- Get A Free Consultation.
Every walkway eventually meets soil, but not all soil behaves the same way once brick pavers are sitting on top of it. Clay, sandy, and loamy soils each respond differently to compaction, moisture, and seasonal movement, and brick’s higher porosity compared to concrete pavers makes it a bit more sensitive to those differences than other paver materials. Getting a brick walkway to hold up long term means adjusting your approach to the specific soil you’re actually working with, not just following one generic set of steps regardless of what’s underneath.
At Ridgewell Landscape and Design, we install brick walkways across a wide range of soil conditions throughout the Denver area, including Broomfield, Parker, and the surrounding communities, and soil type is one of the first things we assess before finalizing a base plan. This guide walks through how clay, sandy, and loamy soils each affect brick installation, along with the full process for building a properly based brick walkway regardless of what soil you’re starting with.
Brick pavers absorb more moisture than dense concrete pavers, which means the soil and base conditions beneath them play a slightly bigger role in long-term performance. Soil that holds water against the base for extended periods, or that expands and contracts significantly with moisture changes, puts more stress on brick’s more porous surface during freeze and thaw cycles than it would on a less absorbent concrete product. This doesn’t mean brick is a poor choice for any particular soil type, but it does mean the base and drainage planning deserve a bit more attention than they might with concrete.
A quick way to get a general sense of your soil type is to take a handful of moist soil and squeeze it into a ball. Sandy soil won’t hold a shape at all and crumbles apart easily. Clay soil holds a tight, dense ball that resists breaking apart even when poked. Loamy soil holds a loose ball shape but breaks apart with light pressure, sitting somewhere between the two extremes.
Beyond texture, it’s worth observing how a section of yard actually handles water. Dig a small test hole, about a foot deep, fill it with water, and watch how long it takes to drain. Water that disappears within a few hours suggests well-draining, sandier soil. Water that lingers for many hours or overnight suggests heavier clay content or poor natural drainage that will need to be accounted for in your base plan.
Clay soil expands when wet and contracts as it dries, and this movement is more pronounced through freeze and thaw cycles than in most other soil types. This seasonal expansion and contraction puts real pressure on whatever is sitting above it, which is why clay-heavy sites, common across parts of the Denver area, need a more robust base to buffer that movement.
For brick walkways on clay soil, we generally recommend pushing base depth to the full 6 inches of compacted gravel, rather than the lower end of the standard range. This extra depth gives the base more capacity to absorb and distribute the seasonal movement clay soil produces, reducing how much of that movement transfers up into the brick surface itself.
On clay sites, it’s worth considering a layer of larger, more open-graded stone at the very bottom of the excavation, beneath the standard compacted gravel base, to help manage water that would otherwise sit against the base longer than ideal. This is a small addition that meaningfully improves how well the whole system handles moisture in heavier soil.
Sandy soil drains quickly and doesn’t hold moisture the way clay does, which reduces the freeze-thaw pressure that clay soil creates. That said, sandy soil has its own consideration, it can shift more easily under load if not compacted thoroughly, since the individual sand particles have less natural cohesion than clay or loam.
A standard 4 inch gravel base is often sufficient on well-draining sandy soil, since the underlying soil isn’t adding significant additional moisture-related movement. That said, thorough compaction still matters just as much here as anywhere else, sandy soil’s looser structure makes proper compaction technique, rather than just base depth, the more important factor.
Sandy soil alongside a brick walkway can be more prone to erosion during heavy rain, since it doesn’t hold together as well as clay or loam. Edge restraints and any surrounding plantings play an important role here in keeping soil from washing away from the walkway’s edges over time.
Loamy soil, a balanced mix of sand, silt, and clay, tends to offer a reasonable middle ground, decent drainage without the extreme moisture retention of heavy clay, and enough cohesion to resist shifting the way pure sand can. Most residential yards fall somewhere in this general range.
