PAVING THE MARRIOTT HOTEL

marriott parking area

The pavers at the Marriott were failing as you can see in the photo:

There are two ways pavers can fail:

  • Vertically: they sink.
  • Horitzonally: they move sideways.

VERTICAL FAILURE

brick driveway

The base material under the pavers was not sufficient to withstand the loads.

driveway in bricks

Another example where the pavers sank near the sidewalk.

HORIZONTAL FAILURE

bricks arrangement
brick pavement on the road side
brick pavement

From a closer view of the pavers, it’s apparent that they were moving horizontally.

Vehicles traveling across the pavers push them to the right.

If the pavers are installed in a running bond pattern as shown above, they will not resist this horizontal force very well and a small space will open up.

Once the space between the pavers opens up, it allows the sand to wash out. This is the starting point of the failure, and it will continue until the driveway looks like this.

broken road brick

This example shows the chipping away of the pavers as they hit each other when a car moves over them.

THE CORRECT WAY

brick picture

There is a correct way to install the pavers in a situation like the Marriott, in which the area has a great deal of vehicular traffic. The solution is to use a herringbone pattern, which they will resist heavy traffic passing back and forth.

vector image with red arrow going up

A horizontal force gets translated through the herringbone pattern into a much greater area of resistance.

marriott driveway under construction

Here we are demoing the demolition and removing the old pavers.

marriott compact driveway

Here is the base being graded and compacted.

men cleaning pavement
men building pavement
marriott crew in front of the building

Here is our great crew.