Hello everyone. I wanted to update on the progress. After many weeks of delays and back-and-forth with the PB, they agreed to pop off all the pavers and address the issues. So, they popped off the pavers and started compacting just the top. I'm no expert, but in reading about the importance of compaction for pavers, I knew that this was insufficient, and decided to research a 3rd party for a 2nd opinion. I found the "Interlocking Concrete Pavers Institute" at ICPI.org. They do certifications and drive standards for pavers (who knew??) They also have a listing of certified contractors, so I contacted the closest one to Austin, Stone Deck Texas (
http://www.stonedecktexas.com/). I want to plug them, and will tell you why in a second. I verbally explained what had happened, and THANKS TO THE ADVICE OF THIS FORUM, I had a video that showed all of the fill without any compaction, which I also shared.
Here is the set of videos, if anyone is interested to see them. Tammy from Stone Deck (in Georgetown, TX, a suburb of Austin) offered to come out to my pool, give her advice, and do it at no cost. I offered to pay at first, and she refused. I also offered to pay afterward and she refused, so I wanted to advertise her company here for pavers work even though I'm not using them.
In a nutshell, she met the PB and the supervisor at our site, and said that the most cost-effective way to address this would be to bring down the fill by ~10 inches, then pour cement over the top, then use this as the base for the pavers. Given her relationship with ICPI, she said this was the recommended course of action by ICPI as well, as she had consulted with them.
As frustrating as this has been, and more than a month of delays, it seems we now have agreement to proceed, in a way that will be properly addressed. Yay Tammy and Stone Deck of Texas -- there are still good people out there!!
And THANK YOU to TFP submissions which convinced me to record everything. That has been critical here, and Tammy even said she would have been speculating as to the best course of action had it not been for the video!!
More to come!