home · Networks · Form for a garden path: tips. Form for filling garden paths - original zoning of the site with paths (119 photos) Do-it-yourself form for garden paths

Form for a garden path: tips. Form for filling garden paths - original zoning of the site with paths (119 photos) Do-it-yourself form for garden paths

A garden path is not just for walking around the site. It is an original decoration and a significant detail that emphasizes the style ensemble of the courtyard. You can lay a garden path using a homemade mold. It will not be possible to make a mold correctly and create a track without detailed manufacturing instructions. Reviews from summer residents will help you understand the nuances of the work, and various photos and useful videos will help you imagine the yard of your dreams with a path stretching into the distance.

Features of forms created with your own hands

Paving slabs always look solid, but rather monotonous. If you want to decorate your yard, give it a touch of originality and show your creativity to the fullest, you can make tiles yourself. And unique tiles require a unique shape. What features does it have?

  • uniqueness. A tile created according to your own sketch will have no analogues. You can think about the desired size, shape and elements that match the overall design;
  • the opportunity to experiment with color;
  • if desired, you can add additional elements: shells, glass, pieces of porcelain stoneware, stones and create patterns from them;
  • production of tiles of different strengths depending on the purpose. For the far corner of the garden - thin, for parking - more durable;
  • Using one mold, you can make several molds at the same time.
  • efficiency. The cost of making one mold and mortar is much lower than the amount spent on purchasing and shipping tiles.

The downside is the time consumption. It will take 2-3 days for concrete tiles to dry, and about a week to create 30-50 elements.

Preparing to lay a garden path

Elements of a garden path can have any geometric shape: circle, square, regular or asymmetrical polygons, in the form of a human foot, a leaf of a tree, etc. Small boxes, wooden or plastic boxes and containers, and baking dishes are suitable for making tiles. A good option is to put together a mold frame from wood or make it from tin.

Before you begin work on the manufacture of tiles, it is necessary to carry out preparatory work:

  1. Consider the optimal approach to all buildings and the rational geometry of the road. A perfectly straight line is not always beautiful, and a too crooked one is inconvenient.
  2. Draw a site plan with the proposed path.
  3. Measure the length of the future path.
  4. Decide on the material to create the trail. If concrete, choose a tile design. Decide whether it needs to be tinted and decorated with patterns.
  5. Draw a sketch of the tile.
  6. Calculate how many elements will be needed to build the entire garden path based on its length, width and tile size. Standard width – 60 – 90 cm.

Now you can work on the form.

Varied mosaic

Creating original and durable tiles with a unique pattern is a labor-intensive process. But the result will delight the home owners and surprise the guests.

Attention! The mosaic can be laid directly on the poured mortar, but to do this you need to accurately determine the location of each part. You won't be able to swap anything.

To work you will need:

  • remnants of old tiles and porcelain tiles of different colors and textures;
  • pebbles, any stones, glass, rhinestones, large beads, old keys and any other items;
  • rectangular or round baking dish, greased with Vaseline;
  • sheets of adhesive tape;
  • everything to prepare the solution.

Step-by-step instruction:

  1. Place all available mosaic items in a bag and crush with a hammer.
  2. Sort by shape, color and size.
  3. Cut a rectangle or circle from sticky tape that matches the size of the baking dish. Place the tape in the mold and peel off the paper so that the sticky side is up.
  4. Place any design on the bottom of the pan, face down.
  5. Prepare the solution and pour it into the mold about halfway (1-1.5 cm).
  6. Place a metal mesh cut to the required size for strength.
  7. Fill with a layer of solution.
  8. After final drying (1-2 days), you need to pull out the tile and remove the layer of adhesive tape from the front side.
  9. Wipe the design with a damp cloth, sand it and varnish it to add shine and durability.

If you use a special mosaic (1x1 cm) of different shades of the same color scheme, you will get a stunning picture.

Leaf tiles

A garden path made from a combination of various elements looks interesting. For example, leaves. First you need to find a few large leaves of an interesting shape. Then get creative:

  1. Mix the solution.
  2. Spread the sheet out on a flat surface.
  3. Carefully lay the solution on it in a layer of 5-7 cm.
  4. Using a spatula, smooth the surface and edges. This work is quite painstaking, because... the edges need to be drawn out perfectly.
  5. After the solution has hardened, remove the sheet.

