Fixing a Bad Paving Situation
It happens more often than it should. A homeowner hires a paving contractor, pays for the job, and within a year or two the paving is already sinking, cracking or coming loose. If you're in this situation, you're not alone — and there are ways forward.
Why Bad Paving Fails Quickly
Paving that fails within a few years almost always comes back to the same root cause: poor preparation. Specifically:
- Insufficient excavation — Not enough soil removed, so the base is too shallow
- No compaction — Soil and sub-base not compacted before the sand is laid
- Wrong sand — Using the wrong sand type or depth creates a base that shifts under load
- No edge restraints — Bricks spread outward from the edges with no concrete haunching to hold them
- Drainage ignored — Water undercuts the base, causing widespread failure
The bricks themselves are rarely the problem. It's almost always what's underneath them.
Assessing the Damage
Before deciding on a course of action, it's worth understanding how widespread the failure is:
- Is sinking or movement isolated to one area, or general across the whole surface?
- Can you lift bricks easily by hand, or are they still firmly bedded?
- Where does water go when it rains — does it drain away or pool?
- Are the bricks themselves in reasonable condition, or chipped and broken?
If failure is localised, a targeted repair may be sufficient. If it's widespread, the base needs to be redone properly.
Your Options
Option 1: Targeted Repair
Lift the bricks in the affected area, address the underlying problem (improve compaction, fix drainage, add edging), and relay the bricks. If the bricks are in good condition, they can be reused. This works when failure is truly localised.
Option 2: Partial Relay
Where one section of the paving has failed due to a specific cause (like a tree root or blocked drain), relay that section properly while leaving sound areas in place. A good contractor can blend the relay with the existing work.
Option 3: Full Relay
Where the original preparation was poor throughout, a full relay is the only permanent solution. The bricks are lifted, the base is rebuilt correctly, and the bricks are relaid. If the original bricks are in reasonable condition, they can be reused, which saves on material cost.
Avoiding the Same Problem Twice
If you're getting paving redone after a bad experience, the preparation process is everything. Ask your contractor specifically about excavation depth, compaction method, sand depth, edging provision and drainage. Read our article on choosing a paving contractor for a complete checklist of questions to ask.
We regularly fix other contractors' work. We'll always give you an honest assessment of what needs to be done and what can be left — we don't relay paving for the sake of it if targeted repairs will solve the problem.