How to Crack Pavers
Pavers offer an alternative to poured concrete sidewalks or patios. Pavers come in various sizes and are made from slate, brick, or concrete. In order to place pavers within a designated dimension, some pavers must be cracked or cut to size to fit into the mold. A contractor lays the pavers from the center outward so that all of the cracked pavers fall along the outer edge. To crack pavers, you can use a hammer and chisel or a manual paver splitter. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Safety glass
- Wax pencil or crayon
- Straight edge
- Paver
- Cold chisel
- Ball peen hammer
- Manual paver splitter
Instructions
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With a Hammer and Chisel
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1
Wear safety glasses. Cracking the paver will create dust and small chips of stone.
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2
Mark the paver with a wax pencil or crayon along the area to be cracked. Use a straight edge to keep the line clean and even. Carry this line all the way around the paver including the sides.
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3
Place the chisel at an angle so the lower edge of the bevel is parallel to the paver. Hold the chisel firmly but do not grip the chisel. A tight grip on the chisel will cause the force of the hammer to jog your arm and cause the chisel to skip.
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4
Hold the hammer near the end of the handle and strike lightly on the end of the chisel. This will start a cracking line and give the chisel some purchase on the paver.
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5
Lift the hammer above the shoulder and strike the paver with force to create a deep score. You may need to strike the paver several times if the material is hard.
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6
Repeat Steps 3 through 5 along the length of the marked line until you have scored all the way around the paver.
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7
Line up the chisel along the center of the score line as in Step 3.
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8
Strike the chisel forcefully to crack the paver completely. This may require several strikes.
With a Manual Paver Splitter
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9
Follow Steps 1 and 2 from above.
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10
Line the wax pencil mark up underneath the jaw on the paver splitter. Make sure that the piece of paver being cut off will fall way from your body. Once the paver is cracked it may kick or overbalance and fall off the paver splitter platform.
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11
Hold onto the paver firmly and press down on the paver splitter handle. For hard materials, have a partner hold the paver so you can exert your full force onto the paver splitter.
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1
Tips & Warnings
To crack pavers by hand requires significant time and effort. Arrange the paving job so that you can crack the pavers as a single job, rather than cracking as you go, or designate a partner solely to this task.
References
- Photo Credit cold chisel image by Aleksandr Ugorenkov from Fotolia.com
