An Easy Way to Replace Patio Pavers

Concrete patio blocks and brick pavers often are set in beds of sand or stone dust to create outdoor walkways, patios and shed floors. Although they are durable, occasionally a few settle unevenly or crack in half. Here’s how to remove one block without disturbing the others around it:

Using wire clothes hangers, fashion a pair of “puller-uppers” from two 8-inch-long pieces. Use pliers to bend a 1-inch-long finger on the end of each piece. Bend the other end of each wire in the opposite direction to create a 3-inch-long handle. Both ends should be bent to 90 degrees.

Slip the wire fingers down into the sand or stone dust alongside the block you want to lift out. Twist the handles 90 degrees so the fingers turn underneath the block. Then simply pull up to remove the block.