I am thinking of ripping up and re-laying my brick paver patio. It was laid with old, above-grade buiding bricks which don’t hold up well to moisture, etc, and do a lot of cracking. It is also undulating and dangerous to walk on, and the edging was inadequate (some bricks turned on their sides).
What do building dopers recommend for edging? There is plastic or aluminum stake-down edging. This is cheap, flexible, and easy, but I worry that the stakes are not long enough to really keep the edging stable. There are railroad ties and landscape ties, these are more unwieldly, but seem more stable. Some site mentioned preformed concrete curbs, I am not sure what these are or where to get them, and if they are better.
If it matters, I am in southeast Michigan.
Do you want to put edging down just until the patio sets or cures, and take out the edging later, or do you want something to stay in permanently? I used EZ Edging when I did a brick basket weave patio, and it worked great. Just google “flexible paver edging” and you should be able to find it.
I am planing on laying my pavers over a gravel and sand base, and NOT embedding them in mortar. So this would be the permanent hold.
Exercising my one free bump…
When I was landscaping we would use the plastic edging and I don’t recall any real problem with it. One thing to remember is that should also be on the compacted gravel base and when you nail in the spikes they go through the base also. The spikes do hold pretty well but can be removed if needed.
One of the other ways I’ve seen it done was to actually mortar the edge row in. I was never a real fan of that, especially up north (I’m in Wisconsin), because when you put a patio down you are not going below the frost line. With the mortared in edge you run the risk of cracking. Frost heave is probably part of the reason your patio is in the shape it’s in now. Plus the possibilty that the base wasn’t done correctly the first time. With the plastic edging you always have the option of pulling it out and doing any necessary re-levelling.
A final note is that the sand brushed into the joints of the finished patio is really important. It is also something that you may have to add again after it has had some time to settle. The sand ties the individual bricks together and lets them function almost as a monolithic unit. Making it more difficult for individual pavers to pop up.
Well, the existing patio is all sorts of wrong, I have no doubts it was done as half-assedly as everything else in this stupid house. I woudl not be surprised to find that they did it on top of a base composed of part sand and part earth. Plus they used shitty bricks.
So you are saying that I should use the EZ-Edge stuff, but the stakes should go into the compacted gravel base, and not into the earth surrounding it…that is interesting.
And yeah, brushing sand into the crevices is definitely something I will do.
There are several types of the plastic edging but looking it up real quick the EZ-Edging should work fine for you. Especially if you are going to do a design with a lot of curves.
Yes, I am saying the spikes should go in the compacted gravel base. At least that is what I remember doing, it has been a couple years. That is also what they show at the EZ-Edge website. Think about it. Do you want the spikes, that are part of the structure of your patio, in the stabilized section of compacted gravel base or in the earth surrounding it that has less support and will most likely experience more movement?
Good luck, I hope it turns out better than the previous one.
Dang, that EZ-edging stuff is expensive! And you have to buy the spikes separately! I do understand what you’re saying about putting it onto the stabilized base vs who knows how stable earth. Thanks for the advice!
No problem, I’m always happy when I find something I know a little bit about. Kinda like paying back all the good info I get from here. 
EZ-Edging is not the only one out there. Do some comparison shopping and you may find something else that will work just as well for you but costs less.