| Kim |
| | March 28, 2009 | Reply with quote | #1 |
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I live in a new housing development. Most people here throw either throw river rocks down both sides of the house, or put some regular sidewalk blocks down one side to get to the back yard. River rocks aren't practical for what I want - it's impossible to push a lawn mower through them. Sidewalk blocks are boring. I'd love to do something with stone and maybe some slate - in my mind I think I've seen little grey rocks that are VERY compacted, with slate-like stepping stones. My husband has said he can put down some road crush and tamp it down - he said it'll be solid like concrete. But I don't know if that's what I want. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? I'm not going to put any plants in the ground on either side of the house - there's only about enough room to push a lawn mower through and it's fully shaded. Thanks in advance.
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| Sherwood Botsford |
| | April 14, 2009 | Reply with quote | #2 |
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Road crush works. It will be solid, it will drain. It will be about as hard to push a mower over as grass. If you edge it
with some kind of paver it looks neat.
Patio blocks are boring, but they also work. (You can get them in red and charcoal, and you can get them with patterns.
If you have seen the concrete screen wall blocks -- 12" x 12"
by 4" thick, with a lacy pattern for infill, these can be used
horizontally, then fill the spaces, and plant the spaces with a ground cover. This is popular for lawn areas that are used for occasional parking.
Me, I find that spaces like that are essentially unseen.
Do what is easy there, and spend your attention on the front and back yards.
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| Meredith |
| | April 27, 2009 | Reply with quote | #3 |
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I am just in the process of putting in a new walkway/ path from my shed and back gate to my house. There are this awful concrete blocks and also a poured concrete sidewalk. The grass is in bad shape and all in all it looks pretty shabby.
Here's what I plan to do.... I lifted the blocks and gave them a good smack with a sledge hammer and broke them into pieces. I am going to do this with the walkway too but I'll need the stronger arms of the guys in my family to help.
Next I'm going to scrub them down with some TSP and stain them. Home Hardware sells concrete stain and in wide variety of colours. You can also buy concrete stain kits that show you how to create different effects with the stain. You can make your boring old blocks, driveway, stairs look like marble, slate, or etch them with beautiful designs if you feel artistic!
I have ordered some stain in a dark brown and I am going to stain the bottom of the block shards (not the top, they have an imprint and it won't look like stone). Then I'm going to arrange the concrete shards into a stone pathway. I am very excited! It is an inexpensive way to create a more expensive look.
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| Finian | |
| WDM Barteluk |
| | Oct 24, 2009 | Reply with quote | #5 |
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I recently lifted an old concrete front walk. After edging with that black plastic edging I laid down a fine gray/green crush, packed it and then laid black slate. As my house is older this simple walk was in keeping with the age and style of the house and has proven to be easy care and a joy to walk on. I can easily push the lawn mover,wheelbarrow etc over it.
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