In landscape design, perhaps, the most functional and conspicuous element of the garden plot are garden paths. Making a concrete path in the country with your own hands is quite realistic, without resorting to the help of numerous companies specializing in such products. The complexity of laying will depend on the features and characteristics of the materials used, the nature of the paths being laid, the structural features of the soil on the site. It is necessary to ensure that the laid paths perform not only a practical, but also a decorative purpose, give the territory of the site an orderly look, be its decoration and make it possible to move without the risk of falling and getting dirty in any weather.
In this article we will look at how to make concrete paths in the country with our own hands, possible options for their manufacture and features of the work.
Developing a plan
This is a very important stage of work that should not be missed. Before making concretepaths in the country, a project should be developed where and how they will run. At this stage, it is necessary to study the features of the natural landscape, the general style of the garden design and your needs for convenient and efficient movement around the site. Qualitative planning at this stage allows you to optimally lay routes, develop forms and choose the required width and strength of the pavement.
Required tools
Before you start building concrete paths in the country with your own hands, you need to prepare tools for work: a container or a concrete mixer for mixing concrete, pegs, a cord, a shovel, a level, a tape measure, a rubber mallet and a certain number of wooden boards. Naturally, it is necessary to prepare the material itself, which makes up the main structure of the coating, and the components for the preparation of concrete: cement, sand, gravel of various fractions, water. It will not be superfluous to prepare pigments for coloring the concrete mixture.
Material options
How to cover concrete paths in the country? As a material, you can choose concrete itself, artificial or natural stone, brick, wooden slabs or cuts of tree trunks, paving slabs. More specific materials include, for example, glass bottles, plastic corks and much more - it depends on your imagination, acquisition possibilities and aesthetic sense. Each type of material has its own characteristics that affect the technology of work. We will stop as soon as we can.on the basic materials and their inherent features.
Main stages of work
To build concrete paths in the country with your own hands, you must go through the following steps:
• choosing the design and material of the tracks;
• marking the site;
• deepening the soil surface to the width of the track;
• preparing the base of the track;
• formwork preparation and reinforcement;
• pouring the path;
• leveling and surface decoration;
• waiting for the concrete to harden;• final design of the path.
Choice of design and material
Before a practical solution to the problem of how to make concrete paths in the country with your own hands, it would not be out of place to see photos of such products, for example, in this article. You can choose the design of the tracks from the pictures or develop your own. It is not necessary for all tracks to be the same in width and design. First of all, it is necessary to determine which of them will be used most often and intensively, for example, for the transportation of various goods on a trolley. They should be wider and made using the most durable and durable coating. The paths in general should be wide enough to move around the site without effort and harm to the surrounding vegetation. Experience shows that a width of 80 cm is sufficient for a garden plot.
Plot marking
For straight tracks, marking is simple - usingpegs at the ends of the sections and the cord. Winding paths require more pegs spaced less.
Earthworks
The construction of concrete paths in the country is not complete without soil preparation, which consists in removing the soil along the entire length of the path. The depth of the removed soil layer depends on its composition. If it is rocky or sandy, then it is enough to remove 20 cm; if it is clayey, then at least 30 cm of soil must be removed. The bottom of the resulting ditch should be filled with drainage materials, which can be used as a layer of gravel, first of a large fraction, then a smaller one, and finally a layer of sand. This is necessary so that moisture does not linger on the track and next to it.
Formwork preparation
In order to make concrete paths in the country with your own hands, formwork should be installed on the sides. To do this, use boards with a width not less than the depth of the poured concrete layer and a thickness of at least 15 mm. It is necessary that the upper cut of the boards be even in order to level the poured concrete layer on it.
The formwork is set according to the level so that the path is even. But for self-removal of rainwater, you need to make a slight slope (1-2 degrees) from one edge of the path to the other. To increase the strength of the structure, it should be taken into account that when the temperature of the soil and air changes, concrete, like any other material, changes its linear dimensions. Therefore, it is necessary to fill the track not with a continuous tape of concrete, but to separate it by inserting transverse gasket strips with a thickness of 1-2 m1-2 cm. To facilitate subsequent removal, they should be lubricated with used machine oil. The side boards of the formwork are fastened together by means of rails. This is necessary so that the integrity of the formwork is not violated during pouring.
Reinforcement
Before pouring concrete paths in the country, it is advisable to reinforce them. For this, a mounting grid or simply pieces of reinforcement laid out on a prepared pillow after 10-20 cm, both along and across the track, are suitable. It is desirable that the reinforcement does not lie at the very bottom of the prepared base. To do this, put under it, for example, bottle caps, pieces of tiles or bricks.
Filling
Next, a concrete mortar is prepared, using cement of a grade of at least M400, sand (better washed, river) and gravel (it is advisable to use granite to enhance the strength of the coating) in a ratio of 1:1, 5:2.
Water during kneading is added to the density of sour cream or thicker. The less liquid solution, the stronger the track, but it takes more effort or a special vibration tool to compact the concrete layer. On the other hand, it is more convenient to work with a liquid solution and level it. Therefore, choose the density yourself.
