Concrete paths in the garden: especially the manufacture of

If you decide to equip concrete paths in the garden with your own hands, then you need at least two things that you cannot do without - these are building materials and elementary building skills. Of course, such decorative sidewalks will serve not only as a means of communication between certain points, but also as a decoration of the green zone and can become an integral part of the design.

We will discuss how to do this below, and in addition to what has been said, see the video in this article on this topic.

What is required for this

Preparatory work

• First of all, you will have to determine the location of the future track and its dimensions. and for this it is necessary to carry out certain earthworks, as shown in the photo above. This means that you should beat off the track of a certain width, but the digging depth will depend more on the ground, but in any case, even if you do it on a sod, you will have to go down at least 5 cm, but this is for solid ground, and it is generally desirable to go deeper. Of course, you will not need to walk with a tape measure, measuring the depth of each running meter - just dig for half a bayonet spade, and if the ground is soft, then for a full bayonet.
• Try to make the edges of the groove clear and accurately determine the contour of the future fill., а для этого вам нужно лопатой отбить эти две противоположные линии, ориентируясь на которые вы и будете делать углубление. После того, как вы выбросите всю землю, которую откопали, вам нужно будет спланировать дно это небольшой траншеи - уровень здесь, конечно, ни к чему - нивелируйте её «на глаз». Ни в коем случае не оставляйте там корней деревьев, в противном случае они через время (год или даже три) разорвут бетон и вам придётся демонтировать целый участок дорожки для того чтобы удалить этот корень.

Formwork and cushion

После того, как вы прокопали необходимое углубление на трассе будущей садовой дорожки, вам нужно будет смонтировать опалубку из пиломатериалов (как укрепить такую конструкцию, видно на верхнем изображении). Если тротуар у вас будет ровным, без плавных или резких закругленных изгибов, то для отбортовки очень удобно использовать обрезную доску, можно «дюймовку» и даже тоньше, хотя здесь подойдёт любая толщина.

Most likely, you will not make the surface of the spherical fill - this is very inconvenient - so make a small bias in one direction (about 3-5 mm, depending on the width).

If you have a sidewalk with rounded zigzags, then flanging boards will not work for you - you will not be able to bend them properly. In such cases, you can use plywood or OSB of any thickness, only for this, the sheet will need to be cut into strips of a certain width.

Some gardeners also manage to use 12.5 mm wide lining for PVC curly formwork, if available - one strip has 6m length, and its interior is very smooth and even - you'd better not think of it.

We continue to talk about how to concrete the paths, and move from formwork to sand and crushed stone cushion, which will serve as the basis for future pouring, as required by any instructions for concreting sites and foundations.

At the bottom of the mini-trench, you need to fill a layer of sand, at least 20 mm thick, compact it thoroughly, and then lay a layer of crushed stone or gravel for concrete at least 20-30 mm high over it - so you can provide a good foundation for concrete that does not allow it to deform.

But sometimes this is not enough - in case you have heaving soil in the area - then it is best to lay a plaster net over the pillow or simply reinforce the concrete with pieces of any wire (any suitable - copper, aluminum, wire rod).

Concrete

You may want to use decorative concrete for bulk tracks, that is, instead of using conventional cement, use colored concrete, but in proportions it does not change anything - the proportions of bulk building materials remain the same as on the table above.

All you have to do is choose the brand that suits your case, and it will depend on how you use the cast solution - it can be a rough base for the same paving slab, or it can be a final face coating. If this is a rough base, then the M150-M250 will be enough for you, but if it is a front cover, then you should not fall below the M300 - destruction will occur too quickly.

Note. Given the fact that the load on the garden path is not large, it is possible to somewhat modify the composition of concrete. To do this, you simply replace the gravel and sand with the same amount of dropouts. For example, if for the M300 solution you need 1.9 kg and 3.7 kg of crushed stone for one kilogram of cement M400, then instead of them you can use 1.9 + 3.7 = 5.6 kg of screenings.

Of course, you can go in the simplest way - fill the formwork with a low-grade concrete and install a plank covering over it, but then, most likely, the question arises as to how to paint a wooden sidewalk, because in the street the lumber does not stagnate for a long time - they rot.

And since it will not be enough to paint them once - paintwork will simply be erased and it will have to be done at least once every two years, it is better to spend money on a decking made of wood-plastic or paving slabs.

Practice has shown that in the manufacture of concrete, first of all, cement should be dissolved in water, and then sand and crushed stone should be added to the resulting slurry - this almost by three times improves the quality of the frozen concrete solution. Therefore, whether you will be mixing concrete in a concrete mixer or it will be an ordinary trough - first of all pour water there (a little less than the norm) and stir in it the necessary proportion of cement.

If a mortar has a mortar for the concrete mixer blades, then it is not necessary to clean it each time with a trowel or a shovel - just before mixing the cement, throw a rubble spade into the drum and roll it over within 30-60 seconds - the accumulations will break.

Fill

You throw the mixed solution into the formwork, level it with a trowel or shovel, and then cut off the excess with the rule, but after such a procedure, in any case, there will remain various notches and irregularities. But they are filled with the mixture again and re-tightened by the rule - this continues until there is a flat surface in front of you - at first it will be brilliant from the water coming up, almost like a mirror.

After a few hours, the cement will start to set and, in order to prevent small cracks from forming on the surface, it is rubbed with a trowel or a half tarpaulin, if necessary, filling up different areas with a cement-sand mixture (just select the solution without rubble).

Since the concrete path can be poured only in its entirety, and not in parts, there may be a danger of breaking the stiffened mass under the influence of temperature differences.

To do this, every 2-3 m make thermal or temperature seams, cutting the solution with a strip of bitumen paper. If you did not take care of this immediately, then cutting the reinforced concrete with diamond circles with the help of a grinder will help you - just mark the sidewalk and make cuts on it.

Note. In those cases when, after the concrete has set, you need to suddenly install a luminaire on the track, you can use diamond drilling of holes in concrete - for this there are special core cutters, the diameter of which can be selected by the leg of the lamp to be installed.

Conclusion

After you remove the formwork, fill the space with sand and tamp it - so the price of your work will be justified. If this is not done, then the danger of a shift in the concrete mass will remain.