How to Build a Stone Walkway in 14 Easy Steps – The Spruce

Building a stone walkway is a wonderful way to enhance the "country" feel of a yard, being quite in keeping with a cottage garden design. A brick path, by contrast, will complement a formal landscape design. The project described below is well-suited for do-it-yourselfers, although some heavy lifting may be required.

Many people use "flagstone" (picture) for projects of this nature; the material that you, yourself end up obtaining for the job may or may not go by this name.The main thing to remember when making your selection is that theideal material for this project will consist of the largest, flattest solid rocks you can find and maneuver. A two-inch thickness should be considered the minimum; the instructions below use three-inch thick pieces. Keep in mind that greater mass equals greater stability.

You've probably seen people build brick or flagstone walkways across their yards that arecurved, rather than going straight from point A to point B. Building curved walkways serves anaestheticlandscape design purpose.

Building curved walkways softens the landscape by counteracting rigid lines (a rectangular house, a straight driveway, etc.). If the walkway cuts through an area with great visual interest (for instance, a variety of garden and flower beds, shrubs, trees, statuary, water garden, rock garden, etc.), building a curved walkway makes more sense than a straight, no-nonsense walkway. You'll want to meander through such an area, slowing down to fully appreciate its treasures.

But don't go crazy and build all your walkways or pathways curved, indiscriminately. It depends on the function of the walkway. If you're building a utilitarian walkway (such as providing a path for you to haul groceries into the house from the car), you will normally want to build a straight walkway.

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How to Build a Stone Walkway in 14 Easy Steps - The Spruce