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Professional installers often include a deep layer of crushed gravel under permeable pavers to allow more runoff to soak through into the soil below. Many installations will include multiple layers of gravel, with coarser aggregate at the base and finer aggregate that sits on top of that bottom layer. Above the gravel, you’ll often find coarse sand that helps reduce paver shifting over time. Some permeable paver designs include a water collection system set into the gravel layer to route runoff to a safe area for disposal.

Pavers will crack in a fire pit if they are made of the wrong materials. Be sure to use kiln-fired brick paver stones when building your backyard fire pit. You can also purchase a fire pit project kit, which will sometimes come with fire-safe pavers, to help you avoid the guessing game of buying pavers separately.

The layer of polymeric sand under the pavers plus the polymeric sand that gets swept into the joints between your pavers holds them in place in a few ways. For one, the gritty texture of the sand helps lock the pavers together. Polymeric sand also contains bonding agents that get activated by water. Polymeric sand will take between 24 and 48 hours to fully cure, so do not walk on your paver walkway before this time.

Driveways should be sloped with a minimum 2% slope—anything lower will cause precipitation and runoff to collect. A 2% slope is the equivalent of a 2-foot rise over 100 feet. One quick way to check the integrity of your driveway’s slope: no more than four inches of water should collect on the surface longer than 15 minutes after rain.