Abutting brick or paver stones to foundation

Question

I have a little area between our deck and garage that would be perfect for the grill.
Right now it is dirt, with nothing but dandelions thriving.

         +---HOUSE----------
         |       {---------
GARAGE   |  ??   {-- DECK --
         |       {----------

My thought was to throw down some bricks or pavers and plop the grill down right there. However I want to make sure I do not cause any future foundation issues. Or encourage any issues abutting stone or brick (wife has not decided yet) to the concrete foundation.

Do I need to be concerned with how close I put the brick up to the concrete foundation? Do I need to leave an inch or 12 or something or just dirt?

Thanks for input!

Answer 1

The only real concern here is that you don't want hardscaping sloping towards your existing foundation to the point where it's now directing water towards your footings.

So as long as you have proper slope, no real concern.

If the patio is large enough, however, you likely do want to leave a slight gap between your pavers and the foundation to account for expansion during hot days. They make a product specifically for this for filling expansion gaps in slabs. It's just a thin (1/4" at most) foam strip that you place between the foundation and pavers as a filler.