How necessary is it to put sand under bricks or stone?
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Hi Gail. It is not necessary but without doing it can cause the bricks to shift over time. It also helps during installation making it easier to shift the bricks creating an even surface.
Landscape fabric, then sand, install bricks, sweep sand in between to fill gaps and lock in the bricks. The sand under the bricks stabilizes the bricks and allows for leveling. Also locks them together to make a solid slab.
I think it's very important. The compacted sand underlayment will help you level the stones as they're being installed. It also acts as drainage to keep the mud from coming up between the stones. The last step is to sweep sand into the cracks between the stones to help keep them in place.
I hate to say this, but we made a seating area against our house when we removed some horrible looking shrubs between the sidewalk and the house, and we didn't use sand. It has been three years now and nothing has shifted and no heaving up or down, even with the nasty winters we get in Minnesota! We have more trouble with our driveway! We leveled it out as well as possible with the soil from the garden, put the pavers down and leveled each as we went. We left it alone to settle to see if it needed more leveling after walking on it and under the seats and potted plants, then put landscape material down when it stayed level.
No----you do not need to use sand or gravel as long as whatever is underneath(clay,dirt etc.) is compacted fairly well and relatively level or even at slight sloping angle depending on drainage and water area gets to provide it with run off, away from house/foundation;also may need to invest in decent metal edging if you are installing patio or sidewalks but if it's sunk down into soil so it level with surface of ground no need for that either.
Thanks everyone. I really appreciate all your input. I’ll show a picture when I’m done. May be a while. 😓