We make fancy rubble paths in the country with our own hands

Which crushed stone is better to choose

For the manufacture of garden paths, crushed stone of various origins is used:

1. One of the durable materials is granite. The constituent components of such crushed stone are hard rocks. Such material is resistant to temperature and humidity extremes. These properties make it possible to use crushed granite when laying garden paths.
2. Crushed gravel of irregular shape, which makes it easy to cover uneven surfaces and perform a drainage function. The non-standard angular shapes of the constituent elements make you walk on them only in shoes.
3. Shale crushed stone is used only where the loads will be small. The tendency to splitting forces the material to be impregnated with special additives.

An important characteristic of crushed stone is its fraction. For the manufacture of paths, a size of 0.5-7 cm is used. Pedestrian paths are made using the smallest fraction - 0.5-4 cm. Larger crushed stone is used to equip adjacent roads along which cars pass. The use of marble or gravel screenings is acceptable for pedestrian areas.

Video "Arrangement of a treadmill in the garden"

From this video you will learn how to make a step path in the garden with your own hands.

How to properly fill the paths

Compliance with the preparation technology is laborious, but necessary to maintain the functionality of the paths for many years. To make the paths in the country house reliable and durable, you need to follow the sequence of construction stages:

• make a design sketch or drawing;
• select the required crushed stone;
• mark the territory;
• prepare the ground;
• fill up the required area.

When choosing the main material for backfilling, you need to understand the purpose of individual areas in order to use a different fraction of gravel.

Layout and preparation of the base

Follow these guidelines:

1. First of all, a sketch is drawn that reflects the direction and purpose of all the paths.
2. The central paths should be 1.5–2 m wide, and the rest of the passages should be 0.8–1 m. Gravel filling between the beds should be 0.4–0.5 m wide.
3. Using pegs and rope, markings are made for future passes. All obstacles that are encountered when installing the markup must be smoothly bypassed. In this case, the width of the intended directions is preserved. In some places, you can smoothly change the width to fit the path into the exterior of the garden.
4. After marking the routes, you need to dig the soil to a depth of 15 cm. If a large number of roots remain in the ground, then they must be removed by hand or using chemicals.
5. The bottom of the trench obtained must be tamped using special hand tools.
6. Cover the bottom with waterproofing material. Usually, roofing material or polyethylene is used for this. Geotextiles, which are designed specifically for such work, are best suited.
7. Install pre-prepared curbs or boards along all paths, which will become the boundary between the path and the ground.To separate individual sections of the tracks, you need to install crossbars.
8. It is necessary to fill up the waterproofing with sand with gravel crumbs or screenings. The backfill layer should be no more than 5 cm.
9. Moisten and compact the resulting surface.

Backfilling stones

Correct implementation of this stage, as well as the previous ones, will affect the durability of the tracks being erected:

1. First, you need to pour a small amount of prepared crushed stone along the curb and next to the partitions. The height of the poured layer must correspond to the level of the planks.
2. Having made sure of the reliability of the installation of curbs and partitions, we can fill all the prepared areas with crushed stone.
3. With the help of a shovel, a hoe and a rammer, all areas must be leveled and tamped.
4. In a few days, especially after precipitation, the constructed paths may sink in some places. For leveling, it is necessary to backfill and level the surfaces again.

Care rules

The simple design of the paths makes it just as easy to maintain. Weeds need to be broken out along the borders, and the surface must be leveled periodically, especially after the snow has melted. For this, in the deepest places, add a bedding.

Colored tracks

To make the garden paths colorful, painting work is performed already at the initial stage of construction:

1. Crushed stone is poured into a concrete mixer or other mixing container.
2. Next, you need to fill in more than a third of the volume with paint and stir for at least an hour. For such work, it is better to use polyacrylic paint for outdoor use. While stirring, it is advisable to add polymer glue - 3–7% of the dye volume. This amount will allow the paint to adhere better to the rubble, but will not glue the rubble together.
3. Then pour the crushed stone onto plastic wrap and allow to dry.
4. In places where the color of the crushed stone path changes, you need to install a partition made of plastic or metal slats. When drawing up a drawing, the slats are installed along its contours.
5. After the painted crushed stone has dried, the plots are covered with it as planned by the project.

The use of a large number of bright colors makes the tracks attractive, and the manufacturing process itself awakens creative ideas.

Other options

When making garden paths, pieces of asphalt or concrete products can be used along with rubble. So, for example, identical concrete slabs, smaller than the path itself, are placed in the middle of the path at a step distance. Around the slabs, they are backfilled with crushed stone. This will add originality and cheer up.

The tracks are backfilled not only with crushed stone, but also with gravel, pebbles or shale. Each of these materials has its own advantages and disadvantages.

The use of pebbles does not allow you to make the paths high, and walking on it gives you discomfort. This is due to the high mobility of the stones. Gravel also has this disadvantage. Only it is a little heavier.

The use of crushed shale or crushed stone can make the paths high and easy to walk. But the sharp edges of these materials prevent barefoot running along the track. For the device of paths, it is possible to use a combined composition of crushed stone and pebbles.

The production of crushed stone paths is an excellent option for paving for suburban movement. Such paths can become an alternative to monolithic concrete structures. The availability of material and ease of manufacture will allow you to spend less time and effort.