Need inexpensive ideas for a new sidewalk to the house

[meriruka]

Here's the existing path. It is broken all to bits. The concrete is only about an inch thick, so it should be easy to remove:

I'd like to put some type of paver down, maybe with a nice pattern, but I don't own the kind of tools necessary to cut them up.
Would also be nice to put something in between the blocks so that grass doesn't grow in there.

Anybody have some ideas? I am 'masonry impaired' so it would have to be something a small woman could do that doesn't require any specialized knowledge. Pics would be nice too!

 

[rty007]

Well...

cordwood path is a nice looking thing. Easy to lay and easy on your back basically a win win.

 

[Wifezilla]

Our sidewalk through the back yard was in the same shape except ours was so thick we couldn't get it out easily. We put down big red square pavers and planted clover between the stones. We just left the old sidewalk there and it is now covered in new landscaping

 

[savingdogs]

I don't have pictures of it, but where we lived before there was absolutely no landscaping or anything except dirt when we moved in. My husband and I together made a patio and path from those do-it-yourself cement-molds.
First you level the area and lay down sand and rake it as smooth as you possibly can. We bought a special container for mixing a small amount of cement but found using a wheelbarrow and shovel was easier and just mixed ready mix cement in there. Then you just pour it into the molds and smooth it, then move to the next one. We did it as a two-person job and used several weekends, building it in stages. One person alone could just do it slower.
I did plant things between the pavers but some plants were more successful than others. Everyone commented on how well it came out however. Making a patio in the front yard was really the best part because it cut down on mowing and gave us a useful space. I planted a row of lilacs in front of the patio and it really made a nice area. The path kind of meandered around the house in our case but you could use it to approach the house instead.

 

[SKR8PN]

Another option, that I might try, would be to leave the concrete in place and mark out the size and style of stepping stone look you want. Then take a hammer(and some eye protection!) and just chip away and remove the parts you don't need to get the look your after. This way you could strategically get rid of the broken parts, but leave the concrete that is still solid, in place. Then I would plant a short, durable ground cover in the areas you removed.
Or even something like corsican mint (Mentha requienii) It smells wonderful when you step on it!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentha_requienii

OR Baby's Tears (Soleirolia soleirolii)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soleirolia_soleirolii

 

[tortoise]

Another option, that I might try, would be to leave the concrete in place and mark out the size and style of stepping stone look you want. Then take a hammer(and some eye protection!) and just chip away and remove the parts you don't need to get the look your after. This way you could strategically get rid of the broken parts, but leave the concrete that is still solid, in place. Then I would plant a short, durable ground cover in the areas you removed.
Or even something like corsican mint (Mentha requienii) It smells wonderful when you step on it!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentha_requienii

OR Baby's Tears (Soleirolia soleirolii)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soleirolia_soleirolii

Excellent idea! At my house the path is stepping stones with gravel around them. And there is big perennial flower garden on both side of the walk. I did finally end up using round-up on the gravel.

If I did it again, I would put CARPET under the gravel. Landscaping cloth is crap. I bought the expensive 10-years stuff and id didn't last one season!

I used carpet under cocoa mulch in part of the perennial garden I put in later. Beautiful! Never have had to weed it!

 

[patandchickens]

If you want pavers and patterned, just buy pavers of different (compatible) sizes and lay them in a nice design. Personally I like when you take big square or rectangular pavers, and have borders and separating strips of brick-sized pavers, so it produces sort of a ladder-type pattern; but plenty others are possible. Find out what dimensions of pavers you can get locally, then play with graph paper

Alternatively, if you like a 'crazy quilt' type look, break the existing walk up into large pieces (breaker bar and/or sledgehammer), remove them, then reassemble them mosaic-style and leave several-inch gaps between 'em to fill with concrete. (As with pavers, bed the whole thing on a several-inch-deep layer of well compacted screenings). If you do this, bear in mind it will not last as long as some other options, although it won't heave unevenly or get TOO bad if you lay heavy galvanized wire underneath,atop the gravel bedding.

Or you can pour your OWN walk (warning, you may want to rent a concrete mixer or have some friends over to help, as even with one of those roll-the-barrel-on-the-ground 'odjob' mixers it can be real tiring to mix THAT much concrete in a short time. It is super easy to set the forms. Then you can score lines in the damp screeded concrete, in whatever pattern you like. Just shallow ones, though I have seen people who have gone back afterwards and carefully painted in the lines to look more contrasty.

If you DO end up removing the concrete, don't necessarily throw the rubble away - it is great for informal paths, putting on the 'feet' of newly transplanted plants, building a 'dry wall' for a flowerbed, keeping the chickens from digging out of the run or making a semi-digproof apron for the outside of a run, etc.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[elijahboy]

pffffffffffff

im a chick and i laid my entire patio with patterned stones with a shovel a $15.00 pattern a bucket and water and bags of concrete

prolly cost me all of 50.00 to do a 9'x9' section

i have seen the pattern at home depot and lowes

look online from ebay or amazon also

just do it small amounts at a time so you dont get overwhelmed

each bags i think did 2 patterns but the patterns were like 20"x20"

 

[xpc]

I'm a chick and i laid my entire patio with patterned stones with a shovel a $15.00 pattern a bucket and water and bags of concrete

prolly cost me all of 50.00 to do a 9'x9' section

OK you must detail on what you did for $50 and how it is holding up, that sounds pretty cheap for 81sq.ft. I need to do the same and want to make it cheap and easy and am not a little girl though when I saw that big black rat snake the other day you would of thought I was.

 

[elijahboy]

I'm a chick and i laid my entire patio with patterned stones with a shovel a $15.00 pattern a bucket and water and bags of concrete

prolly cost me all of 50.00 to do a 9'x9' section

OK you must detail on what you did for $50 and how it is holding up, that sounds pretty cheap for 81sq.ft. I need to do the same and want to make it cheap and easy and am not a little girl though when I saw that big black rat snake the other day you would of thought I was.

you can find the mold here

http://cgi.ebay.com/5-Piece-Set-Con...tem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2559e79097

this is the one i used its like 14.95 i think

http://www.lowes.com/cd_Build+a+Walkway+with+a+Precast+Mold_229013906_


i bought like 20 bags of concrete at lowes for just over $2 a bag

i did it 2 years ago and they are big chunks of concrete so of course they arent going to compost
i have since moved the gazebo they were under and seperated them all and now they are edgers around my entire yard