We lay pavers across Safety Harbor

Downtown lots and newer subdivisions need different work

Safety Harbor sits on the west shore of Old Tampa Bay, right next to Clearwater. Close to Main Street, many homes are older cottages and bungalows on narrow lots. Plenty of them still have the thin concrete driveway they were built with, now cracked and sunk in places. Farther out toward McMullen Booth Road, a lot of the homes are concrete block ranch houses and newer builds in subdivisions, many with a pool out back.

On a narrow downtown lot, most of the work is about space. There is often little room to get equipment past the house. So we work out how the old concrete comes out, and how the base material comes in, before anyone digs. Swapping a cracked concrete strip for pavers makes sense on these houses, because pavers can be lifted and relaid later if the ground under them moves.

Out in the subdivisions there is more room to work. The job is often a full driveway or a new pool deck over cracked concrete. What sits under the pavers matters more than the pavers themselves. The ground here is mostly sand, and sand moves when water runs through it. So the area gets dug out and graded to send water away from the house, then compacted before any pavers go down.

• Cracked concrete driveways broken out and replaced with pavers
• Tight downtown lots planned around equipment access
• Ground graded so rain runs away from the house
• Base compacted before any pavers go down
• Walkways laid from the driveway to the front door

Big oak roots push pavers out of line

Safety Harbor has held on to a lot of its old trees. The huge live oak on Main Street is the one everybody knows, but big oaks shade yards all over the city. Their roots spread wide, just under the surface. A root that thickens under a driveway lifts whatever sits on top of it. Poured concrete cracks when that happens, and the crack stays for good.

Pavers handle roots better than a slab, because each one is a separate unit. When a section heaves, we can pull those pavers up and fix the base underneath. Then the same pavers go back down. It still takes planning at the start. Before we lay out a patio or driveway, we look at where the trunks stand and how close the roots run. The goal is a base that does not sit on top of a big root.

Oaks also drop leaves and acorns onto the pavers, and under a thick canopy that turns into dark stains and green mildew. Shade keeps the surface damp long after a summer storm passes, and damp pavers get slick underfoot. Pressure washing takes the mildew off. Sealing afterward helps the surface shed water and hold its color. It also helps keep the joint sand in place, so weeds have a harder time coming up.

Heavy rain washes sand out from under pavers

Most summer afternoons in Safety Harbor bring a hard storm, and the low streets near the bay can hold water for a while after it passes. A tropical storm can push bay water up onto the blocks closest to the shore. Water on its own does not hurt a paver. The damage comes from water moving through the sand underneath it. That is the part of the job nobody sees once it is finished.

When rain has nowhere to go, it runs down through the joints and carries the bedding sand away with it. The pavers above sink a little at a time and start to rock underfoot. The low spot then holds more water than before, so the dip grows with every storm. It usually starts where the yard slopes toward the house, or where water pools against the garage slab.

So we pay close attention to grading and to the edges. The finished surface needs a slight slope that sends water toward the lawn or the street. A solid edge keeps the outer pavers from shifting when the ground gets soft. Pool decks get splashed and rained on all the time, so sealing them keeps them easier to clean. Shivani Haripal, a customer who had a pool deck sealed, wrote on Google: "They did an awesome job sealing our pool deck! It looks fantastic."

Getting a price in Safety Harbor

Call (813) 330-4403 to talk through your driveway or patio, or ask for an estimate online. Before a price is written down, someone comes out to look at the site, including the ground and any trees close by. You get a written estimate that spells out what the job covers. We are open Monday to Friday from 5:00 AM to 10:00 PM, and Saturday and Sunday from 6:00 AM to 9:00 PM.