"James \"Cubby\" Culbertson" wrote:

Hiya Folks,
Getting everything in order to install brick pavers at mi casa this summer.
These will be external for walkways and possibly part of my driveway over a
bed of basecourse and sand. Anyway, I've got a few basic questions.
One, I can find 1" Base Course/Crushed rock or 3/4". The price for the 1"
is significantly cheaper so my question is, does it matter that it's a bit
larger than the typical 3/4" stuff?

I used #2 chushed stone for my patio base. Held up fine in NY for 3
years, now. I used crusher-run instead of sand. It packs better,
IMO, but it did stain some pavers the first year.
Two, the walkways will have some
curves in them. Do you recommend I just fudge the gaps to make the curves
or cut the bricks. I realize this probably depends on how sharp a curve

Definately depends on how big the curve. My patio is concentric
circles with 4" pavers. I bought a pallet of pavers to make the
circle-- 2 half-rounds, a bunch of tapered ones, some 2x4, & 4x4's.
Then I bought a pallet of straight run-- 4x4s & 4x8s. There are a
diminishing number of the tapered [trapazoids with a 3 inch and a 4
inch side] in the first 13 courses. After that it is a 1/8" gap
that makes the curve. I use more of the 2x4 pieces towards the
center of the circle, and more of the 4x8's on trhe outer edges.

but just curious. I've got a wet saw and had planned on cutting so if
that's preferable, then I'll go that route (I think I'd prefer this to
excessive gaps between the pavers). I'd probably have all sorts of
headaches with changing geometry if I'm cutting the bricks though.

I would only cut the edges-- never where 2 pavers are coming together.

Compact-- compact-- compact. [rent the machine. $75 now compared
tot he time & labor cost of the job is a pittance] The beauty of
pavers is that they are easy to re-do a section if need be. . . .but
the more time you spend compacting now, the less likely it is that
you'll need to touch anything up for years.

Jim