This method can be used differently if the form is not a sheet, but plywood cut into the shape of a foot, droplet, polygons, etc. The main difficulty of the method is that it is difficult to create even walls of the product.

You can do it easier - print the object on a solidifying tile made using any shape. Before printing, the item must be lubricated with Vaseline. This way you can immortalize children’s palms or legs, shells, leaves, cones, children’s molds, etc.

Wood mold

It seems that making a frame out of wood is as easy as shelling pears. But if you assemble it with nails, then unnecessary prints may remain on the tile.

Attention! To ensure the strength of the tile, it should be reinforced with metal mesh.

The simplest rectangular shape for making tiles can be made from wooden blocks:

  1. Decide on the required sizes.
  2. Cut the timber 50x50 mm. by size.
  3. Cut grooves on each side of the block.
  4. Secure the frame using sheet steel screws and brackets.
  5. Make the bottom from plywood or iron.
  6. To make the front part of the tile look more varied, pieces of porcelain stoneware or any other material can be laid on the bottom. To securely fasten the material, it is better to glue it to paper.
  7. After the tile has hardened, you need to remove it from the mold and wash off the paper with a wet cloth.

The wooden frame can be divided into several parts using 2-3 jumpers connected with staples. If they are arranged chaotically, you will immediately end up with a batch of original tiles of irregular geometric shape.

Iron mold of any configuration

You can imitate natural stones using hoops from old barrels or galvanized iron.

Its peculiarity is that the flexible sheet can be easily given any configuration:

  1. Cut the iron sheets into 5 cm strips.
  2. Connect the ends of the iron strip and bend them with a hammer.
  3. Give the product any desired shape.

Advice. To paint tiles, it is better to add a coloring pigment to the solution, then the color will be uniform and stable.

The convenience of this method is that you can make several forms at once and simultaneously work on a batch of tiles.

How to lay an elegant garden path

After all the necessary tiles are ready, you need to prepare a place for the future path. To do this, you should clear the site of foreign objects and mark it according to the existing plan. Then proceed to the main work:

  1. According to the markings, remove the top layer of soil - turf.
  2. Dig a trench over the entire area up to 30 cm.
  3. To protect against weeds, the appearance of which is undesirable between the tiles, the bottom should be laid with a layer of roofing felt or double layers of geotextile.
  4. Then add a cushion, thanks to which the tile will press evenly onto the soil. This layer can be made of any available material, for example, gravel, broken brick or sand (the most common option).
  5. Lay the finished tiles on a sand or any other cushion, maintaining the distance between each element.

After laying the garden path, you should decorate it by filling the cracks with decorative stone. Another way is to sow seeds of ornamental lawn grass. In this case, it is necessary to carefully care for the path, periodically watering and cutting the grass.

A garden path created by yourself will serve for a long time and delight owners and guests with its unique appearance.

DIY garden path - video

DIY garden path - photo


Modern matrices for concrete are a ready-made solution that allows you to combine pouring with the production of tiles or artificial stone right on site. The result is sidewalks with a paving effect, but there is no need for labor-intensive installation. Find out what shapes there are for garden paths, how to use them and how to make a template with your own hands from silicone, wood, and metal. Learn the secrets of experienced craftsmen to get unusual paths in your summer cottage.

Plastic mold 60*60

Advantages of path forms

You can simply fill garden paths with concrete, thereby creating landscaped passages for movement around the garden plot. But it’s much nicer when the path pleases with a beautiful and original view. To improve the territory, various matrices are used, which have a number of advantages:

  1. The production of sidewalk elements takes place on site; there is no need to purchase and deliver ready-made paving stones to the site, which provides significant savings.
  2. There is no need to dry individual products - the pavement hardens in place.
  3. The use of molding devices is simple and convenient, since there is no need to select elements, do jointing, or use a laying solution.
  4. The use of forms makes it possible to create a canvas of the required strength - the thickness of the layer can be adjusted and, if necessary, the composition of the concrete mixture can be changed by adding certain additives and reinforcement for strength.
  5. Using stencils for garden paths , It’s easy to create imitation stone, tiles and other intricately shaped elements.
  6. Making tiles with your own hands makes it possible to add creativity to landscape design and decorate the site with unusual elements.
  7. The use of molding devices allows you to lay passages without any restrictions - paths can be straight, with various bends in any direction, fitting harmoniously into the landscape.
  8. Forms for pouring paths reduce repair time and save money, since concrete consumption is strictly dosed.

