It is common to find in certain areas tactile pavers being build in order to assist people with vision impaired problems when they walk sidewalks. If you look carefully at the tactile pavers, you will notice that there are small buttons being embossed on the pavers itself that work as tactile indicators whenever you approach a crosswalk thus helping users to be more cautious before crossing the road. Apart from that, it also provides exceptional traction control especially when you are on sloped surfaces.
To install tactile pavers, you will need:
- Pavers
- Sand
- Lumber
- Prying tool
Install Tactile Pavers
How to Install Tactile Pavers
- Firstly, you need to determine the right tactile paver’s brand, types and sizes that will be suitable for your patio.
- Plan a layout for your tactile pavers before you start to install the tactile pavers within the concrete pavers of your patio area.
TIP: It is recommended that you ensure your joints are from the same size while your pavers must be set flat before you sand all of the joints because once you have sand the joints; it will be difficult for you to remove any of your pavers.
- For those of you who already have a concrete paver bed, you have to carefully wreck the forms first so that you will not damage the concrete edge of the paver bed. This way you will have a clean and nice joint between the concrete and the pavers.
- Next, you have to fill the paver bed with crushed limestone, sand or fine gravel, or just use masonary cement mortar.
- Level the setting of your paver’s bed and if you want to be more accurate, you can also make a gauge block or simply use a ruler or tape measure to measure from the surface of your walkway for a good result.
- You can use a short 2-by-4 board to make sure the pavers are firmly secured within your setting bed. Ensure that your paver’s joints always remain tight so that they do not shift around once the installation is complete.
Note: It is recommended that you use sand to place on your paver’s bed because it will easily compact your paver’s bed.
- Make sure that your pavers are leveled and flat, not too high or too low. If it is not leveled and too high, you need to re-level them by taking out the pavers and some of the sand. If it is too low, add some more sand or additional setting material beneath the pavers.
- If there are any loose joints or cracks between the pavers, you need to fill in the joints by using a broom and sweep the loose sands back and forth until there are no more loose joints. Once finished filling the joints, you can clean your pavers.
FunFact:
The first ever tactile paving was originally developed by Seiichi Miyake in 1965. It was then introduced to the world in Japan first in 1967.
Image Credit:
Flickr CC
