Installing a brick walk or pathway yourself is a very rewarding experience! There is something about "hands-on" that is very appealing, even to the beginner.

One of the most creative, and cost-efficient ways to make your walk is to actually make the bricks yourself. There are a variety of cheap, easy forms found in almost any "do-it-yourself" store like Home Depot and Lowes. They come with very easy instructions which basically consist of these:

1. Buy your favorite form. You make repeated copies of the form and the new bricks will fit together nicely when done. There are forms that have a brick pattern and some look more like stones with a rounder edge effect.
2. You will need to buy some bags of ready-made concrete. I suggest using a courser variety with very small rocks in it. This makes the look a little bit more authentic.
3. Get a wheelbarrow and a shovel and do your project next to a working hose. You will definitely need water availability.
4. Follow the directions for mixing from the concrete bag and then let the bricks "cure" until they completely dry. You can put the form in the exact place you want the bricks to end up.

Here are the four easy tips for installing a brick walkway:
1. When you begin your walkway, rake out the ground and make sure that it is level. Pour pea gravel or small stones and rake across the surface. You will want to make sure that you dig down a little bit if you are going to want the bricks level with the grass or other surface on either side of the walkway. If you use a straight edge brick pattern, the edges will be easy to keep in a line. If you use more of a stone pattern, you might want to run a small rope or string along the side so that your walkway will end up where you want it to.

2. Using the methods described above, make your bricks with the form you purchased. This will definitely take a little bit more time than just buying the bricks, but the effect is
fantastic and you feel great about creating all of the project yourself!

3. You will need to keep people off of the bricks while they are drying, but this never takes long. Perhaps only a day or so is all it will take to get the bricks dry enough to walk on. Next you will need to pour sand in between the bricks. Again, the entire project ends up being so much cheaper than ready-made bricks. Sand does not cost much. Pour sand onto the bricks and using a small trowel or sturdy broom, begin sweeping or shoveling the sand between the bricks. Get it packed in there nice and tight. The bricks become immovable and stay right where they are supposed to. I have actually made several walkways this way and continued one of them on to create a huge patio. On the this particular walkway and patio, I used very fine concrete instead of sand. I felt this would "cement" the bricks together better. I was very pleased with this result and will use the concrete again in place of the sand. Another reason I enjoy the concrete in between the bricks is that it is easy to spray off with a hose and there is no residue of sand on your shoes or feet when you are done.

4. Finally, you need to get water on the project to "settle" the walkway. Especially if you have concrete you will want it to settle. Spray lots of water on the bricks, and let the concrete between the bricks really set in.

That is it! It looks like a bit of work, and it actually is. But it is fun, fulfilling work that is not hard. You will enjoy this immensely and your walkway will always have your unique stamp on it. How cool is that?

Learn more about this author, S. Bristow.
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