Garden paths with own hands

The arrangement and layout of the site provides for the creation of paths. Moreover, the requirements for them are quite serious: they must be reliable, comfortable, functional, beautiful and very desirable – inexpensive. We will talk about how to make garden paths with your own hands at low cost in this article.

What to make tracks

The pavement can be solid or loose. To create a hard coating, the following materials are used:

• Concrete. Concrete walkways are not just ordinary gray tape. In addition, there are dyes and you can decorate it if you wish. There are also molds for pouring immediately on the spot. It turns out homemade paving slabs. Another option is to pour small concrete slabs of the right size on your own, then put them on the bedding. See photos for design examples.
• Flagstone. This is a natural stone that has been sawn into plates. It is laid on a prepared base (more on this later), the gaps are filled with backfill. It turns out beautifully, reliably, non-slip. No wonder landscape designers love flagstone stone paths so much.
• Brick. Ordinary ceramic brick is a beautiful material, but not for paths. It absorbs moisture, if then it freezes wet, it is torn apart. If you are going to make a path out of broken bricks, then you can walk along it more or less normally only for a couple of years. Then you have to redo it. The resulting cracks will need to be covered with coarse sand or fine gravel. A clinker brick will serve much longer on the track, but this option cannot be called low-cost: the cost of one piece is from several tens of rubles.
• Tree. Such a seemingly unsuitable material, but with proper processing, it can last a long time. Moreover, many do-it-yourself wood tracks can be classified as low-cost. For example, they came up with the idea of ​​using stumps and saw cuts of trees as borders or coverings. They also make flooring from well-finished boards – terraced is better, but if not, it will also work from the old floor.
• Plastic. There are tiles for garden paths made of plastic – polyethylene or polypropylene. It has a square shape and a system of locks, which is attached to one another. It can be laid directly on top of the lawn or previously trodden in the country or on the paths. This option is fast and cheap. It can definitely be called “With little cost.” It is better, of course, to do the dumping of crushed stone and sand according to the rules, and lay the plastic elements on top. It’s a little longer and more expensive. There is also an immodest, but very beautiful version of plastic tiles for paths. There is also a “garden parquet”. These are slabs or boards made of wood-polymer composite – WPC (they are in the photo, they look exactly like parquet). This material appeared relatively recently. It looks and feels like wood, but in fact it is a mixture of wood flour and polymer. These are very beautiful coatings, but their cost is by no means modest. Although not fabulous.
• Pebbles. These are rounded natural stones that can be found on the banks of rivers or lakes. Flatter pebbles are more suitable for making tracks. There are different shades of gray, black, white, sometimes you can find burgundy. From these stones, laid close to each other, mosaic paths of amazing beauty are obtained. But this is an occupation for the assiduous and stubborn. Those who lack patience can find large flat boulders or large pebbles and lay them in the sand. It’s not as luxurious, but no less reliable. You can also do with granite or other similar stones. It is important that at least one face is relatively flat. You put this flat part up, and bury the rest. The work is not easy, but it will be possible not only to walk along the path, but also to ride.
• Handy materials. Country paths are made from old tires and bottles.

There are also paved paths: these are gravel or crushed stone. Their peculiarity is that with a small layer of 2-3 cm and with sufficient compaction, it is convenient to walk on them. If the layer is slightly larger, unevenness is formed when walking, and such walking is tiring. Therefore, as you have seen in many photographs, gravel and crushed stone are used as backfill, in which rigid elements from other materials are laid. When done correctly, this is convenient: gravel conducts water well and puddles do not form. Those who do not like the gray color can be advised to paint it: many designers do this when organizing rockeries.

Read about the secrets of site planning here.

How to make garden paths with your own hands

It is not enough to know what you can make garden paths with your own hands. You also need to know how to make them correctly so that it serves more than one season or two. The laying of different materials may vary slightly, but there are several rules and actions that are repeated in any technology.

The first rule: when laying or forming a track cover, it is made with a slight slope. If the material allows, a slope of several centimeters is made on both sides of the center. If, for example, a concrete path is poured, then the slope is formed in one direction – from the house, if it is nearby. The slope is made towards the lower part of the site if the path is located on a slope.

The second rule: under any covering preparation of the basis is required. If you lay stones (for example) directly in clay or loam, it will certainly be useful – it will definitely be more convenient to walk, but after some time the stones will “silt up”. Simply trample into the clay. With a backfill, this will take much more time. And if you make another drainage cushion and a side, water drainage will be even more efficient, and everything will look even more beautiful.

Third rule: the level of coverage of the track should be a couple of centimeters higher than the adjacent area. Then the water will quickly drain, it will be more convenient to clean, and cleaning will be required less often: the washed-out earth will not flow either during rains or during watering the flower beds, which are often done along the paths.

Read about how to make beautiful beds here.

Step by step guide

When making garden paths with your own hands, start with markings. In theory, the dimensions and shape should be marked on the site plan, and the markup should take place according to the project. But more often than not, everything is done on the spot. To see the future path more clearly, its contours can first be covered with white sand or something similar. If the shape suits you, you can drive in the pegs and pull the twine between them, but you can also work on backfilling.

Further, to make a path from stone, flagstone, brick, paving stones, pebbles and other similar materials, the steps are as follows:

• Sod is removed between two marks. The depth of the ditch should be about 15-25 cm.
• A border is dug along the edge, if provided.
• The bottom of the ditch is leveled, removing roots, stones, eliminating significant pits or mounds. The bottom is rammed (rammer in the photo below).
• Pour a layer of crushed stone of large or medium fraction. To save the budget, you can fill up broken bricks, other large construction debris. If there is a vibrating plate – great, if not, take something similar to the tool in the photo (you can make it from a large log, to which you nail a handle across the cut). With this tool you level the bottom. If you filled up the garbage, you need to sprinkle a little rubble on top and compact it again.
  

