| Hi,
I'm installing pavers, and I just dug down and removed 7 inches of topsoil and sod from the 260 square foot area where I plan to lay my patio. This morning I had a guy with a dump truck come and take out about 5 or 6 cubic yards of topsoil from my driveway.
The dump truck guy from the excavating company recommended that I go deeper and remove all of the topsoil down to the clay or hard bed, and call him back for a second load because he said the topsoil that is left will eventually decompose and my pavers would sink after a few years. Bummed, I just paid him 250 bucks to remove the dirt from driveway. The reason why I only went down 7 inches, 4 for gravel, one for sand and two inches for pavers, which is what I am reading is acceptable for pavers.
Anyway, after he left, I dug a couple of holes to see how much topsoil I have left, and I went down about a foot more, there is maybe an inch or so of topsoil left max, but below that, it's all sand in one area. As far as I could go – more than a foot deep, it looks like maybe playground sand. Does all this sand have to be removed too - down to hard clay?
In another area of the patio, I dug down a foot and there seems to be a mixture of sand and clay. Do I have a problem? Lot’s more digging to do?
If I just remove the inch more or so of topsoil will I be OK with the sand in one area and the sand – clay mixture in another area?
What should I do? Can I just remove the one inch of soil left and call it a day and start laying gravel base?
Thanks for any advice.
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