Construction of Low Cost Brick Walkway

The primary aim for construction of a walkway is to provide easy access within a garden, awn or yard. Because in rainy season, water collected on the ground surface makes it sloppy or muddy. This causes difficulty in easy access. To avoid this we can build an inexpensive brick walkway. Instead of bricks we can also use broken slab pieces or concrete blocks.

Remember this walkway is only meant for walking purpose, not for any other traffic.

Step-By-Step Procedure

Step-1 (Laying out)

First decide what should be the required length and width of the walkway. Then layout the plan on the ground, using strings and pegs. The walkway can be straight or curved as per requirement.

Step-2 (Top soil Excavation)

Using available tools excavate the top soil, along the marked layout, for a depth of about 200 mm. this is done to place a layer of gravel and sand on it.

Step-3 (Base Layer)

Place a layer of compacted gravel of thickness 100 mm. after placing of gravel, place bricks on both sides of the walkway along the length of the proposed walkway.

If the ground consists of very soft soil, then instead of compacted gravel layer we can use a layer of lean cement concrete.

Step-4 (Sand Layer)

Place a layer of compacted sand of thickness 50 mm. sand layer is placed in between the edges of bricks. While compacting, provide proper slope so as to permit flow of rain water out of walkway.

Step-5 (Brick Placement)

On this compacted sand layer, place bricks in any suitable pattern. Maintain a gap of about 3 mm to 4 mm in between two brick; this gap will be filled in the next step.

Step-6 (Joint Filling)

The space left between individual bricks is filled by dry mixture of cement and sand. To do this, first mix cement and sand in the ratio of 1:5. Then spread the dry mix inside the joints between bricks. Spreading of dry mix is done using a broom. Then pour some water into the joints and compact the mix with proper tool so that the joints are filled.

Step-7 (Curing)

Water cure the cement sand mixture for a period not less than 7 days.