Paver Patios & Walkways in Salmon Creek, WA
Replacing 1990s concrete. Interlocking paver patios, walkways and driveways built on an open-graded base that survives Clark County winters.
Free Estimate in Salmon CreekPaver Patios & Walkways in Salmon Creek: what is different here
The typical Salmon Creek patio job is a replacement. The original builder-poured concrete slab is now twenty-five to thirty years old, cracked across the middle, heaved at one corner and holding water where it has settled. Patching it is throwing money at a slab that will keep moving.
Taking the concrete out and building a paver patio on a proper base costs more than a patch and solves the problem permanently — and because a paver field is thousands of individual pieces rather than one rigid slab, it flexes with our clay instead of cracking again.
Most of these yards have also matured into significant shade, so we often extend the hardscape into areas where the lawn has given up rather than fighting to grow grass that will not thrive.
How we build it
- Excavation to proper subgrade for the intended load
- Geotextile separation fabric on clay and wet sites
- Compacted base in lifts, not a single deep pour
- Saw-cut perimeter and spiked edge restraint
- Polymeric jointing sand, compacted and set
- Positive drainage pitched away from the house
A paver patio is only as good as what is underneath it. Most of the failed patios we get called out to repair in Clark County look fine the day they were finished — they sank two winters later because somebody laid pavers on four inches of loose sand over clay. We build the base first and the pretty part second.
About 15 minutes south of Ridgefield. Estimates in Salmon Creek are free, and the price we put in writing is the price.
Full detail on how we build paver patios & walkways · Everything we do in Salmon Creek
Paver Patios & Walkways we have built
Paver Patios & Walkways in Salmon Creek
Free on-site estimates across Clark County. We walk the property with you, tell you what it actually needs, and put a fixed price in writing.
Paver Patios & Walkways in Salmon Creek: questions we get
Should we replace the original concrete patio or pave over it?
It depends on the slab. Where thirty-year-old concrete is sound and level, pavers can sometimes be laid over it with the right detailing. Where it is cracked, lifted by roots or has settled toward the house — which is most of what we find here — it comes out and the base gets built properly.
Why has our original patio settled toward the house?
Three decades of ground settlement and compaction, usually combined with roof water discharging nearby. It is extremely common in the 1990s and 2000s Salmon Creek subdivisions, and it matters because a patio pitching toward the building sends water at the foundation every winter.
Can a patio work in a back yard that is now heavily shaded?
Yes, with realistic expectations. Trees planted as saplings in 1998 have changed these yards, and a shaded paver surface will pick up algae and moss over the winter. A textured paver keeps grip, and a patio is a far better answer for deep shade than yet another attempt at growing lawn there.
Can you work around the trees that have grown up around the patio?
Usually, and that is part of the value of pavers here. We keep excavation out of the root plate where we can, and a flexible surface tolerates the minor movement near mature roots. Cutting significant roots to fit a rectangle is how people lose a tree three years later.
Does the old patio removal add much to the job?
More than most people expect. Breaking out and hauling a thirty-year-old concrete slab is real work and real disposal volume, and it belongs in the written scope rather than appearing at the end. It is one of the main cost differences between a renovation and a new-build patio.
Our lot backs onto the Greenway. Does that affect a patio?
It can. Lots along the Salmon Creek Greenway and creek corridor sometimes sit low, stay wet, or carry critical-area buffers, all of which affect where hardscape can go and how it drains. Worth checking before design rather than discovering during it.
Should the patio wait until we redo the rest of the yard?
If a full renovation is likely within a couple of years, yes — sequence it so drainage and grading happen once. Building a patio now and fixing the yard’s water problem later frequently means lifting part of the patio to get a drain line where it needs to be.
Is it worth upgrading from the original builder-grade paths at the same time?
Usually, because the access, excavation and mobilisation are already paid for. Replacing the front walkway while the crew and machine are on site costs far less than commissioning it as a separate job two years later, and it makes the finished result read as one project rather than patches.