How to Make a Brick Border for a Driveway

A brick border adds color and contrast to a driveway.

Laying a brick border along the sides of a driveway is a simple way to add style and definition to pavement. This do-it-yourself project calls for inexpensive materials and basic tools. While you can lay the bricks over mortar, setting them on a gravel and sand base is a cleaner process that makes it easier to remove or repair bricks if necessary.

Things You'll Need

• Ropes
• Tape measure
• Plastic
• Hoe
• Shovel
• Tamper or 4-by-4
• Gravel
• Fine sand
• Bricks
• Mallet
• Level
• Polymeric sand
• Stiff hand brush
• Hose

Instructions

1. Lay long ropes parallel to both sides of the driveway. Decide if you’ll lay the bricks end-to-end or sideways and measure the width with a tape measure. Space the ropes wide enough from the driveway edge to fit the bricks plus 2 inches. Place a long strip of plastic near the ropes.

2. Dig out the grass and 5 inches of top soil from between the ropes and driveway with a hoe. Scoop it out with a shovel and dump it on the plastic for re-use in low areas of the yard. Tamp the subsoil with the end of a 4-by-4 inch board or a tamper until it feels compact.

3. Spread 3 inches of gravel over the soil and tamp it down. The gravel helps moisture drain quickly from beneath the driveway, while keeping the bricks from sinking.

4. Sprinkle fine sand over the gravel to fill in gaps between the gravel. Continue adding sand until you have a 1-inch thick bed.

5. Butt the first brick against the driveway at the street-end of the site. Tap the brick with a mallet so it is level or just above the driveway surface. Place adjacent bricks flush against each other with minimal spacing in between.

6. Spread polymeric sand over the bricks with a stiff hand brush and pack it into the narrow joints. Brush off the excess and sprinkle the borders with a hose. As it dries, the sand will set in the joints, hardening to the bricks like cement.

7. Backfill the 2-inch gap between the outer end of the border and the lawn with gravel and tamp it down.

References

• Northscaping: How to Install a Brick Garden Border; Jim Kohut

Resources

• Landscape Design Advice: Driveway Edgings in the Design