Alternative to tiles

If you take not just a concrete mixture, but add porcelain stoneware, pebbles or crushed stone of different colors to the solution, it will not be difficult to diversify the design of the area. To ensure that the path fits harmoniously into the landscape, lawn grass is often planted between adjacent elements.

Adding pigments to the solution

Buy or make it yourself?

The ease of making concrete paths in the garden and their quality depend on the matrix used. A ready-made plastic mold for a garden path, as well as stencils made from a rubber mixture or silicone, are sold in stores. The advantage of a factory product is that it is made with high quality and is designed for reusable use.

Having studied the assortment, it is easy to choose a device for pouring the required configuration and size and find out how much the mold for the path costs. The price depends on the material - when using silicone, the cost of the molding matrix increases significantly.

Finished form

If you think that 200-1000 rubles are a lot of expenses, you can reduce these costs by making the device yourself. The main costs will be only for the purchase of raw materials.

Even if you take high-quality silicone, its cost will be significantly lower than that of a finished product made from the same material. And a homemade mold for a garden path made of wood or metal (most often, metal waste is used for such purposes: cuttings of pipes, any steel boxes) is even cheaper.

Homemade garden path matrix

Despite all the geometric irregularities and inaccuracies, the homemade form will look individual. By making the matrix with your own hands, you can express as accurately as possible your vision of the general concept of the landscape design of the site.

Making a shape for a garden path

Very interesting shapes for garden paths can be easily made from a variety of available materials. For example, from sheet metal, pipes cut in a special way, wooden blocks. But the best option is to prepare a matrix from silicone; such a material is elastic and durable.

The simplest pipe templates

Long lasting silicone mold

Despite the laboriousness of making a silicone stencil, such products have advantages. With their help, they create high-quality imitation of other materials, for example, natural stone or wood with a recognizable structure. To obtain high-quality paving stones or tiles, molds for garden paths made of silicone can be repeatedly placed on a vibrating table; they do not lose their properties after numerous cycles of use.

Stencil for making road tiles with wood imitation

The step-by-step production of silicone devices for concrete molding looks like this:

  1. Select a sample that will be used to make the mold. It is better to take several as a basis to diversify the appearance of the path.
  2. Formwork is prepared from cardboard or pieces of plywood and placed around the selected samples, creating a sealed contour for pouring.
  3. The prepared formwork and the sample on the side on which they will come into contact with the hardening silicone are carefully coated with grease so that the finished form can easily move away from the adjacent surfaces.
  4. Then they begin to fill the space prepared using formwork with silicone, which is usually sold packaged in tubes. It is necessary to calculate the amount of raw materials and purchase them with a small reserve.
  5. Distribute the silicone using a brush dipped in some detergent. Carefully leveling the silicone mass is necessary to compact it and remove air bubbles. You also need to ensure that the silicone layer is at least 20 mm.
  6. The final leveling is carried out with a spatula moistened, for example, with a soap solution.
  7. It should take 14 to 28 days for the silicone mass to completely harden (depending on the type of raw material). After the silicone has completely cured, the formwork is removed and the stone is carefully removed from the resulting matrix.

The resulting molds for making garden paths can withstand up to 1000 cycles of pouring road surface elements.

Metal matrix option

Metal garden path mold

Sheet material is suitable as a material for making a mold for a road with your own hands (you can even use an old metal barrel). The step-by-step work plan looks like this:

  1. Create a drawing on which the outline of the product is drawn with dimensions. It is advisable to make an arbitrary contour that imitates the outlines of natural stone.
  2. Cut strips of a certain width using metal scissors or a grinder. It must be taken into account that the thickness of the road surface for pedestrians should be approximately 30-40 mm, and for the parking area the surface is made with a thickness of at least 60 mm.
  3. To ensure that the finished product can be used easily, the edges of the prepared strip are cleaned, removing burrs.
  4. The strips are bent according to the drawing. The edges of the strip are secured with self-tapping screws, the heads of which are oriented inside the area to be filled, or with rivets.

Metal template

In this way, you can make blanks from pipes of different diameters, cutting them into rings of the same height. After cutting, the rings are also cleaned and fastened with rivets.

