Hardscape Base Preparation Checklist

Every paver warranty claim we hear about starts below the pavers. North Texas expansive clay moves — it swells wet and shrinks dry — so the base is not just bearing load, it is bridging movement. This checklist is the sequence our hardscape crews run on every flatwork job.

Design numbers first

The checklist

1. Call 811 at least two business days before digging; verify private lines (lighting, irrigation, propane, pool) separately — locators do not mark them.
2. Excavate to subgrade: finish elevation minus paver thickness, minus 1 inch bedding, minus base depth. Dig 6 to 12 inches wider than the finished edge on all open sides.
3. Grade the subgrade to the same slope as the finish surface: minimum 2 percent (1/4 inch per foot) away from structures. Water that reaches the subgrade must still drain.
4. Proof-roll or plate-compact the subgrade. Soft, pumping spots get dug out and replaced with compacted base — not skinned over.
5. Lay non-woven geotextile fabric over the clay, up the excavation sides, overlapping seams 12 to 18 inches. On clay this is the cheapest insurance on the job: it keeps base rock from migrating down and clay from pumping up.
6. Place crushed base (flexible base or crusher fines over larger crushed rock per spec) in 2 to 3 inch lifts. Never compact a thick lift in one pass — the bottom stays loose.
7. Compact each lift with a plate compactor: 3 to 4 overlapping passes minimum per lift, at proper moisture (damp enough to clump, not muddy). Rent a reversible plate over 5,000 lbf for anything vehicular.
8. Check grade as you go with a string line or laser — the base should mirror the finish surface within 3/8 inch over 10 feet. You cannot fix base waves in the sand layer.
9. Screed 1 inch of concrete sand loose between screed rails; do not compact the sand and do not walk it after screeding.
10. Install edge restraint on compacted base — never on bedding sand — spiked per manufacturer spec, before or immediately after laying field pavers.

Quantities

Base tonnage: square footage x depth in feet x 1.4 tons per cubic yard conversion — or simpler, square feet x depth in inches / 324 = cubic yards, then multiply by about 1.5 to get tons of compacted crushed base, which covers the 15 to 20 percent compaction loss. A 400-square-foot patio at 6 inches needs roughly 7.5 cubic yards delivered, or 11 tons. Sand runs one cubic yard per 300 square feet at 1 inch. Our base material calculator on the resources page runs this math with waste built in.

Document the base with photos at each stage — subgrade, fabric, each lift, screeded sand. Five minutes of photos settles every future conversation about what is under the surface, and it is the habit that separates hardscape crews that get referrals from crews that get callbacks.