I'm building out a large walkway/patio area and I saw these. They seemed ok laying some pavers on top in the store, no shifting and they seemed fine.
It would be a huge timesaver if they're any good. The reviews are all over the place and I'm looking for some actual experiences. Any opinions good or bad?
by TurbulentPromise4812
40 Comments
Wondering the same thing. I am currently laying a paver patio and it seems it would save some base material but I did not see the immediate value myself for my installation.
How are these supposed to save you time? I’ve never used anything like this but I used to install patios, pavers and such for a landscaping company and I’m not really understanding how a foam base would make anything better?
I wouldn’t trust them…base gravel and sand are time tested.
testing by putting a few bricks on it at the store is not an indication of anything….
What is suppose to be the advantage of those.
Yes they are legit, you don’t need to dig as deep a base and they make it easy to install since you can walk on them and slide the blocks into position
I used it for a small paver pad for my deck stairs landing. Seems to be holding up fine after almost two years.
If you have the time/capacity to do the standard gravel base and levelling sand, just do it though. With these you still have to excavate some dirt, and then rough level it. Rough levelling clay dirt fuckin SUCKS. So much easier to lay and pack gravel.
I used them for a rental. Expanded a concrete pad with pavers to get more usable area. Didn’t want to invest a lot of effort in digging and stone first since it’s just a rental.
I just used sand and these with pavers directly on top and it’s been solid for the past few years.
They do not replace subgrade entirely. Typically worth 6″ of it. Super expensive for what it is. It is meant to be used in situations where you are unable to excavate a full proper depth. They still require nailing too so that add anither type of cost and work involved to it.
I used a similar product to this recently called gator base by Alliance/Gator. Their product is very similar except for 2 things that seemed worth it: 1) the boards connect via a tongue and grove type connection versus paver base which just sit next to each other 2) they make a corresponding edging that you screw into the foam with a toggle bolt like screw so it’s locked into place. I purchased it through my local masonry supply store that I found on gator’s website. it was the same place I got my Belgard pavers.
I was only building a small walkway it wasn’t a big enough project where redoing it in a few years would be a huge pain. I only had to dig down the depth of a paver + 1.25 inches (.5 compacted sand + 3/4 for the foam)
Time will tell how well it holds up.
I used them in a retaining wall project last year, having never done anything like that before, they worked ok for me. i cut them in half length wise since the wall wasnt very wide. They worked pretty well i thought, just the leveling took a while
I used in a spot that I couldn’t dig deep (live oak tree roots). Fabric and 1.5” sand underneath I think. 12” square pavers on top. Light foot traffic. Saves a lot of labor digging. Holding up great, I recommend.
Gatorbase & techniseal are well worth the money, more so if you don’t have excavation equipment or have an awkwardly accessible back yard.
I’ve done large and small patios on them with zero issue (eastern Ontario).
Make sure you follow the instructions to the letter and use quality polysand, you’ll be in good shape!
I used these for my 800 sq foot brick patio, everything looks solid 2 years later, no problems. Way easier than traditional but definitely more expensive.
I used them at my house for a diy project. In my case I did a bunch of landscaping last year that I didn’t want to tear up. I would have had to take down a section of fence and I’m not experienced with an excavator so I would have had to pay someone to do that work. Given all that I could have hand dug the area and used a wheelbarrow but that would have been a lot of work. I was happy with the result for a diy job. Home Depot had pavers on sale for 25 cents each so my whole job was probably around $700 for an area around 200sqft.
https://imgur.com/gallery/h7PLBxf
I used these when I did my paver patio. I did the entire thing myself and my backyard couldn’t fit an excavator so I did all of the digging (and hauling out) myself, by hand. That sucked big time.
Dug around 6”, 4” of decomposed granite, leveling sand, and then around 200 sq ft of these paver bases. Then laid the paver stones down, polymeric sand, etc.
Super easy to use and it’s only been a year but everything looks good so far.
Yes it’s more expensive… but so is time (and back surgery).
I could never trust that. Plus it’s not very hard to excavate and lay a good base.
