Call Before You Dig!!!
Before excavating (fancy word for digging) for your paver patio, always notify 811 first. This free service dispatches persons to mark underground utilities using paint and/or flags. Utilities include water lines, TV/internet/phone lines, gas lines, and electrical lines. While digging, do not assume utilities are necessarily buried at appropriate code depth. Sometimes contractors cut corners. The last thing you want to do is to dig into a gas line or electrical line. You will most likely need to hand dig along the painted line and a couple feet out in both directions. Not only can they be costly to repair, gas and electrical lines can be especially dangerous.
Oh no! Before you start digging for your paver patio, you notice that utility lines are running right through!
Do you have to choose a different location? Not necessarily. In fact, the lines may be safest underneath your patio since they will never be dug up or damaged. Water lines, electrical lines, and gas lines are usually deep enough to where you won’t need to dig that deep anyway. But again, don’t assume they are that deep when excavating for your paver patio (so hand-dig in that spot). Let’s say that your internet line is running right through your patio area. You carefully dig down until you find it buried about 3 inches deep. One thing you can do is dig up the whole thing and reroute it out of the way. If you have enough slack, you could also just bury it deeper. As long as it’s in the ABC and not the sand, then you’re good. The sand will be 1″ deep, and the paver is usually about 2 3/8″ deep. That means you are fine if the utility line is at least 3 and 1/2 inches deep.
Digging for your patio
Excavating (or digging) for a paver walkway with a Toro Dingo Mini-Skidsteer.
Digging Depth
You have your patio outline pre-marked in paint. Your digging edge should be 6 inches or so outside of your patio edge. This is for extra base reinforcement so your paver edge pieces are solid. If you are building a paver patio or a paver walkway, dig at least 9 and 1/2 inches deep. This means 6+ inches of ABC, 1 inch of c-33 sand, and about 2 and 1/2 inches of paver. If building a driveway, you are going to need at least a 12 inch base of ABC. So adding 12″ with 1″ and 2.5″ means digging at least 15 and 1/2 inches deep. This may seem like overkill. It’s not! Not digging for your paver patio down to the appropriate depth has caused many paver projects to fail after 10, 5 and even just 1 year!
Digging Process
If digging by hand, dig your outline first with your edger shovel then use your spade shovel for the inside. When you get to the desired depth, use a transfer shovel to smooth the entire bottom. The paver building process works better if the excavated area is as level and smooth as possible. If you own or are renting a skidsteer (think Bobcat) or mini-skid (think Toro Dingo), you’re smart. It costs around $300 a day to rent a mini-skid, and they’re fun to use! It is our experience that mini skids work better for small to medium sized patios and walkways. They’re more easily maneuverable, they fit into smaller spaces, and do less damage to the yard. Use a smooth bucket to level and smooth the bottom of your excavated area.
Even if you’re using machinery to dig out your patio, shovels are still necessary for touching up the edges and other details.
What to do with all of this dirt when digging for your paver patio!
Although not always feasible, when you dig your dirt out, try to put it into it’s final location immediately. Let’s say you have a spot in the backyard woods where you’re relocating the dirt. The wrong thing to do is to dig out, put in a pile, only to pick up again, transport it and dump it. Try to dig out and immediately bring it to its relocation area so that you’re not doing more work. “Work smarter, not harder” should be our mantra here! Don’t have a spot for all that dirt and need to haul somewhere else? Try loading it directly into the truck instead of digging, then piling, then shoveling again. Finally, you’d be surprised who wants free dirt. Try putting an ad on the internet to see if someone wants to come take it off your hands!
Conclusion
Excavating or digging for you paver patio can be a very long and tiresome project. In fact, it’s one of the most time consuming steps, especially if you are hand digging. But do not be dismayed! It only gets better from here. After your digging is complete, your next step is to prepare your base material. If you’re still with me, you should be proud! This is a very detailed project, and you are doing it the right way without cutting corners! So on to step 4. Preparing and installing your base material is one of the most important steps in the paver building process! It will help ensure the patio holds strong for decades to come!