Which is easier to lay for a patio extension to a cement slab, pavers or brick?

Question

Is the prep work the same for a ground that freezes. Dig down 6 inches, lay 4 inches of gravel and then 2 inches of sand?

Answer 1

Pavers will last longer than brick and easier to lay , brick tends to angle in sand and are hard to keep level ,Brick needs a border where pavers tend to stand alone
Prep work for ground that freezes is as detailed

Answer 2

What you are missing in your description of the prep work is to mortor the outside perimeter bricks for a permanent edging, less the whole thing falls apart. You can use other edging like wood or plastic edging to hold the bricks in place too. but if you dig down six inches, lay 4 inches and another 2, the bricks are above ground level. to make this project more economical, you could only lay 2 inches gravel and 2 inches sand, so that your bricks will lay into the ground FLUSH, and the surrounding earth will hold everything in. This is, of course, on the assumption of a 2 inch thick brick.

If you have freezing temperatures, you should dig down the 4 inches, lay a bed of mortor at 2 inches if the top of the bricks are to be flush with the earth, or 4 inch bed of mortor if the bricks are to be above ground level. Once the mortor is dumped in, then level. give the mortor five minutes or so. You need the mortor to be stiff, but not completely hard. When you push a brick into it, it still needs the brick to sink a little in. lay the brick leaving about a quarter inch between the bricks. Use a level as you go, and don't be afraid to push bricks into the mortor bed to achieve a level patio.

DON'T APPLY ANY WEIGHT FOR AT LEAST 24 HOURS.

. If you can, use clay bricks and heres why. Once your bricks
are down, and the mortor dry, if you have clay bricks, you can dump mortor on top and fill in between the bricks easily, and just a wet sponge will clean the tops of the bricks easily after excess is removed! If you have concrete bricks, then NEVER try this. they are way too porous and you will NEVER get the mortor out of them. On concrete bricks, you have to scoop the mortor in between each brick seperatley, cleaning each one as you go.

These same techniques can be used for pavers, but on pavers there generally is no separation to mortor or "grout"

Personally, I would install interlocking pavers on 2 inches of mortor, so the top of the finished product is flush with ground level.

Answer 3

With all due respect NO "grout" at this point will hold up, and very likely answer number one has that notion? The issue is that Unless the pavers/slabs happen to be on an already solid surface, IE: a poured concrete base,,,they are subject to FLEX. I install and remediate thousands of sq. ft. of tile, very often those in a similar situation to what you describe, with grout constantly cracking, crumbling, and chipping out. Even the dry mix will at some point get WET, and set up, as though you mixed and poured it, but it won't remain solid in the paver joints forever. The better solution might be to remove the pavers, pour a slab and reset them. Steven Wolf

Answer 4

The prep work is the same, but pavers would generally be easier to install due to larger size. They should also stay more even in the long run.

Answer 5

I used pavers for ours and it seemed simpler than brick because they were larger. They are HEAVY though!