Summer 2004
After walking through wet grass and snow to get to the patio door for over 6 years, we decided to put in a walkway from the driveway to the patio door. The previous owners had put in several rough concrete stone circles, but they were at a 45 degree angle from the patio steps.
So we went looking for brick - after going to Lowe's, Menard's and Home Depot (which opened up in Benton Harbor in 2004), we decided to go with Menard's choices. There were two sizes we purchased - a square size and a rectangular size. The bricks came in a fall color mix, with various shades of reds, oranges, brown, tan, gray, and black. Tony came up with a pattern that repeated every 3 feet in height.
We went through several steps :
- Rip up the grass where the brick walkway would go
- Level the dirt and tamp it down
- Put down pea gravel as the first drainage layer and tamp it down
- Put down a layer of sand as the second drainage layer and tamp it down
- Finally, lay down the bricks
And, several months later we had a walkway! We still need to install the rest of the side trim this spring to prevent the bricks from shifting, but having the bricks has made it a lot easier to get from the house to the cars when it snows.
 The grass has been removed and is ready for pea gravel. Tony actually did this twice since he did the first sod removal in the spring and then again in the summer. |
 The prepared walkway with a layer of pea gravel. If you're wondering why the left hand side doesn't have any gravel, it's because our guide line on that side was off by several inches :) |
 Another picture taken further back from the driveway. |
 An angle shot from the left hand side. |
 The first sand layer on top of the pea gravel. |
 A close up view of the patio end. The lines are because we used a plywood board to tamp the sand down. |
 Our second layer of sand. It went on top of a layer of landscape fabric to keep out the weeds. |
 Raking more sand ... |
 The sand layer is down, and we're now ready to lay down the bricks. We had to go through several attempts in leveling and evening out the sand, using a plywood piece and the large roller attachment from our lawn tractor, as the ground sloped down in the middle. |
 The pallets of bricks - we tried to bring these home in Tony's pickup truck, but they were too heavy and had to have them delivered. |
 Halfway done laying down the bricks. |
 Close view of the brick pattern (note the gap showing that the patio steps are not square). |
 Another view of myself laying the individual bricks. |
 A view of the completed walkway. |
 View of the front part and the leftover pea gravel and sand. |
 2 1/2 weeks later, we have a walkway! Finally done! |
This page was last modified : August 22, 2006