Paver Repair & Re-Sanding in Columbus Township

The township master plan describes Columbus Township's soils as glacial-lake plain: nearly level, somewhat poorly drained clay and sand laid down on an old lake bed, with a clay-till moraine through the center. Water lingers in ground like that. CMHA's maintenance guide puts a saturated base or soil on its list of causes for a paver depression, beside a base or subgrade that settled, often from poor compaction, bedding sand laid too thick, and bedding and joint sand that washed out. Under paver driveways on clay or slow-draining soil, its construction guide recommends drain pipe.

A dip that holds water after rain shows where the trouble is, not how deep it goes. Some sit only in the bedding; others reach a base that was thin or loose from the start. Over well-drained soil, CMHA's minimum compacted base is 4 inches under patios and walks and 6 under driveways, beneath about an inch of concrete-sand bedding, and in a cold climate continually wet soils call for more. Many homes here date from the township's growth years, 694 of 1,621 built between 1990 and 2009, so a patio laid when one of those houses went up has now been through some 17 to 36 winters.

The Belle River valley is the other setting. The river crosses the township with rises of 20 to 40 feet to the uplands, and on a lot along the valley side or near the Rattle Run floodplain, a walk can run downhill toward water. Runoff then travels along the joints. CMHA recommends stabilized joint sand on slopes steeper than 7% and below downspouts and eaves, so polymeric sand is the fill for a walk that steep.