How to Create Walkways

A beautiful way to improve the value of your home and make it easier to get from one area to another in your yard is to create walkways. Walkways can become a work of art right in your yard. There is a huge variety of pavers and different types of bricks out there to choose from, making it easy to create a decorative walk without too much expense or design experience. While the project will take a day or two, the results will last for decades and be a functional addition to your yard.

Things You'll Need

• Spray paint or flour
• Shovel
• Landscape fabric
• Border pavers
• Rubber mallet
• Gravel
• Builder's sand
• Old 2 by 4 inch board as long as the width of the walkway between the border pavers
• Pavers or bricks
• Broom
• Hose with mist setting or fine spray

Instructions

1. Choose the layout of your walkway and mark off the area in your yard with spray paint or a flour line. Within your walkway you will need room for border pavers which will add approximately four to six inches to the width of your walkway depending on the paver you choose. Decide if your marked-off area includes your border pavers or if you need to widen your area to accommodate them.

2. Lay out your brick or paver pattern on your driveway or a flat area of your yard to get familiar with the way you will need to set the walkway. If you don't put your walkway together following your pattern, then the pavers may not fit the width of your walkway.

3. Dig up your walkway area between the marked lines. The area you dig needs to be approximately seven inches deep. Create deeper trenches on either side if your border pavers are more than seven inches tall.

4. 

   Lay landscaping fabric down in the trench with enough room on each side to run up about four inches on the outer and inner edges of the border pavers. Set the border pavers into the trenches, sitting up side by side. Use the rubber mallet to make sure the border pavers are sitting snugly next to one another.

5. Fill the walkway between the border pavers with a gravel layer three inches deep. Lay landscaping fabric over the gravel to cover the entire walkway. Spread out two inches of sand over the landscaping fabric. Run your board over the sand to smooth it out. The distance between the top of your border pavers and the top of the sand should equal the height of your bricks or pavers.

6. Work from one end to the other and begin laying your bricks or pavers in the pattern you have decided on. As you place each paver, use the rubber mallet to secure it. Continue building the walkway until all of your pavers or bricks are in place.

7. Spread half of an inch of dry sand over the walkway when all of the bricks are in place. Use the broom to spread the sand out and sweep the sand into the gaps between the pavers. Continue to add dry sand and sweep until all of the gaps are completely filled. Spray the walkway with a fine spray to wet the sand and pavers.

8. Repeat Step 7 several times over the following three weeks to help anchor the pavers even more securely. You can also apply more sand any time the pavers feel wobbly.

Tips & Warnings

• Pick your brickwork pattern ahead of time and create your walkway based on that width, rather than digging first and then picking from patterns that will fit in that space. Have friends help you build your walkway to keep you from exhausting yourself, especially during the digging phase of the project.

• If you know of any further digging that needs to be done in the area of your walkway, go ahead and do it before the walkway is laid. You will not want to dig up your walkway later on.

References

• New Complete Guide to Landscaping; Better Homes and Gardens; 2002

Resources

• Paver pattern ideas