Problematic area around our spa (pavers)

[cflannagan]

Bought house in 2009. Over time (I'd like to say 2-3 years maybe), the pavers around spa area begin to "crater" (dip) a bit.

We had sealing service done on our pavers and asked them to fix the sagging area (right next to our spa). That was 2 or 3 years ago.


Yesterday, we noticed a brick has fallen in, so we lodged the brick loose and removed it. Sand (soil?) is probably being washed away (erosion) over time due to rain.

I was not around to see this pool being constructed. None of the other area thru my enclosure even come close to having this type of problem. My wife said she believes there is cement or something solid under the pavers everywhere else, it's just this area doesn't.

I am going to remedy this by getting some rocks and sand to fill in the gap, but I am curious what the construction should look like here? Should there be cement or some sort of solid foundation under the bricks?

I went outside to look at the enclosure edge, there's no cracks in foundations, so I don't know where the sand/soil/water is being washed away to.

One photo attachment is showing the gap under the brick, another is just showing general area where the problem is occurring (right there in the general area that is the corner of our enclosure)

Thanks in advance.

 

[ajw22]

Can you pull up some bricks in other areas and probe under the surfcae with a rod and see how it was prepared? That should give you a better idea of your situation.

 

[cflannagan]

I'm not following, can you expand a bit more on what the goal here is?

We had pavers lifted up in other areas few years ago, back when we had the paver area sealed, and if my memory serves, it just looks like sand/soil mixture.. but also look very compacted & firm. I don't know if there is something harder (like cement mix or such) under the sand, didn't want to disturb things too much since we can put pavers back nicely and keeping things level.

I'm more of wondering what is customary for what one should find under pavers especially in Florida homes, for pools inside enclosures.. is it mainly sand mixture. Or is it usually cement mix? I have ZERO idea here.. I just need to know what the standard should be here.

 

[cflannagan]

bump

 

[Katodude]

The material underneath the pavers is technically called a “screening”. I think they used concrete screenings when they did our deck 3 years ago. It seems to be holding up well and has not washed away. However, about 3/4 of our deck has a cement base.

 

[cflannagan]

Interesting, TIL about "screening".

I did a stopgap fix today.. using pebbles ($4 bag from Home Depot) to fill in the gap under the paver. Pushed pebbles around underneath around the edges, trying to fill in as much as possible. Put the single paver brick back.. stood on it, needed a bit more so I put more, until the paver looks relatively level and stable with the rest of our patio. Gonna check on this in a week or two, see if I should add some sand to keep things a bit more stable. If the problem continues to worsen I will get in touch with professionals.