Do-it-yourself is not only popular when wallpapering or renovating your apartment, but increasingly also when designing your garden. In order to reduce costs or express one's own individuality, more and more people are doing things themselves, including the new garden path.
How can you make garden paths yourself?
Garden paths can be made yourself by carefully planning, obtaining and preparing the required materials, excavating the path, placing curbs in concrete, laying and compacting the base layer and finally applying the chosen surface such as paving stones or gravel. Precise work and good use of materials are essential.
First step: planning
Before you start work, you should plan where exactly the new garden path will go and what purpose it will serve. Should it perhaps be paved or would you prefer a gravel path? Paths that are heavily used also need a solid substructure. Accordingly, you can calculate and obtain the required material.
Second step: Purchasing
You can get materials for a garden path from a hardware store or garden center, for example. Comparing prices from different providers makes sense. If you want a cost-effective way, then take a look at so-called B-stock. Often the small defects that led to the price reduction are hardly or not at all noticeable.
You need at least a car for transport; a trailer is also recommended for larger quantities. After all, paving stones or paving slabs are quite heavy. Maybe your hardware store will deliver free or cheaply if you need a large amount of building materials.
Third step: implementation
Take enough time if you want to build your own garden path and also check the weather forecast beforehand. You should not carry out paving work in persistent rainy weather. After excavating the path, place the curbs, ideally in a concrete foundation. This should take some time to dry. Only then do you create the base layer.
So that your path has a long service life, you should compact the base layer well. A vibrator (€299.00 at Amazon) is very helpful. Ask your hardware store whether you can rent such a device there. The finished stones should also be tapped or shaken well.
The most important things in brief:
- plan carefully
- Estimate material consumption
- Compare prices
- Delivery may make sense
- work carefully, especially when paving
Tip
You can certainly make a garden path yourself, but you should work carefully and, especially, be able to handle paving work well.