A base depth of 4 to 5 inches typically works well for loamy soil, matching the general standard range without needing to push toward the upper end the way clay soil requires.
| Soil Type | Drainage | Base Depth Recommendation | Key Consideration |
| Clay | Slow | 6 inches | Freeze-thaw expansion, needs drainage layer |
| Sandy | Fast | 4 inches | Compaction quality, edge erosion |
| Loamy | Moderate | 4 to 5 inches | Generally the most forgiving starting point |
Materials
Tools
Before finalizing your base plan, confirm your soil type using the squeeze test and drainage check described above, since this determines your base depth and whether additional drainage measures are worth including.
Excavate to a total depth accounting for your soil-specific base depth, bedding sand, and brick thickness combined. Clay soil sites will excavate slightly deeper than sandy or loamy sites to accommodate the fuller base recommendation.
For clay or poor-draining soil, add a layer of larger, open-graded stone at the bottom of the excavation before the standard gravel base, helping water move through rather than sitting against the structure above.
Add crushed gravel in 2 inch layers, compacting thoroughly with a plate compactor after each layer, working toward your soil-specific target depth.
Roll landscape fabric over the compacted base, then add and screed about 1 inch of coarse sand to create a level surface for the brick.
Place brick pavers snugly against each other, tapping each into position with a rubber mallet. Our guide on how to lay a paver walkway covers pattern options that work well with brick’s smaller format.
Cut brick with a wet saw designed for masonry rather than a dry angle grinder, since brick is more prone to unpredictable cracking with a dry cutting approach.
Secure edge restraints tightly against the outer edge of the brick field, anchoring with spikes. This matters especially on sandy soil, where edge erosion is a bigger concern.
Sweep polymeric sand into the joints, remove excess from the surface, and mist to activate.
Run the plate compactor over the finished walkway one final time to set everything firmly in place.
Because brick absorbs more moisture than concrete, sealing is worth stronger consideration across all soil types, but especially on clay soil, where the base underneath is managing more moisture movement overall. Reapplying sealer every two to three years helps reduce water absorption and protects brick from surface flaking during freeze and thaw cycles, regardless of which soil type your walkway sits on. Our broader guide on building a brick paver walkway covers sealing recommendations in more detail.
A brick walkway built with a one-size-fits-all base approach might hold up fine on forgiving loamy soil, but the same approach on heavy clay or loose sandy soil is far more likely to develop problems within the first few years. Taking the time to identify your actual soil type and adjust base depth and drainage accordingly is a relatively small additional step that meaningfully improves how long the finished walkway lasts.
With over 15 years of installing brick walkways across a wide range of soil conditions throughout the Denver area, our team at Ridgewell Landscape and Design has a strong sense of how to adjust a base plan for whatever soil a specific property actually has. Explore our paver patio services to see the kind of properly based brick work we’ve built across different soil conditions.
A simple squeeze test, forming moist soil into a ball, along with a drainage test using a water-filled hole, gives a good general sense of whether you’re working with clay, sandy, or loamy soil.
Yes. Clay soil’s significant expansion and contraction through freeze and thaw cycles puts more pressure on the base, so a fuller 6 inch depth helps absorb that movement rather than transferring it into the brick surface.
In terms of drainage and freeze-thaw movement, yes, but sandy soil requires thorough compaction and extra attention to edge erosion, since it doesn’t hold together as well as clay or loam.
Sealing is beneficial across all soil types given brick’s porosity, but it’s especially worth prioritizing on clay soil, where the base is managing more overall moisture movement.
Loamy soil generally offers the most forgiving starting point, with moderate drainage and enough cohesion to resist the shifting sandy soil can experience, without clay’s significant freeze-thaw expansion.
Getting the base right for your specific soil type is one of the most important factors in how long a brick walkway holds up, and it’s not something a generic approach handles well across every yard.
Ridgewell Landscape and Design has been installing brick walkways across a wide range of soil conditions in Denver, Broomfield, Parker, and the surrounding communities for over 15 years. If you’d like your soil assessed and your walkway built accordingly, reach out for a free quote and consultation.
Fresh Ideas From our experts
What Your Neighbors Are Saying
