One of the most popular varieties of coatingsfor the garden paths is concrete paving slabs. The merits of this material are mass, but there are practically no shortcomings. The paving slab looks beautiful, serves a long time and is inexpensive. Another of its unconditional advantages is the ease in laying. If you want to make the tracks attractive and convenient for movement with its use, you can do it yourself. The technology of laying paving slabs with your own hands includes several simple steps. About what exactly, read below.
Before proceeding with the arrangement of the tracks,of course, you need to make at least an unpretentious project. For this, a plot of the plot is drawn on a piece of paper. Further on it is schematically "paved" the tracks. The convenience of their location must be checked on site. Having drawn along the ground the lines of future tracks, you should walk through them. If no discomfort does not arise, then the plan is drawn up successfully. Otherwise, corresponding changes are made to the project.
The next step is to determine the typemost paving slabs. This material can have different colors, texture, texture, size and thickness. In terms of design, the choice depends, first of all, on the personal preferences of the owners of the house. The only thing - the material should fit perfectly into the design of the site. Not bad, if the color of the tracks will match the color of the porch tile, the doors of the house, the frames of windows, and so on.
The thickness of the paving slab is selected independing on the degree of load on the future track. Most often, the cloth of this material is used simply to move people. In this case, a sufficient thickness of the tile will be 40-50 mm. If in the future on the road it is supposed to go by car, choose a material with a height of at least 60 mm.
To arrange tracks with a lot of smoothbends better to choose a small tile. This way you can avoid a lot of waste. For straight paths, material of absolutely any size is suitable. The technology of laying paving slabs with your own hands in this case is extremely simple, as it is most likely that you will not need to cut out the concrete decorative elements.
There are several methods for finishing and strengthening the tracks with paving slabs:
When arranging tracks on private suburbanall these methods can be used. The first three are usually used when laying the sidewalks intended for the movement of people. Concrete base is used in the event that the tile will be carried by car or it is necessary to equip its parking lot. This is the most reliable technology for laying paving slabs. With their own hands, however, such tracks make it somewhat more difficult, and even this kind of cloth will cost more.
With any method of laying tilesthe marking of the future track is performed. At its edges, pegs are driven in and a cord is pulled. Further, the "trough" is being excavated under the base and tile. If the track will not be given too much load, it is not necessary to make it deep. On a site with a stable ground, it will suffice to be 15-25 cm (10-20 cm on the base-pillow and 5 - on the tile). If the owners plan to drive on the canvas by car, the "trough" should be damped by 26-36 cm (20-30 cm on the pillow and 6 cm - on the material).
The bottom of the excavated pit must necessarily have a slopeat least 5 mm per 1 running meter. In this case, puddles will not form on the path in rainy weather. Of course, the bias should be done in such a way that the water does not drain to the building or farm buildings, but to the drainage system or to the lawn. The bottom of the excavated pit is carefully rammed and proceeds to the arrangement of the chosen type of base.
This is the most simple technology of laying paving slabs with your own hands (photo of such a basis can be seen below). The "cushion" in this case is done as follows:
Next, the curb and tiles are laid.In the event that the track will not be used too often (for example, leading to the gazebo), rubble from the ground can be excluded. At the bottom of the "trough" is simply poured a layer of sand 15 mm thick and carefully rammed it.
This bulk material is, according toessence, small natural gravel. It turns out after the screening of sand at the enterprises engaged in the production of building materials. From ordinary gravel, it differs in that it consists of fractions of different sizes.
Technology of laying paving slabs for screeningIt does not differ from the installation of elements on the sand. At the bottom of the "trough" a layer of not less than 15 cm is poured and a ramming is made. The decorative elements themselves are mounted.
This method is also used for arrangingtracks on the countryside is often enough. The base in this case is more reliable than when using conventional sand and crushed stone. For this technology, for example, you can equip a wide path leading from the gate to the entrance to the house or to the garage.
To fill the substrate with this applicationmethod uses a dry mixture of sand and cement in a proportion of 4 to 1. Preliminary to the bottom of the "trough" is filled with river coarse sand. It must be carefully rolled. Then a metal mesh with a mesh size of 50 x 50 cm is laid over it. Next, a prepared mixture of cement and sand is poured. It is laid tiles and wakes up with sand, which is then swept off the surface. In the seams, he remains at the same time. At the next stage, the path is moistened with water from the hose. Use it for movement only in a couple of weeks. Otherwise, dents may appear on the canvas.
Technology of laying paving slabs on concretethe basis, as already mentioned, is somewhat complex. But this method is considered the most reliable. This technique is used in the event that the canvas in the future will be carried out by car. It is also suitable for finishing the parking lot of a car.
So, how is the paving slab laid with the hands on the mortar? This is done as follows:
After the base is ready, proceedto the installation of curbstones. They are necessary in order to give the track a complete appearance and avoid sliding the canvas. On the edges of the "trough" on sand or a dry mixture pour a small concrete stand. Then they lay the curb itself.
At the next stage, you can start installingdecorative elements of the canvas. Of course, in carrying out this work, the technology of laying paving slabs must be strictly observed. With their own hands, this procedure is performed using markup. The first row of tiles laid out on cords stretched along the future cloth and across it. Further, the evenness of the installation of the elements is checked every three rows. Stacking is done "from yourself", so as not to damage the prepared base.
On sand and a dry mix of decorative elementsset without fastening compounds. The technology of laying paving slabs on a concrete base is somewhat different. To the base it is usually glued. On the concrete, apply the fastener with a notched trowel. Then, the web element is firmly pressed against the surface. Cutting is done using a Bulgarian. The tile is pre-cut and then split. Laying should be done as tightly as possible. In any case, tile under the hands of tiles should not.
Most often, when arranging paths in a private house, a diagonal method of laying is used. This technology allows to reduce the amount of waste to a minimum.
Whatever is used for the arrangementlinen technology of laying paving slabs (on sand with cement, on mortar or on screenings), at the final stage it is necessary to perform such an operation as sealing joints. Processing them can be done in different ways. Usually, sand or a cement-sand mixture is used for this purpose. The selected material is poured into a small layer on the web, and then swept away. When using a cement mixture, cleaning should be done as carefully as possible. Otherwise, after the first rain, the resulting thin layer of solution will seize and ruin the appearance of the track. Sand for seaming is best to take white. In this case, the canvas will look spectacular. Sometimes for the treatment of joints special compositions are used on glue or cement basis. But they are quite expensive.
Tiles, of course, have time fromtime to sweep. Color tracks are also washed from time to time from the hose. When heavily soiled, the cloth is first brushed, wetting it with detergent solution. If ice forms on the path in winter, salt can not be used for its removal. Concrete she eats just instantly. In the spring on the canvas will be a lot of vyscherblin, and in the future tile and generally begin to move away pieces. You can try to remove the ice carefully with a scraper. And it is better to use special compounds for cleaning.
Decorating with a garden path tile - procedurerelatively uncomplicated. However, this work needs to be done correctly. If the technology of laying paving slabs under the car or for the movement of people will be observed exactly, the canvas will serve as faith and truth for many years. Otherwise, after some time, dents will appear on the path, and the decorative elements themselves will begin to split and shift due to the subsidence of the base.
