When it comes to planning your paver project and choosing the product you will be installing, the border should always be considered. Are you going to have a border? If so, is it going to match or contrast the interior pavers of your project? Are you going to install a soldier or sailor course for the border? What is a soldier and sailor course?
We answer all of these questions in this article, but here is an article that dives deeper beyond just the idea of border pavers for your paver project and gets into the basics of paver design.
Soldier vs Sailor Course Pavers
Both a Soldier Course and a Sailor Course are in reference the border of a paver project. These pavers are placed in a row / column along the outer edge of a project. They can be doubled up to add depth to the border, used together to reduce the amount of depth that a double border would have, or an inlay between two borders to add some flare to the patio.
A Soldier Course is when long side of the pavers are touching one another. This creates a border with more depth. A Sailor Course is when the short side of the pavers are touching one another. This creates a border with less depth. It can be remembered using this saying: Soldiers stand shoulder to shoulder, whereas Sailors stand front to back. Without knowing how true that statement is, it helps to remember what the difference is between the two.
The photo below shows both a soldier and sailor course using the same paver as the patio and walkway in the same color blend. The soldier course is shown bordering the small patio area and the sailor course is shown bordering the walkway. This is because the patio area is larger and a thicker border works well in this application (and in my opinion, looks better), but with a small walkway a sailor course looks better so that it does not take up as much space within the walkway. Alternatively, we could have used no border for the walkway portion.
There are not necessarily soldier or sailor course specific pavers, as most can be used either way. However, pavers that are sold in different lengths as a bundle are better suited for sailor courses because you would have to use only one size to create a soldier course. Sailor courses can have varying lengths because they are laid with their shortest side touching one another. Soldier courses need to be all the same length in order to lay them as their long side touches one another.
When to Use a Soldier Course
Soldier Courses take up more space, so they look best when the space of the paver project is larger. For example, a driveway is typically a large project where a pronounced border would look best. Whereas a walkway that is just three feet wide would not be the most suitable for a soldier course depending on the size of the pavers. Assuming your soldier course pavers are one foot in length, the walkway would be one foot soldier course followed by one foot of walkway pavers followed by one foot of soldier course. In this case the walkway is more border than it is walkway and does not look good. In this scenario a sailor course would be more suitable or no border at all.
In our opinion, soldier courses look much better than sailor courses so we will work to incorporate them as much as possible. That being said, their are applications as mentioned where a sailor course is the better option.
However, if your pavers are mixed lengths sold as a bundle then they are not suitable to be used as a soldier course and they should be laid as a sailor course instead.
When to Use a Sailor Course
Sailor Courses take up less space, so they look best when the space of the paver project is smaller. For example, walkways would be a suitable application for a sailor course where you do not want the border exceeding the space of the walkway pavers. As previously mentioned, if your pavers are sold as a bundle with mixed lengths, then they would be best suited as a sailor course so that you do not need to separate the sizes to create a soldier course.
You can design your project as you wish using this information, but you can also get creative by starting with a sailor course bordered with a soldier course if your project allows for a thicker border area. You can also use the border to contrast your interior pavers, match, or mix and match color blends to create a unique appearance. Try using different textures or a different product for the border to clearly differentiate the border from your interior pavers or to differentiate spaces within the project such as a seating area, walkway, and fire pit area.
