paver comes out without disturbing its neighbors. Keep a few spares from your job and the match is perfect.
Do you handle the apron where the drive meets the street?
We do, and it matters, because vehicles swing in there and put the most sideways force on the paving. The apron gets a restrained edge and usually a drain. Some towns require a permit for that work.
Do you build driveways outside San Carlos?
Yes. Belmont, Redwood City, San Mateo, Burlingame, Hillsborough, Menlo Park and Atherton are all inside our normal working area on the Peninsula, and we have built driveways in Foster City, Los Altos, Pacifica and Fremont.