Make a plan. A good plan is essential to a successful paver project. Think about where you want your path, driveway, or patio, and then use graph paper to make a scaled drawing of the immediate area. Draw in your paver project . You'll have to play around with your design a bit, so be sure to use pencil and keep your drawing neat. Your project will need to have adequate drainage if you want it to be safe and durable. You'll also want to make sure that it slopes away from your house and other structures. To ensure adequate drainage, you should have a slope of at least 1/8" per linear foot (1/4" slope per linear foot is often recommended).

Even simple, monotonous paving projects can look great. You can do a lot more with pavers, though, so consider making patterns or unusual shapes.

Order your materials. You have a lot of choices in the pavers you use. Most are brick or concrete, but you can find a variety of sizes, shapes, and colors. Find a style that is to your liking and that fits your budget either online or at your local builders supply store.

In general, if your project area isn't too irregularly shaped, you can safely calculate how many pavers you need by simply measuring the square footage of the footprint and adding 5 percent. If your design has a lot of curves, get an extra 10% over your best square footage estimate. You should order a bit extra because you'll almost certainly end up having to cut some of the pavers to get the right fit. The fancier your outline, the more pavers you'll have to cut.

Outline the project area. Use string or garden hose to outline your project. Drive stakes to hold the outline in place and to make clean corners.

Scope your slope. To avoid water pooling on your pavers, they should be slightly above the surface of the surrounding ground at all points. Thus, when planning the slope, begin what will be the highest point (typically the point at the bottom of the front door or otherwise closest to the house).

Excavate the installation area. Spaces which will be exposed only to foot traffic generally need 4-6" of base material, while driveways or projects in very wet soil may need as much as 12" of base. Figure out how deep your base will need to be (consult the manufacturer or your building supply store), and add about 1-1.5" for the sand layer, plus the thickness of the pavers (this varies by brand and style but is typically 2 3/8" or 3 1/8"). The sum of the depth of the base, the sand, and the pavers will be how deep you need to excavate your project area. Be sure to excavate 6-12" beyond the boundaries of the project to give you ample space to install your edge restraints.

Measure the depth of your excavation from the string you used to track your slope, not from the surface of the ground.

Lay the base. The base material is usually coarse, crushed stone with sharp irregular edges. Add no more than 6 inches at a time to the entire excavated area, and then compact with a hand tamper (for very small projects) or a plate compactor. It's essential that the base be well-compacted. Repeat this process until you have a base of the correct depth. Now is your last chance to properly adjust the height of the finished project and to ensure you don't have any dips or bumps. Slightly increase or decrease the thickness of the base as necessary, taking frequent measurements from your strings to the base. Laying the base outside the boundaries of the project will make your project more stable.

Install the edge restraints. Edge restraints will help hold the shape of your project over the years. Place these restraints, usually made of plastic, aluminum, or steel, around the perimeter of the project and secure them into the ground with 12" spikes. If your design is irregularly shaped, you'll need to cut the restraints in order to follow the edges of your design.

Put down a layer of sand. The sand is the material that holds your pavers in place. Use coarse sand and screed it smooth to a uniform depth of at least 1 inch, but no more that 1 1/2 inches. If your project is large, lay down 1" screed pipes and then pour the sand in between the pipes, screeding the sand in small sections (50-100 square feet each). Remove the pipes and then fill in the gaps with more sand.

Lay the pavers. Actually laying pavers is easy compared to all the work you've just done. Begin laying pavers at a 90-degree corner, preferably one that abuts the house or another structure. Work out from there, keeping your pavers in straight lines. Lay pavers by placing them straight down in the sand--do not slide them along the ground or kick them into place and disturb the sand. Slide each paver straight down the edge of the adjacent paver. Don't worry about gaps: you generally want to leave a 1/16" to 1/8" gap between pavers. Periodically check to make sure the pavers are flat, and use a string to check each row for straightness

Use a plate compactor to tamp the pavers into the sand. Once all the pavers are installed, run the plate compactor over them to ensure they are snuggly pressed into the sand.Seal your pavers. For added durability and lower maintenance, seal the pavers with an appropriate sealing product

Sweep sand into the joints. Fill the joints between pavers (www.chinaclaybrick.com )with coarse sand like you used earlier, or use slightly finer sand. Pour it onto the pavers and sweep it into the cracks until they are completely filled. This sand "locks" the pavers in place. Make sure the sand is dry.

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