Pavers over concrete patio?

worker

Right outside my front door is a 'entryway' or 'landing' which is a 12' x 5.5' concerete slab. The edges of the 'landing' are slate slabs ~1' wide. 5 steps lead down from the landing to ground level. As you walk up, you first step onto the top slate edge and then on to the concrete slab. The builder did a bad job job compacting under the slab. As a result, the slab has sunk ~1.75 in but the slate edges have not sunk. The ~1.75in gap between slate and concrete slab has become a tripping hazard. The house is in NJ with winter snow and freezing.

I've been told that the 'correct' way would be to remove the old slab, put more gravel, compact, and pour another slab. This is very expensive and it might sink again. I do not want to go that route. I am thinking about putting pavers over the existing concrete slab - so I can do it myself. If it sinks in few years, I can raise the pavers by putting more sand/granite dust underneath and resetting them. I have several questions.

1) Is it OK to put pavers in front entryway? I've rarely see pavers in the front entryway - most homes have concrete slab. Is there a reason for this?

2) Since the gap between slate front edge and slab is ~1.75in, I need thin pavers ~1-1/2 in or less -do they make these? Anything thicker will stick out from the slate edge and will be a tripping hazard.

3) If I can not find thin pavers, I'll have to use 2 in thick concrete squares but these will stick out ~1/4 to 1/2 in. Is there a way to smooth this projection at the edges by beweling with caulk/compound/cement to reduce the tripping hazard.

4) Since I may have to raise and reset the pavers in the future, what is the best way to set them on concrete?

5) Should I put some expansion joint/compound where the pavers meet the slate edges to allow for expansion/contraction?

Thank you very much for your help.
This thread is great - I found answers to some of my questions.

AZJD

You can do pavers on concrete - you just have to treat the job as if you are laying tile. You'll need adhesive below the pavers, and grout between them.

Remember, with brick-on-sand, water drainage is vertical; on concrete it has to be lateral. That's why you need to grout with mortar between the pavers. The water has to drain across the tops of the pavers; not percolate between them.

worker

Thanks AZJD you for your advise.

I do not want to make a permanent joint between pavers and concrete. The concrete slab might continue settling over the years so I want to be able to raise the pavers in the future by putting more sand /quarry dust between concrete and the pavers. If I use the adhesive and grout, I will not be able to do this?!

I could not find thin pavers (need less than 1.75 in thick) so I am considering laying 1" thick thermal bluestone (2 ft x 2 ft) over concrete using quarry dust under bluestone and in the joints. Any thoughts - recommendations?

Thanks

jobeamca

Worker, Lowes' pavers are 1.75 thick:

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...162&lpage=none

worker

Thanks, I'll check it out. I found other 1-1/2 in 'patio blocks' but they are are very brittle. So I am thinking of going with 'thermal bluestone' ~1 in thick over concrete. I need to figure out what to use underneath and between joints - sand or quarry dust.

concretemasonry

The 1 1/2" "patio blocks" are just that. They are not meant to be pavers - just look at the low price. Many people get fooled by the lack of information supplied by the big bad boxes.

bigtex

ACME brick has 1/2" pavers but I don't know if they are sold in NJ. Rough texture-requires a sealer.

I put mine down on concrete slab using 50/50 mix of high early concrete and mason's mortar- works fine. Make sure you 'tap down' the paver with a rubber hammer. Grout using mortar mix with colorant as needed.

LACajun

We're considering putting brick pavers over concrete. Looks to me like it can be done from reading these posts. But, I have another question for anyone who might know, how hard is it to take up existing tile and grout? we have an outdoor tile down on the patio now and it doesn't seem to be holding up well around the edges. We're thinking of pulling it all up, and starting over with brick pavers. But we don't know how difficult and time consuming, not to mention the expense, that it would be take up the existing tile. Thanks for any help anyone has on this.

LACajun

I have another question, hope someone has some answers or helpful ideas. We have a wrap around porch on our house, I'd like to paint the concrete on 3 of the porches. But this is the problem: they hold standing water. when it rains, the wind blows the rain up onto the porches and there's several places where the water stands and it's days sometimes before it all dries up, unless we sweegie it off. So if I painted, these areas where water stands will cause the paint to eventually just peel up. So my question is, is there a product out there that we can use to "level" the surface of the concrete some, or maybe it would "grade" it, so the water would drain off on the ground and paint would then stick to the surface better. Sorry for the long post, but it took a bit to explain what we're up against. We want to go the least expensive route to accomplish this.
thanks for any help anyone has.

LACajun

hi, since my last post on painting my concrete porch, I have been doing some online research. Has anyone ever used a marine paint on concrete? water might not affect the paint in this case. In my research, I found out about swimming pool paint, the type paint you can put on the concrete walls of a pool, so would it make sense this type of paint would adhere to a concrete porch and not chip off in places where the water tends to stand during rains. And again, thanks for any help....

RICHIE K

Jimbo what part of jersey you from

jobeamca

Hey LA Cajun, it seems like the pool paint shouldn't be bothered by the water. But a better solution might be to level the low spots so it doesn't hold water. There are some types of self-leveling compounds, I've seen them somewhere but I'm not sure where. You'd definitely want to make sure the concrete is first clean and dry, and maybe even use a bonding agent to make sure it doesn't delaminate later- I suppose the insrutctions tell you what precautions to take. Then instead of a paint, I'd use a concrete stain (solid color). I've had very good results using Walmart's stain on my driveway- it's been about 4 years now and its still holding up well.

LACajun

thanks for the help and suggestions. I read about some leveling compounds, I think some are actually concrete mixtures. The only problem we might have here, is that there are LOTS of places where water stands. We have a wrap around porch, and the front porch faces east and the side porch that faces south is constantly getting rain blown up by the wind and because it's not been graded on a slight slope when the concrete was poured, water stands and won't roll off, it stays there till we either sweep it off or it evaporates. So I'm wondering what type of job it'd be to level it all out with a leveling agent, I'd rather go that route than brick pavers, which will cost several thousands. but we are not avid diy yourselfers, so we'd have to pay to have it done.

jedshed

go ahead and just put them down on the concrete i did this myseff with no problems at all

tkristi

I got some good info here off this Thread...

This is what I am doing...Looks like I might have a good start just got to find out what would be best to use under them to keep them in place...please comment with anything that you guys think I can use..