Paths in the garden, pedestrian or car, decorate the landscape of your site. In addition to aesthetic function, garden paths perform a practical function — they connect various buildings and functional areas on the personal plot.
The width of the paths depends on their purpose. The narrowest «paths» should be in the garden between the beds (40 cm). Paths in the garden or those that lead to the house can be wider-60-80 cm. If this is a track for a car, its latitude should be at least 130 cm.
First you need to come up with the material from which you will have a path. It can be pebbles, stone slabs, porcelain stoneware, brick, fragments of various tiles and even wood. You can come up with a mosaic of various materials that remained after construction and repair. The most important thing is that the surface of your “paths” was not glossy, but rough, so that the paths were not slippery after rain.
The paving of any track consists of several stages:
1) Preparation of the basis,
2) laying coating,
3) installation of borders,
4) the placement of drains.
In order to prepare the base of the path, it is necessary, first of all, to remove the layer of the upper soil by approximately 15 cm. Further, the recess that appears is covered with a mixture of crushed stone and sand or just sand, and then with gravel and similar materials. This is done for drainage of the future path. Next, you need to align everything, moisten with water and compact.
Next, a concrete layer is poured (ratio 1: 3: 2 — cement, small gravel, sand). You can add a special plasticizer to concrete to improve the fixing properties. Concrete should rise above the ground by a couple of centimeters.
2 hours after the concrete “grabbed” a little, lay the top layer of the path. It must be put in such a way that it has a slightly arched shape. This is necessary for easy water drainage. The space between the material for the track is filled with a solution. Further, the excess solution must be washed off. In a couple of days the tracks can be used as intended.
Borders and drains fit on the sides of the paths. Borders are needed so that the earth from the beds does not fall on the paths, they are usually made of the same materials as the tracks.
Distributions can be made of plastic, metal, concrete or other materials. They can be made in the form of simple grooves in the ground.
If you want to improve the appearance of your stone “paths”, then such paths can be varnished (2-3 weeks after paving).
