"Masonry321" wrote in message
ps.com...
I am building a 300 sq ft patio and have already dug out the lawn to
about 4 inches and backfilled those 4 inches with about 4 tons of "#21
A Crushed Bluestone".

I have a few weeks between now and when i will be putting sand and
pavers over it. So nature will be raining on it and what not for a
while.

I bought a 10x10" hand tamper and have been basically wetting the stone
and hand tamping. That, in addition to the rain and weather, seem to
have already solidified the base pretty well.

The question is, do i really need to rent a $75 / day power compactor
to level the base?

or is what i have done already enough?



Absolutely yes, unless you want to pull up all the pavers in 5-10 years and
re-level the base because it became all wavy.

You might have done enough but $75 will give you piece of mind that settling
is far less likely to happen 5-10 years down the road. (less likely because
I don't know what you have, creep may be inevitable). Really, what are you
paying for the pavers, like $2k-$4k plus another $500 for the base material.
(I'm assuming $0 for labor and you did it yourself).

Get a vibratory compactor, not a jumping jack and a half day rental at HD
otta do it. You'll need it again after the pavers are down so this is good
practice on a surface you can't damage.