  

• Lay a layer of geotextile on top. Its edges rise flush with the sides or even slightly higher. This layer should not be skipped. It does not allow sand to mix, which is usually poured on top of rubble, prevents the roots of plants from germinating, which destroy the path. A very useful thing.
• Sand is poured onto the geotextile. Its layer should be such that the laid coating is slightly higher than the general level on the site. Sand is first spread with a shovel, then, evenly distributing, leveled with a rake. Then they ram and level. To level the sand level, you can use a rule (a construction tool that is often used when pouring a concrete floor) or simply take a large ruler, a building level, a flat rail. Sometimes you have to pour, ram, level several times. It is desirable to achieve a perfect surface.
  

  

• Stone, pebbles, flagstone, paving stones, bricks, etc. are laid in the sand. They are put in the right place, then they knock with a rubber mallet: they drive them deep into the sand.

Along a beautiful path, you can place a flower garden or flower bed. How to do them, read here.

Beautiful do-it-yourself pebble path

If with flagstone, paving stones, brick, everything is more or less clear – everyone has already seen more than once how this is done, then it is not clear how to lay pebbles in patterns.

Below is a photo report on the process of making a pebble track. The main techniques are visible on it: lines are applied to the leveled sand, along which pebbles will be laid out. If these are arcs, they are made with a thread and two sticks / nails.

Picking up stones, they are laid out on the edge close to each other, slightly sunk into the sand.

A board is laid on a folded pattern, a rubber mallet is taken and they knock on the board, hammering the pebbles into the sand. So the whole drawing is deepened, making sure that the edges of the pebbles are at the same height.

They take a mixture of sand and cement (sand 2 parts, cement 1 part) and fill in the gaps, leveling the layer with a brush.

A fragment of a pebble path is carefully poured with water so that the backfill does not blur. Wait a few hours until the cement sets a little, then remove the excess with a soft brush.

It is important not to miss the moment: the mortar should not get dirty, but also become a stone. If you pick it with your finger, it should crumble. It’s time to clean up the excess.

Read about how to grow a green hedge in the article “Fence hedge: how to grow and form”

Path of wooden stumps and gravel: video

Old logs or trees can be turned into a beautiful walkway. They are sawn into logs of the required length, the front saw cut is polished, all wood is first treated with a bioprotection composition (it can be soaked with used oil). After drying, they are dipped in Kuzbass varnish and dried again. Then the front parts of the stumps are covered with paint of the desired color – which will protrude outward. Once again dried and only then put in the sand.

The process is detailed in the video. Here it is explained step by step how to make garden paths from stumps or logs with your own hands.

Making your own concrete driveway

The process is generally similar to the one described at the beginning. There are some differences that we’ll talk about.

After the trench is dug and the bottom is leveled, formwork is installed along it on both sides. These are boards from 25 mm thick (thicker is possible, thinner is undesirable, you can use plywood 16-18 mm thick, chipboard). Their height is the height of the track. If you are molding a slope, the boards should be set taking it into account – one side is slightly higher, the other is slightly lower.

To make formwork, pegs are driven into the ground in increments of no more than 60 cm. Boards are nailed to them. It is better to smear the inner surface of the formwork with working off or other oil: so that it can be easily removed. Further, crushed stone is poured onto the bottom and rammed. But it is necessary to ram carefully: if you walk along the bottom, no traces should be visible.

Further, in order for the path not to crack, a metal reinforcing mesh is laid on the rubble. The thickness of the bar is 4-6 mm, the step is 5-10 cm. It is sold in pieces, they must be connected to each other with steel wire.

Then, to compensate for the expansion in the winter, you need to put wooden planks 1,5-2 cm thick. They are placed across the path, set so that the height of the planks is flush with the formwork boards. Compensation strips are set at least every 2 meters. More often you can, less often you can’t. Why do it more often? For beauty. Squares look better than long rectangles.

A concrete mortar of a grade not lower than M-250 is poured into the finished frame (read about grades of concrete and its preparation here). For him, take 1 part of cement, 3 parts of sand, 4 – crushed stone. Everything is mixed into a solution of medium fluidity (thick sour cream) and poured into the formwork. When pouring, make sure that there are no air bubbles left. To remove them, the solution is pierced with a pin, slightly shaking it – bayonet. Ideally, if there is a surface vibator for concrete – it quickly compacts the solution, creating a perfectly flat surface. If it is not there, you will have to level with the rule, using the edges of the formwork as beacons.

A few hours later, after the concrete has set, the surface can be treated. You can leave it as it is, you can brush it with a stiff brush, making transverse strips, you can finally put pebbles, stones, flagstone, etc. into a not completely hardened solution. It’s not very economical, but reliable. After a couple of days, the formwork can be removed, and you can already walk along the path.

About what fences are and how to make them is written here.

Tire track on a budget

What is not made from tires: flower beds, swings, ponds and … paths. It’s simple: you need to cut off the sidewalls of the old tire, leaving only the tread. What can be cut? Bulgarian. Someone manages with a knife, but this is only if the cord is not metal.

The projector is cut across to make a track. Then cuts of 15 centimeters are made on the sides – it depends on the diameter of the tire. They will make it possible to deploy the rubber.

In this form, it can already be laid on the beds. Will serve for many years. This one is like garden paths at low cost.

As you understand, there are a lot of options for how to make garden paths with your own hands. It is impossible to tell and describe about everyone, but we try …

About making a playground with your own hands is written here.