Installing Edges & the Sand Base

      

INSTALLING EDGING OR FORMS:
Permanent wood borders should be made of cypress, redwood, or cedar. These species resist rot. However, they can be expensive depending on the area in which you reside. Or, you can use less-expensive pressure treated (PT) lumber. It will rot, but it takes years before replacement is needed.

After the excavation is completed, install the edging so that the top edge is just above, or flush with, the ground level. To anchor the edging solidly in place, install stakes made of the same material as the forms. Nail the forms to the stakes with double-headed nails. Fill in the base and the sand bed; lay the bricks. Finish as desired. Remove the nails from the stakes. Using a wedge shaped piece of 2X4, pound the permanent stakes below ground level. Do not pound on the edging. Cover the stakes with soil; they won't show.

Temporary Forms-
You can build a temporary form; its purpose is to hold the bricks in position until the project has been completed.

When the bricks are in place, remove the form. Then pack earth around the outside edges of the bricks. This installation, of course, is not as stable or long-lasting as one that has a permanent edging.

Pitching the Walk-
If possible, the walkway should be slightly pitched or crowned so water runs off its surface. You don't need much pitch or crown; it probably won't even be noticeable to the eye. A pitch or crown is made by shaping the sand bed accordingly. High on one side, low on the other. Or, make the sand higher in the center. .

Deter Vegetation-
After the earth has been tamped, you can install a sheet of black polyfilm (4 mils thick, if you can buy it) on top of the earth and below the sand fill. This plastic will help prevent grass, weeds, and other vegetation from growing up between the sand joints of the brick walkway. However, it will not stop wind-carried seeds that anchor themselves in the sand joints. You can use vegetation killing chemicals to remove this growth for at least one year.

ADDING THE SAND BASE:
After the edging has been installed, place and tamp any gravel fill. Then add a layer of sand that is at least 2 inches deep. Spread the sand roughly in place with a rake. Wit a hose set on fine spray, thoroughly dampen the sand. In a short time, the sand will settle and become somewhat hard.

Fill in the spots that are obviously low, and dampen the new fill. While the sand is still wet, pull a dragboard across the edging to level the sand bed. Remove any excess and fill in low spots as you drag the leveling board across the sand surface.

Sprinkle the sand bed again after leveling it. Use a fine mist only; you don't want to dislodge the sand.

Crowning the Walk-
The paved surface must be built so water can run off it. Although some moisture will soak down through the cracks between the bricks, you still need a way for most of the surface water to drain away quickly.

To provide the necessary pitch to the walk, the center is crowned-somewhat raised in the center. Crowning also adds another benefit: Since traffic along a wall-, eventually will drive and pack down the center, crowning prevents the center of the wall from becoming lower than the edges of the walk.

Crown the sand by creating a dragboard that is higher in the center than at the ends. Cut the dragboard to produce a little pitch, too.

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