How to Lay Pavers on a Sand Base (Small Path)

By Cal — outdoor and landscaping, Perth WA.

You’ve seen those Bunnings bags labelled “paver base”? Yellow bag, looks like clean sand? It’s wrong. Or rather — it’s the right thing for the wrong job. That stuff is bedding sand. It goes on top of the actual base, not as the base itself. If you build a path on bedding sand alone, you’ll be relaying it inside two summers because it slumps every time it rains.

I lay paths the way the council guys lay them, scaled down for a backyard. Compacted road base for the structure, a 30 mm screeded sand bed for levelling, pavers, then polymeric sand in the joints. Done properly, that path outlasts the house. Done with sand only and no compaction, you’ll be re-doing it in 2027.

This is for a small path — say 600 mm wide, up to 8 metres long. If you’re doing a full driveway, get a contractor with a plate compactor and a laser level. For a side path or a courtyard, here’s the routine.

One more thing before we start: pavers themselves vary wildly in quality. Bunnings sells some respectable budget options (the National Masonry concrete pavers are fine), but for a long-life path I’d shop a landscape supply yard for proper bluestone, granite, or sandstone. The price gap closes once you factor in delivery, and the look is generations better.

What you’ll need

• Road base (also called crushed rock 20 mm minus, or “crusher dust” in some yards) — order from a local landscape supply, not Bunnings; about 100 mm depth × your path area
• Bedding sand (white washed sand or “paver bedding sand”) — 30 mm depth
• Polymeric sand (Bunnings stocks Brunnings or Gap Sand) — one bag per 5 m² of path
• Pavers — order 5% extra for cuts and breakages
• Plate compactor — hire from Kennards for a half-day, about $90
• Spirit level (1.2 m), rubber mallet, builder’s string line, marking paint
• Long screed board (a straight 100×50 timber works)
• Wheelbarrow, square-mouth shovel, geotextile fabric (optional but good in clay)
• Edge restraints (Quikedge or 100×50 treated pine pegged with 300 mm steel pins)

Step 1: Mark the path and check fall

Spray-paint the outline. Run a string line along each edge at finished paver height. Now check the fall — pavers must drain at minimum 1:80 (12 mm per metre) AWAY from the house. No fall = puddles = moss = slip hazard. Two-much fall = water races and undermines the edge. Aim for 1:60 to 1:80.

Step 2: Excavate to depth

Total dig depth = paver thickness + 30 mm sand + 100 mm road base. A standard 50 mm paver = 180 mm dig. Mark a stick with that depth and use it as a gauge. Square the sides — sloppy excavation walls collapse and contaminate the base.

Step 3: Cut the fall INTO the subgrade — the Aussie clay gotcha

This is the bit nobody on YouTube tells you. Sydney shale, Melbourne clay, parts of Adelaide and Perth — these soils move 30 mm seasonally. Wet winter = swell. Dry summer = shrink. If your fall is only cut into the sand layer, the sand follows the clay and your fall disappears the first wet July.

Cut the fall into the actual clay subgrade. Use the long screed board across the excavation with a spirit level shimmed at one end (a 12 mm packer per metre of length gives you 1:80) and check that the floor of your excavation drops at the right angle. The road base, sand and pavers all just follow this. The clay is what controls the long-term drainage.

Step 4: Lay geotextile (in clay soils)

If you’re on reactive clay — most of Sydney west of Strathfield, most of inner Melbourne, parts of Adelaide — drop a layer of geotextile fabric over the dirt before the road base. Stops the road base migrating into the clay over years. About $40 a roll from Bunnings or any landscape yard.

Step 5: Spread and compact the road base

Spread the road base in two 50 mm lifts. Wet each lift lightly with the hose — barely damp, not soggy — then run the plate compactor over it 4 passes. Don’t try to dump 100 mm in one go and compact it; you’ll get a soft middle that’ll fail. Two lifts. Always.

Step 6: Set screed rails and lay the bedding sand

Lay two lengths of 25 mm conduit pipe along the path, sitting on the road base, parallel to the path direction, at the correct height for sand-bed top. Pour bedding sand between them. Pull your screed board across the conduits — sand levels off perfectly to 25 mm. Pull the conduits out and fill the channels with sand. Don’t walk on the screeded sand. Don’t compact it.

Step 7: Lay the pavers

Start at one end against a fixed edge (wall, edge restraint). Lay each paver gently — don’t slide it, you’ll plough the sand. 2-3 mm gap between pavers is the goal; some pavers have spacer lugs that set this for you. Tap each one level with the rubber mallet. Check across three pavers with the spirit level constantly.

Step 8: Cut the edges

You’ll have edge cuts at the end. Mark with a chinagraph pencil, cut with a wet saw (Kennards hire, $50/half day) or a brick bolster and lump hammer if you’re old-school. Wear ear plugs and safety glasses. Granite and bluestone pavers will eat a cheap diamond blade — buy a decent blade or hire the cutter with one included.

Step 9: Install edge restraints

Pavers laid on sand WILL spread sideways without edge restraint. Quikedge (the black plastic L-section) pegged every 300 mm with 300 mm steel pins is the easy option. Treated pine 100×50 pegged the same way works on rustic paths. Concrete haunching works on driveways. Pick one. Don’t skip it.

Step 10: Polymeric sand and final compaction

Sweep polymeric sand into the joints. Polymeric — not regular sand. Polymeric sand contains a binder that activates with water and locks the joints. Regular sand washes out with the first heavy rain. Mist the path with the hose set to fine spray (not jet) until the sand is wet through but not flooded. Let it cure 24 hours. Then run the plate compactor over the FINISHED pavers (fit a rubber pad to the plate first or you’ll chip them) for two passes. This seats everything and the path is done.

Common stuff-ups I get called in to fix

I see the same three failures over and over on owner-laid paths:

• “Just sand, no base”: path looks great for one summer, slumps in winter. Owner relays it on top of the same sand. Slumps again. Three relays in, they finally call me. Always road base. Always.
• “No edge restraint”: the path spreads sideways 5-10 mm a year. Joints open, polymeric sand cracks out, weeds invade. Quikedge or treated pine or concrete haunch — pick one, install it on day one.
• “Reverse fall toward house”: rare but catastrophic. Water drains under the slab. Termites and rising damp follow. Always check fall with the spirit level before you commit. 1:80 minimum, away from any building.

Materials sourcing — don’t default to Bunnings

Bunnings has the convenience but landscape supply yards have the right product at half the price. Look up “Daleys Turf”, “ANL Garden Supplies”, “Yarrabee Stone” or your local equivalent. A cubic metre of road base from a yard is $50-70 delivered. The same volume in 20kg Bunnings bags is $200+. Pavers themselves are usually cheaper at the yard too, especially for bluestone, granite, and Sydney sandstone. Get the yard to deliver — don’t try to fit a cubic metre of road base in a Hilux.

The Cal rule

Bunnings paver base is bedding sand, not base. Roadbase is the structure, sand is the levelling layer, polymeric is the sealant. Three layers, three jobs. And the fall belongs in the clay, not in the sand. Get those two right and you’ll never relay a path in your life. The job takes a long Saturday for a small path and a full weekend for a courtyard, but the result is a path that’s still flat in 2040. The sand-only version cracked apart by 2027.

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