Paver Repair & Re-Sanding in Berkley

Most Berkley lots share one layout, from the 1920s and '30s pockets near Woodward Ave to the 1940s and '50s blocks off Coolidge Hwy and 12 Mile Rd: a bungalow on a 40-foot lot, a detached garage at the back, and a mature maple at the street. Pavers on those lots face two forces that push up rather than down.

The first is roots. Trees lift nearby paving as their roots grow. Pavers handle that better than a poured walk: they shift into a gentler hump instead of cracking, and a raised section can be taken up and relaid rather than broken out. A hump is still a trip edge, though. We reset the pavers over the root; we do not cut or grind roots. Severing a large root can kill the tree or leave it less stable, so whether a root goes is a call for an arborist.

The second is frost. Heave happens only when cold, water and a frost-susceptible soil come together; lenses of ice build as moisture is drawn up toward the freezing layer, and the damage comes from uneven lifting. Spring thaw works downward from the surface, so meltwater sits trapped above still-frozen soil and the ground stays soft until it drains. CMHA, the paver industry's technical association, gives a frost-resistant subbase as the fix for frost heave. A reset puts the pavers back level but does not change the soil beneath them, and we say so before quoting.

Then there is the shovel. On a long walk to a rear garage, a paver edge sticking up more than an eighth of an inch is exactly what a blade catches. CMHA advises fixing raised pavers like that before winter and shoveling on a diagonal to the joint pattern rather than along it.