Expert: Bruce E. Johnson - 9/3/2008

Question
About 2 years ago I installed a brick walkway on a concrete base in front of my home.  To install it, I broke up part of the sidewalk and repoured the slab to connect to the remaining walkway.  I didn't dowl it in, however, and as you can probably guess the bricks are cracking as the two slabs are now separating.  What is the easiest way to fix this short of redoing the entire job?  Thank you!

Answer
Hi Drew, you didn't say what size the piece of concrete was that you replaced and whether or not you mud set the pavers or sand set them on top of the concrete.  If they are sand set you can pull them up from the sunken area and float the area level again with either sand, grout or mortar mix.  The sand would probably be the best bet in case you ever need to redo it again.  If you mudset the bricks and it is only a separation issue then you can pull up the bricks along the line of separation  and reset them using a brick glue (liquid nail makes a landscaping stone glue) only gluing the bricks on one side of the crack which will allow the bricks to float over the separation without cracking again.  Or you can reset this area with sand to accomplish the same thing.  If the separation is too big to bridge the gap with simple replacement pavers it may be possible to take a concrete saw , snap a couple of lines the width of a brick apart and do a decorative band where the bricks are cracking.  Just cut out a strip, pull up the old bricks in that strip and then replace using one of the above setting techniques.  I hope this information helps feel free to write again regarding this or other matters, sincerely bruce e johnson