Brick walkway renovation, brick path, garden path

walk work done in February

The running bond is running again. This is surely the never ending project. It was built in less than perfect brick laying in 2008.  In fact that pathway was just brick laid on the ground to make passage a bit easier. The deconstruction of this original walkway came in 2010, a sacrifice to the foundation building project. Now, in 2011 the reconstruction continues.

No walkway means lots of dirt, in this case insidious sand, being transported by shoes into the house. To be more exact, sand was tracking through the whole house...all the way to the bathroom shower. What a mess! Rebuilding was a priority to me, if not to Mr.  I am the barefooted walker in this house, and it was pretty painful to be walking on sand and pebbles.

The "asap rebuild" of the walkway started in February. Yes February, the middle of winter, it was that important. A break in the weather meant it could be done. In fact it really had to be done because snow and wet rain mess was being added to the sand equation. It all added up to miserable muddy sand all over the floors, in spite of door mats and runners to stop it upon entry. Yuck! That rebuilding only went so far. The freezing weather came right back within a day, so the project again stopped. Now in April the weather has finally leveled out and the project can continue in earnest.

fingerprints of the makers in the 19th century bricks

deformed infill brick

misshapen infill bricks

medium textured porous bricks

19th century handmade bricks look like adobe

My goal was a narrow pathway between cars and the house. We were sinking into the ground as we made passage, and something needed to be done about it. The bricks originally laid in the path, had been put aside and were reused again... and again and again. The bricks in this walkway are ALL recycled bricks. Many started life as a chimney (in fact two different chimneys), others were from house support pilings, and yet others were simply infill walls placed in between the pilings to stop wind and animals from going under the house. Each of those previous uses had a different type of brick. The infill bricks were a hard, dark, grog (rough pebbly texture) filled clay, and are terribly misshapen and distorted. It would be upgrading their status to call them seconds! They are fifths it anything! These were used very selectively. The distorted bricks without sharp edges will also be used on the edge of the walk. The bricks from the pilings are a softer warmer looking brick with lots of tiny air holes in them, making them appear porous. They do have a nice sharp edge and they make a great appearance. The third type of brick was in the chimney of the south wing of the house. Those bricks are an archeological dig in themselves. There are actually fingerprints of the makers in the bricks....yes, fingerprints! Pretty amazing that 140 years later the fingerprints are still there from the makers. These bricks are very soft, they are very much like adobe. I would not be surprised to find out that they were sundried and made from local river clay. They have soft rounded edges and a distinctly differnt color and appearance than the other two kinds of bricks.  My evaluation is that they will not take well to foot traffic, so they have been placed on the edges where there will not be a lot of walking.

There is a lot to think about when doing this project, but don't let that stop you. It is not difficult and it can be done in chunks. The chunking will be to break the project down into small pieces to be done over multiple days, it helps to insure tenacity. You can do five to ten feet of walkway at a time over several hours, to spread the work out over several days. Even just three feet a day would make some progress. Remember to try to make the brick surface level so that people will not trip on an irregular surface. Just garden tools will work to help level the ground and to move materials. We have sandy soil so these bricks are set on sand which will drain. Consider your soil conditions and think about procuring some sand to set the bricks on, this would insure proper drainage for you too.  When using recycled bricks you need to sort the bricks to evaluate their condition and usefulness. If you are willling to transport them, bricks are often available from other homeowners who are looking for a change, try local listings for sources or even put an ad or two up asking for bricks. All in all this is a very do it yourself project. Don't be afraid to give it a try.

I added some solar spotlights along the walkway so that there is always light on the walkway...nice!

 Hopefully it will all work out here. Stay tuned for the progress and lots more pictures as the project moves along.