Paver Sand Delivery

The two sands, and why the distinction matters

A paver installation uses sand twice, for two completely different purposes, and the materials are not interchangeable.

Bedding sand goes under the pavers — a one-inch screeded layer that the pavers are set into and then vibrated down onto. Its job is to provide a consistent setting bed and to lock under load. This must be washed concrete sand, graded to ASTM C33.

Joint sand goes between the pavers after they are laid, swept into the joints and vibrated in. Its job is to transfer load from one paver to the next so the field acts as an interlocked surface rather than a collection of loose blocks. This is a finer sand, or a polymeric sand that sets when wetted.

Get either one wrong and the installation fails in a way that looks like bad workmanship.

What not to use for bedding

Three materials get used as paver bedding by mistake, constantly, and all three cause the same problem.

Mason sand is too fine and too uniform. It does not lock, so it deforms under wheel and foot loads and the surface goes wavy.

Stone dust or screenings hold moisture and behave more like a soil than an aggregate. They also compact unevenly. The paver industry has advised against them for decades and they still show up on jobs.

Fill sand is unwashed, contains silt and organic material, and is not graded for anything structural.

The correct material is washed concrete sand, and it is not expensive. This is a place where saving twenty dollars costs you the patio.

One inch. Screeded. Not more.

The most damaging error in paver work is using a thick sand bed to make up for a base that was not graded flat.

It is understandable — the base is uneven, sand is easy to spread, so it is tempting to put down two or three inches and screed the top surface level. The result is a soft, variable-depth cushion. Pavers set on it consolidate at different rates and within a season the surface is visibly uneven.

The base carries the load and the base is what gets graded. Compacted limerock, crushed concrete or shell rock, brought to a flat, correct profile with proper fall for drainage. Then exactly one inch of screeded bedding sand on top of it. Then pavers, compacted into the bed, then joints swept and vibrated.

Joint sand and polymeric sand

Regular joint sand is a fine washed sand swept into the joints and vibrated in until the joints are full. It works, it is cheap, and it needs topping up periodically because rain and pressure washing pull it out.

Polymeric sand contains a binder that activates when wetted and sets the joints semi-rigid. It resists washout better, suppresses weeds and ants, and generally looks tidier for longer. It also costs more, is unforgiving about installation — the joints must be properly full and the surface completely clean and dry before wetting, or you get haze on the pavers — and it is generally bought in bags rather than in bulk.

In South Florida, where afternoon storms move a lot of water across a pool deck in a hurry, polymeric is usually worth the extra on anything visible. We supply bulk bedding and joint sand; for polymeric, buy the bagged product and follow its instructions exactly.

Quantities for a paver job

Bedding sand at one inch covers roughly 215 square feet per ton. A 500 square foot patio therefore needs a little over 2 tons of bedding.

Minimum delivery is one cubic yard, so you can order exactly the bedding sand a patio needs. On most jobs it still makes sense to put the base and the sand on one truck rather than paying for two runs — tell us the square footage and the build-up you are planning and we will work out the split.

Joint sand quantities are small and depend heavily on joint width and paver thickness. Budget roughly one ton per 800 to 1,000 square feet for standard joints, and expect to top up after the first season.

Specification

Figures are typical, not guaranteed. Weights and gradations vary between pits and sources. If your job is specified, send us the relevant plan sheet and we will match it — and confirm quantities against your own scale tickets once you are running.

What it is used for

• Bedding course beneath interlocking concrete pavers
• Bedding beneath flagstone, travertine and slab paving
• Joint filling and stabilisation between pavers
• Pool deck and patio paver installations
• Driveway paver installations over compacted base

Working out how much you need

Material is sold by the ton. Plans are drawn in cubic yards. That mismatch is where most ordering errors come from, and they are expensive in both directions — running short stops a crew, and over-ordering by a large margin ties up money in a pile.

The arithmetic: multiply length by width by depth in feet, divide by 27 to get cubic yards, then multiply by the material's weight per yard. Most rock runs about 1.35 to 1.4 tons per cubic yard; compacted base is heavier at roughly 1.65; topsoil is lighter at about 1.15.

Then allow for compaction. Base and fill lose roughly 20 to 25 percent of their loose volume once they are properly compacted, so the tonnage you order should be above the theoretical plan volume. Our tonnage calculator builds that allowance in and converts the answer into truckloads.

Order slightly heavy. Two extra tons in a pile costs almost nothing and always gets used. Two tons short on a Friday afternoon costs you a whole extra delivery and a crew standing around.

Paver Sand — common questions

Where we deliver Paver Sand

From Jupiter down to Key West — Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Monroe counties. Mainland deliveries are same or next day; the Keys are scheduled runs.

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