Travertine pavers separating in heat

[JJ_Tex]

Posting for a buddy of mine who has travertine pavers that seem to be separating. He used the same builder as me and giving him a call, but I wanted to see if anyone had any ideas.

It’s been crazy hot, which I’m guessing is causing the issue and they had to redo this area previously for the same issues.

Any ideas on what he can do either to fix this or mitigate the issue? Anything he should be telling the builder to do for a more permanent fix? Pictures are below.

 

[Texas Splash]

All I can think of is the base drying out and shifting. In my zone I have the black gumbo clay junk and it does it all the time.

 

[JJ_Tex]

All I can think of is the base drying out and shifting. In my zone I have the black gumbo clay junk and it does it all the time.

Does it go back to normal once you get rain? We have some clay but not as bad as other parts of the state.
I wonder if a soaker hose on the pavers would do anything. Seems a bit weird to water your pavers, but would be easy to try.

 

[Katodude]

So I noticed that it seems to be happening closer to edges. I am also assuming they are set on some sort of crushed base.

There does not seem to be a border at the edge. The border is supposed to help keep the base from moving, or seeping out. That could be what is happening here.

 

[Texas Splash]

Does it go back to normal once you get rain?

It's 50/50. If we were to assume the cause is from the base separating below, then with heavy rains it might swell and contract a bit, but no guarantee. I built a lean-to garage with two heavy doors that swing out. After heavy rains last winter one door actually lifted about 2 inches, even though the post it's attached to was set over 2ft deep. This year with the drought, the door settled back down almost perfectly level to the other door.

In my yard, I battle shifting fence posts and ground splitting all the time. I'm of the mindset that for anyone in the central Texas clay belt, if they build anything that requires a base (driveway, sideway, patio, etc) if the base isn't at least 4", preferably 6", eventually they could experience clay/soil cracking & spreading below. It's a royal in in the backside. Katodue has a good point about a supporting edging. That could help, but if the base is separating due to drought, I think those pavers will do whatever they want to do.

 

[JamesW]

Basically just poor installation.

The outer edge needs to be secure and the base needs to be done correctly.

 

[dfwnoob]

I'd think it's a combination of bad install and NTX expansive soils. There are big cracks forming in what's left of the "flower garden" next to my fence. I could easily see that causing those pavers to shift, and I'm not far away from you.

 

[JamesW]

You can see grass in the crack, so that tells me that the pavers were probably just laid on the ground with zero base preparation.