Backyard Paver Patio Build in Woodbury

This backyard in Woodbury was a blank slate - no usable patio space, drainage concerns along the house, and a yard that needed some serious attention behind the retaining wall. Here's what we put together to fix all of it at once.

We installed just under 390 square feet of Unilock pavers for the main field, bordered by a double sailor course of Unilock Hollandstone. The base system is what really matters here - 8 inches of open graded base, non-woven underlayment fabric, and a 1-inch granite chip bedding layer. That stack of materials is what keeps a patio flat and stable through Minnesota winters. Polymeric joint sand locks the whole surface together and keeps weeds from creeping in.

The drainage piece was a big part of this job. We ran a 30-foot trench drain along the edge of the patio and tied it into 60 feet of drain tile that daylights out into the yard. Without that, water from the roofline and the patio surface would have nowhere to go - and you'd end up with a soggy, heaving mess within a few seasons. Getting drainage right from the start is always cheaper than fixing it later.

Behind the patio, we spread topsoil in front of the existing retaining wall and in the disturbed areas around the patio footprint. We seeded it and covered it with straw mat to hold moisture and get germination going. That's a step a lot of contractors skip - leaving you with bare dirt and erosion until you figure it out yourself.

End result is a patio that's ready to use, drains properly, and has turf coming in behind it. Clean site, solid materials, and a build that's meant to last.