How to Install a Brick Walkway

Using bricks or pavers to build your home's walkway adds an elegant touch to your home that concrete or asphalt cannot match. Plus, bricks are available in such a wide range of colors they can complement virtually any home's color scheme. Installing a brick walkway doesn't require the services of a contractor. With just rudimentary knowledge, a few rental tools and some hard work, you can install your own brick walkway.

Things You'll Need

• Power compactor
• Small aggregate gravel
• Work gloves
• Bricks or pavers
• Shovel
• Push broom
• Hammer and chisel, circular saw with masonry blade or a wetsaw
• Brick edger strips
• Level
• Masonry sand or stone dust
• Knee pads, eye protection
• Wheelbarrow

Instructions

Getting Ready

1. Use a garden hose or a string line and wooden stakes to outline where the walkway will run then mark the outline with spray paint or flour. Remember that any curves in the walkway will require you to cut bricks, which adds to the job's complexity.

2. Decide on the pattern you want to use for your walkway.

3. Calculate your material requirements (see tips below).

4. Dig out the walkway area to a depth of about 8 inches. Use a straightedge shovel or an edger to straighten the sides.

5. Remove any loose rocks and roots, and then add about 4 inches of small aggregate gravel to the path. Tamp it with a rental compactor.

6. Place 1-inch pipes on either side of the walkway and ensure they are level (use a carpenter's level attached to a board). Add about 2 inches of masonry sand or stone dust to the walkway.

7. Place a board across the walkway onto the pipes and then slide the board the length of the walkway, leveling the underlying sand or stone dust. Compact the leveled base.

8. Install plastic brick borders along the edges of the walkway, using 12-inch galvanized nails driven straight into the ground. These borders will help hold the bricks in place and prevent the walkway from spreading.

9. Install your bricks according to your pattern. Place the bricks onto the compacted leveled sand base--don't push them down into the sand or they won't remain level. Ensuring that the brick rows interlock with each other is the key to a solid walkway. Always check that the adjacent rows are staggered by a half brick so the seams never line up with each other.

10. Sweep sand or stone dust into the joints after the bricks have all been placed and run the compactor over your entire walkway.

Tips & Warnings

• Calculating gravel and sand or stone dust: Measure the length and width of the walkway. Multiply these two numbers and then multiply that answer by the depth to determine the requirements in cubic feet. For example, say your walkway is 40 feet long and 3 feet wide and you want 4 inches of gravel for the base (that's 1/3 or .33 of a foot). You would need (40 x 3 x .33 = ) 39.6 cubic feet of gravel.

• Determining the number of bricks: Calculate the square footage you want to cover. Multiply the length by the width only. If your 40-foot by 3-foot walkway is straight, you will need enough bricks to cover (40 x 3 = 120 square feet). If your walkway isn't straight, you need to break the walkway up into sections, calculate the square footage of each section and then add them all together. Once you know the total square footage of your walkway, take it to the home store, pick out your pattern and brick color and they will calculate how many bricks you need.

• Use a circular saw with a masonry or diamond blade to cut bricks. However, if your walkway has a numerous curves, rent a wetsaw designed for cutting bricks. A hammer and chisel can also be used for this task.

• You probably will need to add more sand to fill the cracks several times in the first weeks after installing your sidewalk.

• Cutting bricks can be hazardous. Wear gloves, proper eye protection and a dust mask.