Concrete paths: professional tips and instructions for laying with your own hands (95 photos)

After the completion of the construction of the house, its owner will have to solve several more important issues. And one of them is the arrangement of the adjacent territory. After all, many of us want to have a shady garden or a well-groomed lawn in front of the house. Therefore, it is necessary to take care of a well-laid path leading to the building or connecting separate zones on the infield.

There are many options for solving this issue, but the most durable and not too expensive are garden paths made of concrete.

Summary of the article:

If you want to equip the interior of your plot, then concrete paths in the country are an excellent choice. This is explained not only by the possibility to lay them yourself, without involving builders, but also by a number of advantages of this material.

Among them:

durability and strength;
the simplicity of construction work;
ease of subsequent decoration using paving slabs or other methods of the owner's choice;
low cost and minimal effort in the delivery of materials;
the ability to choose any shape;
water resistance and fire resistance.

You can choose your own way to lay paths in the garden. They can be, for example, straight lines connecting certain sections on the territory of the site. This option is simple in execution, but you need to clearly calculate the width. At the same time, this solution will not be original and often visually reduces the area near the house.

With paths that have bends, you will have to work harder, but often only they can fit into the refined style of the garden interior. The designers' recommendation should also be taken into account – the width of the central paths should be about 1 m, but for additional paths such parameters are not required. For them, you can limit yourself to 50-70 cm .

How to prepare the solution correctly

Many people are interested in the question of how to make a concrete path near the house on their own and how difficult it is. The technology of arranging this element of the country interior is simple, but a number of nuances are still worth considering.

And one important element of the construction work is the high-quality preparation of the filling solution.

Composition of concrete

To prepare a concrete mortar, it is necessary to prepare cement, sand, and gravel. They are mixed in different proportions, depending on how the purpose of the path is planned.

For example, for a track that is intended for the pedestrian movement of residents, if it does not experience serious loads, it is enough to observe the ratio of 1:2:4.

But if you equip access roads with increased loads on the surface, then you need to increase the strength and density. Therefore, when preparing the solution, these components are mixed in a ratio of 1:1:2.

Manufacturing technology

It is important not only to choose the right proportions of the future solution, but also to prepare it qualitatively. After all, if you decide to lay out the tracks with your own hands, then you should not make mistakes at this stage. Pick up a convenient container and fill it with gravel and sand. Then they are thoroughly mixed to make a homogeneous mass.

It is necessary to add a given volume of cement to it and mix everything again. And only then the dry mixture should be diluted with water. The average liquid consumption is 2-2.5 liters per 1 kg of cement.

Water should be poured in the following way. A slide is formed from the dry mixture, in the center of which it is necessary to make a recess. Water is slowly poured into this hole, raking the mixture from the edges to it.

To simplify the process, you can use a concrete mixer. At the same time, it is recommended to add fiber fiber to the solution, as well as appropriate water-repellent additives.

If you run a spatula over the surface of the prepared solution, the mixture should immediately smooth out. When piercing it with a shovel, grooves will appear, which confirms the readiness of the solution.

Arrangement of a concrete path

The whole range of work does not require special knowledge and skills. It is enough to prepare the necessary tool and follow the suggested instructions.

Preparatory activities

After you have decided on the shape and width of the future track, you need to take small pegs and drive them around the perimeter. The more pegs you use, the more accurately you will build a path. This is especially important for winding contours. A string or cord is stretched between the pegs.

Then it is necessary to dig a trench 20-25 cm deep, at the bottom of which the insulating material is laid. Geotextile or roofing material should not only cover the bottom, but also enter the slopes of the trench.

Laying this material in the base of the concrete path will help protect the concrete from the negative effects of water, and also has reinforcing properties. Drainage is also formed by the subsequent filling of several layers of sand. Their total thickness should be about 10 cm.

After laying each layer, it needs to be moistened with water and tamped. To improve the properties of the drainage cushion, crushed stone and gravel are added between the sand levels.

Installation of formwork

For the construction of the formwork, it is necessary to use boards 15-20 mm thick. Their width should correspond to the height of the path. At the same time, it is necessary to raise the formwork level by 2-5 cm above the level of the surrounding soil and provide a small clone up to 1 cm.

The boards should be nailed to the inside of the pegs that were installed as markings. It is also important to install separators in 1.5 m increments. They will divide your track into separate sections. The resulting track plates will help protect the integrity of the structure from increased load and temperature fluctuations.

Metal plates or remnants of siding can be used as expansion joints. After the concrete dries, they can be left there or removed. In the latter case, lubricate the plates with grease.

Reinforcement

Reinforcement gives rigidity to the structure. For these purposes, you can use improvised materials – the remains of a mesh-chain link or pipe. But it will be more effective to use a special grid with 100x100 mm cells made of rods with a diameter of 8 mm. In this case, the garden paths will last much longer.

The armature should be placed in the center of the future structure. It is advisable to fix it with the help of special wire legs or on bricks. Reinforcement allows you to reduce the concrete layer to 8-10 cm.

Features of pouring the solution

If you want to learn how to fill a concrete path correctly, then follow our instructions. It is necessary to carry out work in dry weather, choose days with plus temperature for this. The prepared portion of concrete is poured in full. Then a new batch is being prepared. You should not leave the diluted composition the next day – this will lead to cracking of the plates in the future.

Pour the solution into the formwork to the level of its edges. For uniform placement of the composition on the surface, a construction vibrator or an ordinary rod is used. Piercing the mixture with a spatula and tapping on the formwork and reinforcement will contribute to a more dense laying of the solution.

The top layer must be leveled. To do this, the usual rule or a flat board is applied. The plank is placed on the upper edges of the formwork and guided along them as on rails. The solution should be leveled over the entire surface and remove excess volume.

The track dries for about 4 days, but after leveling it should be covered with a film. This way you will eliminate rapid drying, which can lead to brittleness of the plates. The formwork should be removed after drying – on the fifth day.

Features of decoration

To give the path originality and sophistication, as shown in the photo of concrete paths, it is necessary to use a variety of decoration technology:

on the non-dried concrete, a spatula is used to imitate any images, for example, to simulate tiles;
making small depressions in the track with subsequent clogging of soil in them and planting grass;
gloss impregnation of liquid glass;
placement of drawings using plastic molds;
aging of the surface, etc.

A concrete path for the garden is not only a necessity, a guarantee of the comfort of living in a country house, but also an exquisite, original element of the garden interior. The material used ensures sufficient strength and durability of the structure. And you can build it yourself.