A variety of garden paths in the country, made by hand, will not only become a real decoration of your site, but also ensure safe movement at any time of the year. After all, walking on wet ground in spring and autumn is very difficult and also unpleasant.
In addition, in the absence of equipped paths, guests, children and pets can trample the lawn or flower bed. You can make them without involving a construction team, you just need to carefully plan the process, choose the best material, technology.
Content:
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Preparatory stage
Any construction on the site must begin with layouts. It can be done on paper or using special programs.
Site plan created by a computer program
Planning is carried out in several stages:
Straight paths are easier to lay out and maintain, while curved paths look more attractive.
landscape designers it is recommended to create winding paths in small areas, they help to visually expand the boundaries of the garden. They need to be located away from large trees, as the roots can spoil the created surfaces.
After marking, they begin to remove the top fertile soil layer in the marked areas. The depth of the trench will depend on the height of the sand cushion. If the soil in the area is loose, then crushed stone or gravel is poured into the bottom of the trench, and then sand.
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The fundamental factors in the choice of building material is the overall architectural appearance of the site., financial opportunities and the availability of construction skills.
Almost everyone can fill the path with gravel, and only an experienced craftsman can lay bricks or mosaics.
Consider the main types of materials and their features.
Natural stone
In landscape design expensive rocks of granite, marble, porphyry, basalt are used. Available sandstone, limestone, tuff, shale, dolomite can be selected. Stones differ in color, the presence of processing, the ability to absorb moisture.
If there is a financial opportunity, sawn stone slabs are used, which create exclusive drawings, but are expensive.
Winding path made of sawn natural stone
The advantages of the material include durability, environmental friendliness. The disadvantages are high cost, significant weight. In humid climates, the surface of the stone is covered with an ice crust in winter, it is easy to slip on it.
Wood
Wood is suitable for laying garden paths in different forms:
Saw logs. One of the cheapest options
Wooden tiles for outdoor use
Using boards for arranging paths and curbs
The material does not differ in durability and resistance to moisture, therefore, it requires regular treatment with moisture and bioprotective compounds. The advantage is environmental friendliness, the availability of wood.
For the construction of tracks, you can use the trim left from the construction of the main objects.
The most durable breeds: oak, larch.
You can arrange saw cuts in any order, filling the gaps with sand, small gravel, gravel. If the gaps are filled with earth, grass will soon grow on it.
Paving slabs and paving stones
Materials are characterized by high strength, durability, resistance to changes in humidity and temperature. Their service life is at least 10 years. However, the paving stone itself, its laying are quite expensive. This is especially true for owners of large cottages.
Fan layout of paving stones. Along the edges, a decorative border is laid at the level with paving stones
When constructing a path of tiles, it is necessary to constantly monitor the surface according to building levelOtherwise, walking on it will be inconvenient. It is better not to use elements with cracks, they will quickly become unusable.
Gray paving slabs combined with lawn grass look attractive
Brick
The material is an alternative to paving stones. For landscape design, only clinker bricks are used. The cost of material and installation work is high. Elements, the border are fixed on the cement mortar.
Red brick herringbone
Laying can be done with a wide or narrow part of the brick up, combine elements of different colors and textures. Properly executed brickwork on the ground will last a long time.
Combined masonry of bricks, natural stone plates, paving slabs
Concrete, including decorative varieties
The material is highly durable and durable. It is not afraid of moisture, perfectly combined with stone or tile, and also serves as the basis for their installation.
Special additives of plasticizers are introduced into the composition of decorative concretes, which increase resistance to mechanical damage, sunlight, and temperature changes.
Paths near the house made of printed concrete
- from 1 part cement
- 2 parts sand
- 3 shares of rubble
Installation formwork on the edges is required. The solution can be poured directly into the prepared site or it can be used to make plates in molds.
Decorative slabs, cast from concrete, laid out crosswise
gravel and crushed stone
Even a novice master can create bulk objects from gravel or crushed stone. Pebbles need only be carefully tamped. The shape of the filling can be either straight or curved.
The cost of the material is low with a long service life, good strength.
Combined stone slab, organic material and gravel road with cement curb
- the difficulty of cleaning from dirt, fallen leaves
- low permitted load
- Difficulty walking on poorly compacted surfaces
Designer masonry with a mosaic of gravel, natural stone on cement mortar
Plastic elements
Plastic products for decorating garden paths are made in the form of plates, paving slabs. The material is lightweight, moisture resistant, a variety of shapes and sizes.
The price of plastic plates is available to everyone.
Green plastic tiles harmoniously fit into the surrounding landscape
It will take a little time to build the flooring on the ground, fastening systems are provided in the elements. But as we know, plastic tends to fade in the sun and does not withstand significant loads.
Another option for black plastic plates
Also, for the arrangement of paths, bark, lawn grass in rolls, ceramic tiles and its crumbs, tennessite, consisting of a mixture of lime, clay and ceramic chips, are used.
Next, consider ways to independently manufacture tracks from the most popular materials.
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Filled concrete path
For construction, you need to choose dry weather so that the concrete can harden and dry.