For homeowners trying to do a quick diy project, sure! A professional using this on an install? I’ll laugh
There’s this dude Uncle Jhonn who I’m always seeing showing up on my video feed, who I believe is a professional contractor (not landscaper) and also a content creator. Anyway he seems to know what he’s doing and he uses these all the time.
It’s climate dependent from what I’ve observed. It honestly makes no sense to me how they could work, but I’m just a hardscaper, not an engineer. I still have opted to avoid them.
Well, one of the companies I used to work for decided to start using them. Every single job they installed the first year of using them had to be torn out and redone. Knowing this company, they would have followed the installation instructions to the letter. As I would have assumed, these weren’t sufficient for installation in freeze/thaw areas. The work held fine until winter. Once things settled back in during the spring thaw, the jobs were wrecked.
They are pointless and expensive
When we got a deck 4 years ago, I reused the original patio pavers to a side that the deck would step down to. I used these under the pavers with a layer of pea gravel and sand underneath. Hasn’t moved and the old pavers, that I expected to fall apart because they were original to the house (25 years old now), have stayed together, thank goodness. I plan to expand around our fire pit this fall and will use these again
It doesn’t breathe and will cause molding
Yep, so much easier.
Used these for a 12×20 brick paver patio about 4 years ago. Dug out with a skid loader, leveled that as nice as I could with a shovel, poured in about an inch of sand, leveled that with an 8ft screed (2* slope to floor off), tamped all of that down, placed the paver base, and then 2 of us laid bricks. Took about a week in my down time to prep, 3 hours to lay bricks, then another hour to fill with polymer sand.
4 years later and everything’s still near perfect. No settling, no low spots.
Meh, used them for a small shed pad. Still prefer gravel. Saves some time and effort but not money if you already have the tools.
I liked them! Very legit. Easy to shape as well.
We built a large paver patio with these. They worked great and were easy to use. Highly recommend.
I’ve used them on 3 small projects. Life savers.
Yes! I was a new homeowner and needed a COVID activity. Built a patio and these things were amazing. Far less gravel material and easy to thunk into place. Go for it!
I’d trust the product if only because someone was confident enough to put their name and number right on the box. *For questions, contact Tim Newton: (813) 431-8259*
I used these a couple of years ago for a brick path and they have held up great. No sinking at all and everything is nicely in place. I live in a house on a hill with a difficult to access backyard so it saved a lot of hand digging, dirt movement, and gravel carries up a ton of stairs/slopes. I still had to level with sand underneath.
I’m sure a dump of gravel is cheaper/easier if you have the access and willpower. If you’re a one person team, these do help a lot for a DIY
I did a brick path to my front door with ~20 of them. I put down some paver base then these. Locked everything down with poly sand after. It’s held up well. Keeps them from settling poorly
I tried using traditional sand paver base for a 12×12 paver patio I extended off my concrete but i couldn’t get it level. Not sure how to do it honestly. So I removed everything, placed these down, and it’s much better. I’m assuming the pavers kind of “float” with this whole base being one piece, so it settles together better? Idk but it’s much better and now pretty perfect. Didn’t have to dig down as far either
I just put down a small area of pavers and wish I’d known this was an option.
Seems like a bunch of plastic trash in the ground.
I used these, as a complete novice, and ended up with a pretty decent outcome on my back patio.
I still had to dig, but only 1/2 to 1/3 of what was needed and everything has settled out well.
Would recommend again.
I still use the landscaping fabric under them, buddy used cardboard. I dont have weeds but he does.
Yeah, I used them in a small ish area – 4x20ft extension/walk path next to my driveway. They’re holding up great going on 4/5years.
I had shallow utility lines in the area so could only go so deep and when I priced out doing a proper base (gravel packed, sand, etc) it wasn’t all that much more expensive and saved me another 2-3inches of digging.
Bonus is that I was able to cut some with a box cutter to get the proper shape.
Highly recommend, huge timer save and they work excellent.
They work in the south maybe with lots of sandy soil. If you have thaw freeze or are on a hill or anything, no. Not even close