Pavers in Minneapolis, MN

Pavers in Minneapolis have to survive a climate that is hard on anything laid on the ground. The mean daily temperature at the airport in January is 16.2 degrees Fahrenheit, and the city averages about 51 inches of snow a year. Water that gets under a patio freezes, expands and lifts it, then lets it drop again in spring. A paver surface handles that better than a poured slab because the joints let individual units move without cracking, but only when the base below is deep, well compacted and drains.

Why the base matters more than the paver

Frost in Minnesota can go a long way down. In the cold winter of 2014, University of Minnesota Extension reported frost near Ottertail measured at 95 inches, and MnDOT readings under some roads reached about six feet. Minnesota's building code sets footing depths for structures at 42 or 60 inches depending on the zone. A paver patio is not built to that depth; it is designed to float, moving slightly as one piece. That only works if the whole base moves evenly, which takes a consistent depth of compacted aggregate and good drainage underneath. Unilock, a major paver manufacturer, recommends a 4 to 6 inch base for walkways, 8 to 12 inches for driveways, deeper on clay or poorly draining soil, and compaction in lifts of 3 to 4 inches because a plate compactor cannot compact much deeper than that in one pass.

Building in a short season

The Twin Cities' last spring freeze typically falls within a few days of May 1, and the ground cannot be dug or compacted properly while it is frozen or saturated. That puts most paver construction between late spring and late fall. Spring dates go fast, because many homeowners decide on a patio once the snow melts. If you want a project done before summer, an estimate in late winter or early spring gives time for design, any permits, and material ordering. Late summer and fall are often good times to build: the ground has dried out and the base can be compacted well.

Impervious surface rules and the stormwater fee

Minneapolis counts paved and hardscaped areas as impervious surface. The city's Built Form Districts handbook caps impervious surface on residential lots in the Interior 1 and Interior 2 districts at 60 percent and in Interior 3 at 75 percent, with a 65 percent cap on lots under 6,000 square feet that have no alley or second street access. The stormwater utility bill is also tied to hard surface: the city's FAQ places single-family lots in tiers of under 1,485 square feet, 1,485 to 1,578 square feet, and over 1,578 square feet of impervious area, billed at 0.75, 1.00 or 1.25 stormwater units. A large new patio or driveway can move a property into a higher tier. We measure your existing hard surface at the estimate so you know where you stand.

Where permeable pavers fit

Permeable pavers have wider joints filled with open-graded stone and sit on a deep stone reservoir, so rain soaks through instead of running off. Minneapolis offers residential stormwater credits for pervious pavement that treats runoff from your own property: a flat 35 percent reduction, or 45 percent in a Green Zone, with applications accepted May 1 through October 1. A 2015 Minnesota Local Road Research Board study of permeable pavements in cold climates found that they kept infiltrating through winter at the sites studied, and that clogging is the main maintenance issue. They cost more than standard pavers and need periodic vacuum sweeping, so we lay out both options when they make sense.

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What a typical paver patio includes

• A utility locate through Gopher State One Call before any digging
• Excavation to the planned depth, extending past the finished edge
• Compacting the soil below, with geotextile where the soil is soft
• Crushed aggregate base placed and compacted in lifts
• A screeded bedding layer set to a 1 to 2 percent slope away from the house
• Pavers laid, cut to fit, and compacted into the bedding
• Edge restraint along open sides and joint sand swept in and compacted
• Cleanup and a walk-through with you

Older lots, alleys and tight access

About 44 percent of Minneapolis housing was built in 1939 or earlier, and much of the city is laid out with rear alleys and detached garages. That shapes paver work: narrow side yards limit equipment access, old concrete walks and buried debris often turn up during excavation, and the city does not allow driveways from the street for one- to three-unit homes that have alley access. We look at access, old surfaces that need removal, and drainage toward neighbors and foundations before we price anything.

Minneapolis is home base, from alley-lot bungalows in south Minneapolis and Northeast to larger yards near the lakes and along the parkways. From there we build across the Twin Cities metro: Saint Paul, Edina, Bloomington, Plymouth, Maple Grove, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Blaine, Coon Rapids, Lakeville, Apple Valley, Eagan, Woodbury, Prior Lake, Chanhassen, Shakopee and Andover. Every city sets its own rules on impervious surface, driveway aprons and retaining wall permits, and soils vary from sand to heavy clay across the metro, which changes how deep we dig and how we drain the base. Each area page covers what applies there, and we confirm the local rules for your address before work starts.