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Patios, Walkways and Hardscaping in Atlanta
Paver patios, walkways and steps built on a base that survives a Georgia summer.
A paver patio is only as good as what is under it, and on Georgia clay that matters more than it does in sandier parts of the country. Clay moves when it gets wet and it works its way up into a thin stone base until the surface goes wavy. We excavate down to firm subgrade, lay geotextile fabric between the clay and the base so the two never mix, then build the base in compacted lifts of graded aggregate. That base is the part you never see and the only reason the patio is still flat in five years.
The surface gets pitched so water leaves it. Something in the range of an eighth to a quarter inch of fall per foot, running away from the house, moves the volume an Atlanta thunderstorm drops without being anything you feel underfoot. Pavers get set on a screeded bedding layer, cut clean at the edges, locked in with a spiked edge restraint, then compacted and swept with polymeric sand. Skipping the edge restraint is why patios spread at the corners. Skipping the pitch is why they hold water against a foundation.
Most of the hardscaping we do in Atlanta is patios, walkways, front steps and landings, seating walls and fire pit areas. Sloped lots and walkout basements are everywhere here, so plenty of jobs are really about carving one usable flat area out of a hill with steps and a low wall. Material is your call. Concrete pavers give the widest range and the easiest repair, since a stained or cracked unit lifts out and gets swapped. Natural stone reads older and suits a house that already has stone on it. Poured concrete is cheaper up front and much harder to fix once clay moves under it.
Existing trees change the plan. Loblolly pines and oaks run structural roots well past the drip line, and cutting through them either kills the tree or destabilizes it. Sometimes the patio shifts a few feet. Sometimes the layout wraps a trunk on purpose. We would rather redraw the shape than cut a root holding up a sixty foot pine over your roof. Before anything gets dug we mark the layout on the ground so you can walk it at full size and change your mind while changing it is free.
Common questions
- How long does a patio take?
- Excavation and base work is most of the schedule, not the paver setting. Size and access drive it: a machine that can reach the area cuts days off a job that would otherwise move by wheelbarrow. Rain is the other variable. Saturated clay cannot be compacted properly, so a wet stretch pushes the work rather than being pushed through.
- What makes a paver patio cost more?
- Square footage, then access, then how much dirt has to come out and get hauled off. Grade change is the big one. Steps, landings and seating walls are more labor per square foot than open field paving. Curves and lots of cuts add time. Material choice moves the number too, with natural stone above concrete pavers.
- Do pavers sink over time?
- Only when the base was wrong. Built on compacted aggregate over fabric, with real edge restraint, a paver surface stays put. When settling does happen it is usually localized, often where a downspout dumps or where fill was never compacted, and the fix is to lift that section, correct the base and reset the same pavers.
- Pavers or poured concrete?
- Concrete costs less to install and cracks when the clay under it moves, which here it eventually does. A crack in a slab is permanent. Pavers are individual units over a flexible base, so they tolerate movement, and any damaged area can be lifted and reset without a visible repair patch. That repairability is the main reason we recommend them on clay.
Get a price
Need hardscaping and patios?
Call and describe it, or text photos of the job to the same number and we'll come back with a price. Quotes are free, and we'll tell you if it isn't worth doing.