Work is performed in the following sequence:
The filling is compacted and spilled with water
If you are a novice master, then you need to cook small portions of the mixture in order to have time to fill it in before hardening.
After 2-3 days, the formwork is removed and the concrete path is used.
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If you have a lot of cuts or chocks of different diameters, then you can quickly build a beautiful path from them.
Sequence of work:
1
Trench preparation. Its depth is calculated based on the height of the cuts with a margin of 6-7 cm
2
The trench is covered with fine gravel and sand. The thickness of the layers should be at least 3-4 cm. The filling is carefully compacted, spilled with water
3
Saw cuts are installed in the prepared trench, the gap between them should be minimal. It is important to adjust the height of all cuts so that the surface of the path is free of protrusions.
4
The gaps between the elements are filled with a sand-gravel mixture and moistened
5
After drying the sand, the finished object will look like this:
The gaps between the chocks, on the contrary, can be left large and covered with fine gravel. A photo of such a combination is presented below.
Path from saw cuts with pebbles
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Bulk paths made of bark or gravel
It is possible to carry out work on backfilling tracks without having any construction skills at all. Small and medium-sized pebbles are suitable for dumping; moving around large ones is not very convenient.
An environmentally friendly material option would be pine bark.
The order of work is as follows:
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Timely and careful cleaning of the paths from debris, fallen leaves, preventing the accumulation of water will extend their service life. It is not recommended to use salt, reagents for removing the ice crust, they can spoil the base material and negatively affect plants growing nearby.
If weeds break through between chocks, boards, pebbles, they are regularly removed. Overgrown grass looks ugly, increases the gaps between the track elements.
Whatever material and method of making a garden path you choose, the main thing is to be creative in the process.
DIY garden path (paving slabs)
How to make garden paths in the country with your own hands? (80+ Photo options for great ideas) + Reviews
I used paving slabs and paving stones in my dacha, although in my opinion natural stone and special brick are better suited for this business, but it’s true that then the price of the paths will cost more. And why in the country, if you don’t live there permanently, make very steep roads. In principle, in the country, in general, you can lay asphalt and not worry, it’s quite enough for a summer residence.But if you live in the house all the time, then yes, the paths must be made reliably and for a long time, and if not a specialist, then it is better to hire professionals in this matter so that the paths really stand for a long time. And at the cottage. of course, you can work with your hands, at the same time it’s a sport of its kind and the air is fresh. Well, I wouldn’t use plastic or wood for such purposes, because they are clearly inferior in strength, and the tree completely rots and deforms when the weather changes.
Similarly, I gave preference to paving slabs for suburban paths. However, there are a lot of nuances in laying tiles that are not described in the article. If you want the tracks to last more than twenty years, then the tiles must be laid on a concrete base. If laid on gravel and sand, then the path will last a maximum of ten years, then the tiles will begin to shrink anyway. Be sure to use geotextile or other material through which grass cannot grow. Otherwise, the paths will have to be constantly cleared of sprouted grass, which is a rather laborious process. It is important that the path is above ground level, otherwise, during rain, all the dirt will be on the path. The curb stone tends to spread to the sides, even with the observance of all technologies. To prevent this from happening, it is better to strengthen both sides of it with building reinforcement, then the entire curb turns into a monolithic structure. And the last. It is better to buy a tile with the addition of microfiber. The price is slightly higher, and freezing cycles - freezing are an order of magnitude larger.
There are many design options, for more than a week I have been racking my brains on how to arrange a path on my site, and so far I have settled on the option of a brick path. My grandmother has ordinary square-shaped concrete slabs on the site. Yes, it is very easy to arrange a track with them, especially if it is straight, but it looks a little boring. I want to save money and at the same time be beautiful. Of course, ideally, this is a natural stone or a beautiful laying of paving stones, but such a pleasure is not cheap, especially if you post drawings. The tree will quickly get wet even if it is treated with a special solution, although it looks beautiful, it is still not as durable as a brick path. That’s what I definitely don’t advise is to fill the path with concrete ... well, it’s true, especially if it’s a dacha, there are a lot of greenery and flowers around - and here are those on the flooded concrete path that not only quickly gets dirty and loses its color, but also looks like mine look somehow not organic among nature.
While we do not have a summer cottage, we are engaged in ennoblement of the parents' summer cottage. And when the question arose about the paths, my mother wanted from the wooden beams that remained from the floors, motivating us to save a little on the material, because there is still a balance, but to buy quite a bit. And dad was FOR natural stone, and even though the strong half was for the use of stone when laying paths, we supported mom.
They did everything great, you can’t dig, but all the construction work was carried out in our absence and the builders cheated: not only did they not finish the wooden beams with hot drying oil, they also made a hole badly where moisture would go. Therefore, as soon as it rains, so the logs are in the water. And by the summer grass grew in the gaps, because there was earth instead of gravel. We weeded and uprooted it, and even tried to throw gravel, alas. After a year of torment, I had to rip everything off and lay a natural stone, in the gaps there are pebbles from the sea and large stones near the flower bed - it turned out very stylish, and most importantly for years!
So when making tracks with your own hands, you must definitely read a number of information in order to at least in theory know the essence of the matter and control the work of the builders.