16'square walkway stones

16 years ago

My wife and I are building a walkway and some flower beds in the front yard. we are planning on using the 16" squares from lowes and making a 4 foot walkway. We will then have about a foot or so on each side for some flowers as a border. then on the house side of the walkway we will use the castle wall type bricks to build a flower bed. I have just a couple of questions about using these type of stones in combination:

Can you curve the squares like you can a brick walkway? (my guess is no)

My wife and I disagree on the use of the castlwall bricks, I think the brick should be more of a straight border type brick that would go better with the straight edges of the walkay(unless it too can be curved). I'm also not sure about the layout on the house side. there will be the walkway then a foot for flowers then the castwall bricks (2 brick layer) against that then a large flower bed behind the castwall bricks. Any opinions on how that will look?

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Comments (8)

labermudaman
Original Author
16 years ago
I forgot to add this:

the walkay goes from the driveway on the side of our house to the front door, so it will to need to make a 90 degree turn somewhere.
maro
16 years ago
We used 20" squares, and turned the corner by sawing some in half and arranging those around the curve, sunburst fashion. It takes a pretty hefty saw, though - maybe you could have them done at the place you buy them.
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It depends. If the pathway is encased on both sides by soil or grass or something, you might be OK. If the grounds slopes away from the path, the substrate will likely work its way out. But that could happen even with edging, if the edging is not supported. The thing about DIY is that there is no one to make you do it "right." Just that if you don't, any consequences are also DIY, or if they're worse, they're PIY (pay it yourself). It's really about assessing the risks and deciding whether you can afford them in terms of time or money. Retrofitting the edging is a pain if you decide later that you need it, but maybe you have the time to redo things. Or, maybe you only need it in one or two particularly vulnerable parts of the walkway. We've used cedar edging instead of the plastic (looks a heck of a lot better) with the realization that we will need to replace it someday. I've also built stuff often enough with scrap lumber from pallets; that's cheap enough and will hold up for a while. Good luck! KarinL
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bonsai_audge
16 years ago
I would gravitate towards laying the pavers on a grid, simply because it would be easier to execute than to cut them to fit along a curve. It doesn't mean that the path cannot follow a curve (who says it has to follow a strict "L" shape?), however. Additionally, I don't think that a foot or so would be a sufficient for the flowerbeds, unless you're planning on annuals or the smallest of perennials/shrubs.

- Audric
isabella__MA
16 years ago
Another alternative would be to cast your own pavers, in appropriate pie shapes, to fill in the gaps created by turning a corner with square pavers. These could be cast in-place using the other pavers as side of the mold.
zengeos
16 years ago
Another option might be to space the pavers out and plant a low growing ground cover to fill in the gaps between the pavers. THEN you could have a reasonable randomness to the footpath and soften the hardness of all the square pavers.

I agree with bonsai auge 12" wide flower beds seems narrow. If you spaced the pavers out 3 inches or so, you could actually make a nice landing at the foot of the stairs and create larger/wider beds. 2 pavers wide should be sufficient I would think. Guess it all depends on style of building and goals tho.
labermudaman
Original Author
16 years ago
The flower bed will only be 12 inches wide as a border for the walkway on both sides (the main lawn will be on one side of the border on the other border there will be castle wall stones as a border for the flower beds, it will have pansies and flowers like that. The larger flower beds will be between the walkway and the house. they will be around 5-8 feet deep and will have shrubs and flowers.
boxofrox
16 years ago
You might also think of having the edges curbed. I've done a series of different walkways all the way around my landscape and have probably 5 different types not counting a flagstone one that I'm currently doing in front of my pond. The curbed one has 4 18" semi-circle patterned placed together to form a 3' step. I have them spaced about 6" apart with a 6" edge on both sides. I bought them a few years back at Lowe's but they are Oldcastle and don't seem to be available anymore. I have Bluestar Creeper planted in the spaces. I'll post a pic of it under construction. (The diamond in the middle is for a large glazed pot with a mountain hemlock to brake up the walk).

I also have a serpentine walk that leads from my front porch over to my pond gate. It is done with irregular cast spaced randomly and a stack stone border. It too has Bluestar Creeper between the steppers.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:8535}}
boxofrox
16 years ago
This is a pic of the serpentine walkway during construction. These steps were also from Lowe's and were actually meant for 5 of them to be used together to form a square pattern. I adapted them for a curve and had my wife walk them for spacing. The creeper is all filled in now and it has a magical look when in bloom.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:8536}}

16'square walkway stones

Comments (8)

labermudaman
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maro

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16'square walkway stones

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labermudamanOriginal Author

maro

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