Building a Paver Landing at a Side-Yard Bulkhead Gate

A side-yard gate that dumps onto a bulkhead cap is where boots, coolers, and dock carts all pivot. Dirt and leftover concrete at that landing turn into a slip plane after a rain. PaverForge Hardscapes builds a small interlocking landing that pitches off the cap, stays pinned, and can be opened if the seawall contractor has to come back.

Do not lock the landing to the cap

The bulkhead is a moving structure. Mortar-setting the landing to the cap transfers that movement into the first paver course. We leave an isolation joint at the cap, set the field on its own compacted base, and pitch surface water back to the yard or a slot drain, not over the wall face.

On tight canal lots the landing also has to clear a hose bib, a shore-power pedestal, or a dock-box foot. Those get sleeves or their own pads so a future raise does not wreck the field.

Salt, carts, and a small field

Units at a bulkhead landing take salt spray and cart traffic. We spec a thicker driveway-grade paver on the landing even when the house walk is 60mm, pin every edge, and use a joint sand that can be refreshed after a king-tide wash rather than a crust that fails in one piece.

PaverForge Hardscapes builds bulkhead-gate landings from Tierra Verde through Safety Harbor. Call 727-490-9798 with a photo of the gate and cap.