It is important to consider that the prepared solution must be used entirely within one hour after mixing it. Experts categorically do not recommend adding water to the prepared mass, since this greatly deteriorates the strength of the resulting coating.
So that the tracks do not workgray and inconspicuous, they are painted. This can be done already on the finished coating, but such painting is short-lived. It is better to add pigment dyes when mixing concrete. Then its entire layer turns out to be colored. In this case, however, the pigment consumption is greater, but the effect obtained is worth it. You can choose any color for painting, but yellow, blue, red, and ocher shades are best suited for the garden.
The leveling of the concrete layer is carried out by the rule along the top layer of the formwork. To make the surface not just smooth, but patterned, you can apply a pattern on it. Often, special stencil-matrices (the so-called printed concrete) are used for this. This design can be carried out after a few hours or the next day, when the concrete sets a little, but does not harden at all. Before performing such an operation, a tinting fixative is applied to the surface of the track. It helps, after embossing, to give the surface a surprisingly beautiful texture that imitates various natural materials (paving stones, stone, boardwalk, etc.). The pattern applied to the surface of the concrete path depends only on your imagination.
To protect the paint and texture of printed concrete from mechanical and atmospheric influences, acrylic impregnation is applied to its surface. After one or two days, carefully remove the cross spacers in the concrete tape.
Waiting for solidification
After pouring the concrete, its surface is covered with plastic wrap so that it hardens gradually. On hot summer days, it is advisable to moisten it periodically by spraying it with water. Final readiness can be determined by the color of the concrete. If it is not yet dry, it is shiny and dark. You can use the tracks only after complete drying (5-6 days after pouring).
Finishing track
At this stage, the formwork is removed. Next, fill the transverse seams with sand or soil, trim the soil along the edges of the path.
Other coverage options
- Brick path. Its peculiarity is a pleasant appearance, the ability to maintain a certain distance between the bricks for filling with colored sand, cement-sand mortar or soil for grass germination. Bricks are laid on the mortar layer so that their surface is 10-15 mm higher than the surrounding soil, giving a slight slope from the center to the edges of the path. At the same time, water from precipitation will not linger on the track. The preparation of the base is no different from the case considered earlier, except that the depth of the base must correspond to the thickness of the bricks used.
When laying out bricks, use a level and a rubber mallet, deepening the brick by tapping on it, if necessary. If the brick needs to be lifted, then it is taken out, a little mortar is placed under it and inserted back. Instead of a mortar, it is convenient to use a dry cement-sand mixture. After laying, the track is watered with water, and gradually this mixture sets and hardens. Naturally, the path cannot be used until the final hardening of the mortar or mixture on which the brick is laid.
For the strength of the resulting coating, it is advisable to use not ordinary brick, but clinker (paving), obtained at an increased firing temperature from special grades of clay. Silicate white brick is suitable only for interior or wall work, and red gradually collapses under the influence of precipitation. It is desirable to install a curb stone along the edges of the path. Otherwise, the structure becomes unusable over time, starting with the extreme bricks.
- Path from paving slabs. The arrangement is no different from brick. The exception is the ability to use tiles of a wide variety of (commercially available) shapes and colors. The peculiarity is that tiles cannot be used for interior work - they are short-lived and collapse under the influence of adverse atmospheric conditions in a short time. The thickness of paving slabs should be at least 6 cm. The peculiarity of laying is that the tiles are selected according to shape and color, starting from the center of the path to its edges. The edges are laid out last, as they often require cutting the tiles to match the configuration of the path's borders. For cutting, you can use a grinder with cutting discs for concrete. To achieve the long-term strength of such a path, it is also desirable to install curbstones.
- Paths from tree cuts. They are perhaps the most budget-friendly to manufacture and look very attractive. For their manufacture, cuts of old trees of different diameters with a thickness of 10-15 cm are required. To givestrength of this material, it must be processed in order to prevent decay processes. To do this, saw cuts are pre-treated, for example, with drying oil or a solution of copper sulfate and dried. That part of the cut, which will be inside the base of the track, is additionally processed by immersing it in molten bitumen.
The technology differs from the previously given one in the preparation of a deeper base in accordance with the thickness of the cuts. They can be laid directly in a sand cushion, but it is better - in a cement-sand mortar, sinking to a depth treated with bitumen. The gaps between the protruding parts of the cuts are subsequently filled with sand, stone chips or gravel. You can also fill them with soil and sow grass for lawns. It is advisable to sand the outer surface of the cuts and coat them with several layers of varnish for outdoor use. This will better show the texture of the wood.
Repair of concrete paths in the country with their own hands
Over time, under the influence of mechanical and atmospheric phenomena, the tracks begin to deteriorate. This is more or less typical for any materials used, especially if the manufacturing technology is not consistent. It is important to carry out their repair, without waiting for a complete transition into an unusable state. To do this, use the same materials that were taken for their arrangement. Damaged parts are dismantled and replaced with similar ones without flaws. Therefore, it is advisable, when arranging the tracks, to stock up in advance with a certain amountcoating material to carry out timely and complete repairs.
Conclusion
We examined how concrete paths are created in the country with our own hands. We hope that the presented material will help you in the implementation of design plans for arranging the site.
