How to Install a Brick Path
- 1). Measure the length and width of ground which you want to turn into a brick path. Add 2 inches to the width of the path. Use an extension cord or rope to mark out the shape and border of your path.
- 2). Use a spade to excavate the area for your path to a depth of about 6 inches or until you see the color of the soil change from a dark to a lighter brown. Place excavated dirt onto a tarp.
- 3). Fill the excavated area with graded base which is a mixture of crushed stone and stone dust. Pour the graded base to a depth of 1 1/2 inches. Spray the base with water and tamp it down with a hand tamper to level it and secure it in place.
- 4). Pour 2 more inches of graded base on top of the first, tamped layer and tamp that second layer down with the hand tamper until the entire base measures 3 1/2 inches deep.
- 5). Use a spade to create narrow trenches measuring 1 inch wide along the sides of the compressed base. Fit pieces of 1-inch-by-4-inch composite lumber into the trench to form a temporary edge for the pathway.
- 6). Build a screed from a piece of 2-by-4 lumber. Use a handsaw to cut the length of the 2-by-4 so that it is 6 inches longer than the path width. Cut notches at both ends which are 3 inches wide. Fit the screed in between the composite lumber rails to make them evenly spaced from each other. Pound the composite lumber into the ground with a mallet until it is even with the base surface. Insert 18-inch wooden stakes into the ground next to the composite lumber every 3 feet to help hold the composite lumber in place.
- 7). Use a level positioned atop a thin piece of wood across your composite lumber and tap either side of the wood until the bubble in the level is squarely within the center marks, indicating your path is level throughout.
- 8). Pour 2 inches of masonry sand over the base and tamp it down with a hand tamper. Pull your screed across the sand surface to make it even and flat. Add sand to low spots as needed and retamp until the entire path is finished.
- 9). Use a spade to create 2-1/2-inch-deep trowels along either side of the path, just inside the composite lumber. Lay bricks one at a time on their long sides in a single file row and pound them into the ground with a mallet until they are flush with the top of the composite lumber.
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Screed the sand again in between the brick edging and begin laying bricks in a desirable pattern, using a mallet to pound them flush with the surface of the brick edging. Set bricks in the sand in rows without pulling or dragging them to avoid a loose-fitting path. - 11
Use a push broom to fill the thin spaces in between laid brick pavers with masonry sand. Wet the path with a hose and push more sand into the cracks until they are filled to the surface. Let the sand settle for one week. Push a final layer of sand into the cracks with a push broom. Let the path sit for an additional week. Remove the composite lumber and wooden stakes.