Pyramid stacks fail on the first turn
Pavers are small, smooth, and heavy. If each course is inset from the one below, the stack is a pyramid and the top course will walk off when you turn. Stack each course the same footprint, tight against the cab, with the pavers butted so they cannot rattle into a gap. A gap becomes a step, and a step becomes a collapse at the tailgate. Strap across the stack to a rated anchor, with a board on top if the strap would otherwise pull between two pavers and loosen. The board spreads the pressure. It is not extra cargo you should make out of a rotten sheet you also meant to throw away. Count courses against the payload. A knee-high stack in a half-ton bed can be the whole allowance.
Sand is a bearing failure
A bed of loose sand under the stack works like ball bearings. Sweep the bed, or lay a flat sheet of plywood you will unload first, so the bottom course cannot skate. Do not use a wrinkled tarp as the only anti-skid layer. The stack will slide on it as a unit, tarp and all, into the cab. Keep plastic edging and bags of polymeric sand off the top of the stack. They are light, they shift, and they give you a false sense that the pavers are strapped because the bag is tied. Strap the pavers. Put the bags where they cannot roll under the pedals if they ride in the cab. Edging spikes belong in a jar, not loose on the stack where they migrate to the gap you just closed.
Unstrap only after the stack is still
Drive the first block slowly and stop. If a course has stepped out, restack it before the highway. At the site, set the brake, open the tailgate only as far as you can control, and take the top course off by hand if the stack is above the tailgate. Dropping the tailgate and hoping the stack stays is how pavers end up under the truck behind you. Hand them down or slide a small number onto a board. Leave the strap on the lower courses until you are ready for them. A full release lets the bottom course shoot out when the tailgate drops.
Before you go
- Stack equal courses tight against the cab, with no gaps and no pyramid.
- Sweep sand out from under the stack so the bottom course cannot skate.
- Strap over a board to rated anchors, and stop when you reach payload.
- Unload the top course by hand before you drop the tailgate fully.
Building a pyramid of pavers on a wrinkled tarp and using one strap over a bag of sand.
Questions people ask
Can I stand pavers on edge to save space?
A tight on-edge row can work if it is blocked at both ends and strapped. A loose on-edge row will domino. Flat courses are easier to keep equal.
How high is too high?
Stop when the next course would push you past the door-sticker payload or rise above the rails. Make another trip instead of stacking higher.
Search Dumpmapper by ZIP code or city, then call the site before you load the truck. Hours and accepted materials change.