Taking on a remodel of your outdoor patio or balcony is super exciting and the completed project will bring you joy for many years to come. The flooring is very versatile and can be used in almost any climate. Once you narrow your decision down to porcelain or wood, next comes the pedestals. There are 3 types of great quality paver pedestals to choose from and each has its own purpose.

Eco Arbor Designs Adjustable Telescoping Pedestals are perhaps the best telescoping support system in the world today.  These pedestals surpass the competition in both the weight they can hold and circumference of the top.  Both of these features give you an easier installation and more solid support.  The unique top slope corrector is not a self leveling design which is known to come loose over time and rattle when walked on. Eco Arbor Designs slope correctors give you the compensation from 1-5%.  This range is more than any other pedestal in the market for the most challenging sloped decks.  To adjust just turn the corrector until level.

PVC Based Adjustable Pedestals are a cost effective way to get a raised floor up to 36" in height at a low cost. A Schedule 450 PVC pipe is cut to create the riser.  The self leveling head is adjustable from 3/4" to 2.5"  afterwards fine tune the final height.  This pedestal system has been a great application for heights above 8" where telescoping native height pedestals can become expensive. 

Fixed Height Rubber Paver Supports are superior to plastic fixed height systems in that they give you superior sound and vibration absorption, and greater friction to the surface paver ensuring no movement or wobble. These are the best solution for porcelain pavers and wood pavers over surfaces where low finished heights are needed. These rubber fixed height supports are stackable and therefore can be raised to accommodate up to 1.5" in height.

Porcelain Pavers are an outstanding upgrade to completely transform your outdoor space without a removal of the existing surface. The raised porcelain paver systems are being installed high and low, across the country. Small projects on condo balconies, large hotel and restaurant expansions, roof decks in Manhattan and Los Angeles, you name it! Once your material has been purchased you have the luxury of hiring an installer to lend a helping hand, or the freedom of easily and properly completing the project yourself. Here is a guide of everything you'll need to know about what it takes to DIY a raised porcelain paver system. 

Gather any tools you will need to complete the project. Cleaning products, edge clips or wall spacers if necessary, a level for accuracy, pedestals, a saw for cutting etc.

 

Clean your outdoor surface. A light sweeping and mopping, allowing time for drying, is all the cleaning that is required. Also be sure of a great weather forecast, no rain or snow before or during installation.

 

Apply the insulating layer to the pedestals. This is the cushion between the pedestals and the pre existing surface and this is an optional step.

 

Begin the grid planning around the perimeter edges and configuring where all of the pedestals will be placed. This is an important step as this is the support system to your flooring.

 

Position a pedestal underneath the center of the slab for a perfectly safe, stable and long lasting application.

 

Position the clean, dry porcelain slabs on the pedestals. Everything should pop right into place unless a major mistake was made in the planning process of pedestal placement, which is an easy fix that shouldn’t require much time.

 

Ensure the completed raised porcelain paver surface is level and plane. Not only is a level floor safe, it also adds great value to the aesthetic of the project. The more even and plane your pavers are, the more expensive and high end your deck will look.

 

Regulate the pedestals if any imperfections are found during the leveling process and place your porcelain pavers back into the grid.

 

The final step is to gently walk across all parts of the deck ensuring a flawless installation. Porcelain pavers that are installed correctly do not shake or wobble.

 

When the architectural firm Van Tilburg, Banvard & Soderbergh, AIA contact you in regards to a raised roof deck with porcelain pavers, you drop everything you are doing and you go do a site walk.  Well that's how this project got started. Some background on this project includes a newly constructed modern live work space in the heart of LIttle Italy downtown San Diego. The plans called for a raised porcelain paver floor from our product line. To us, this was no ordinary roof deck however. This was the Kettner lofts roof deck project taking up an entire city block.

This deck, once completed would have incredible views of San Diego bay and the downtown area. We began to present to multiple color and texture options to the landscape architect at Deneen Powell Atelier. In the end a beautiful natural tone called the cornerstone granite line was chosen from Ergon Ceramics. The pavers were shipped directly from Sassuolo Italy to the project site in little Italy in San Diego. 2cm Porcelain pavers are the newest addition to elevated roof decks. A very versatile and hard wearing supported paver decking system.  Porcelain stone wear unlike ceramic has .05 % water absorption compared to the ceramic counterpart at 1.5%. This means the porcelain surface finish will never wear down or fade. Each paver has a breakage weight of 2300 lbs.! That is stronger than a concrete paver and at half the weight.  The porcelain pavers are 2'X2' in size and come in many other sizes including 1'X4'. This project had them elevated over 6 " inches off the surface (the height is adjustable to accommodate any finished floor).

The installation began on schedule by Suncoast, with an occupancy move in date of April we had little time to deliver product on site. Elmich pedestals provided by us were specified to raise the floor 6 inches off the roof membrane. Ergon Cornerstone 2cm porcelain pavers in two color tones (granite and gray slate) would create a design like we had never seen before on a elevated roof deck system. Custom planters where ordered and delivered by us as well to create a stunning roof top deck complete with a 200 sq ft lawn green space in our roof drainage trays. With a complex system of electrical, gas line piping, and irrigation under the pavers, this roof deck would be one of the best roof decks in the city of San Diego.
The first photo here shows the north west corner of the roof deck and our custom planters in the color, The pedestals show about a 6 inch rise off the surface, plenty of room to allow for electrical conduit and gas lines under the pavers. To learn more about us, and how we do modular decking tile roof decks  visit our website www.ecoarbordesigns.com




After a short 10 days of installation we had ourselves a porcelain paver roof deck that will perform better and last longer than any other paver deck we have seen before.
The residents of this new building will enjoy the space for years to come.