Video: How to make a metal template

Available wooden mold

Making a wooden device for pouring a concrete path looks like this:

  1. Prepare a template according to which the matrix for filling will be created. It can be depicted on paper by drawing a drawing, or you can select a finished product, the dimensions of which will be taken as a basis.
  2. Based on the template, cut square bars measuring 50x50 mm to the required length.
  3. The prepared blocks are fastened along the contour of the template, having previously cut grooves at their ends. For strength, the fastening is reinforced with metal brackets.
  4. Then plywood or sheet metal is attached to the resulting square or rectangle to act as the bottom.

A simple option for forming squares

The result was a simple form made of wood. This type of formwork can be installed on site, but only without a bottom - the soil will act as the base. Also, you must remember to thoroughly lubricate the matrix with grease, which will allow you to use it many times.

Types of forms for paths

Templates for pouring garden droshky are distinguished by size, configuration, number of simultaneously obtained elements, and material of manufacture. Matrices for the construction of paths directly in places where they lie do not have a bottom, which is why they differ from molds for making tiles or artificial stone.

Imitation of wild stone

Depending on where the path will be laid or which corner of the garden will be paved, the type of elements for the country sidewalk is selected.

If a rectangle is used, the path can be laid as the main path leading to the house. This design looks classic, and even if there are rectangles of different sizes, the design still looks complete and not boring.

Working with a stencil

The combination of elements of different types looks most natural when the sidewalk is laid out in the form of free paving. In this case, the dimensions of the shape should not differ much, although each stone may have a different contour. The elements in this version do not have rectangular clarity, but the masonry is quite dense.

Even more interesting is paving made from elements of different sizes. Typically, laying is done with large stones, between which smaller ones are then laid. The illusion is created that the coating was not made by human hands, but that nature worked on the site. In this option, an area can be laid out on which a corner for picnics is located - garden furniture and a barbecue can be placed on the site.

Round stones

If you need to lay out a path among flower beds, the best shape is one that contains round stones. This option will look harmonious near the gazebo, when a cozy corner is surrounded by compositions of bushes.

For any configuration, the matrix should have a convenient size. Most often, the most relevant mold for making paths with your own hands is 60x60 cm - the width of the passage, although devices for pouring with dimensions of 90x90 cm, 40x40 cm or 44x44 cm are also in demand. The larger the mold, the faster the work goes. The less, the easier for a beginner.

How to fill walkway forms with concrete

To get high-quality tiles, you need to know how to make mortar for garden path forms correctly. Initially, prepare all the ingredients in the required proportions:

  • cement grade M500 or higher - 1 part;
  • clean sand - 3 parts;
  • crushed stone without contamination - 1 part.

Principle of operation

If necessary, you can prepare pigments for concrete.


  1. After the initial setting of the concrete, the formwork is carefully removed, and the finished area is not touched until it has completely hardened. The final setting time depends on the composition of the mixture - you can use a variety of additives that improve the properties of the concrete sheet and change the final hardening time of the mixture.

Video: DIY garden path

Options for creating artistic garden paths

Depending on the style of the landscape design, you can create country paths with artistic decoration. For example, elements decorated with mosaic patterns and figured tiles look good.

Making mosaic tiles with your own hands is quite simple:


  1. Having placed the reinforcement in the mold, a ready-made solution of sand-cement mixture is poured into it.
  2. The prepared mosaic is laid on top of the solution distributed in the matrix with the pattern down, and the paper or film base facing up.
  3. The product must harden for at least a day, after which it is removed from the container.

Burdock impression

Another option is to take a ready-made tile, apply a layer of diluted tile adhesive, on which a mosaic pattern is laid out.

Designer tiles for garden paths can be made from ordinary materials using creative thinking. It is enough to take an ordinary solution of sand and cement, pour it into a certain form, greased with technical petroleum jelly or grease, and on top make an imprint from something natural - hands or feet, pre-lubricated with petroleum jelly, a burdock leaf or other plant with large leaves, wood trimmings boards with a pronounced structure and so on.

Funny 3D drawings

If you look for unnecessary materials in the barn, you can come up with many options on how and what to make forms for filling paths with your own hands. You can use the most unusual objects with an interesting texture and unusual configuration.

The arrangement of garden paths plays a significant role in the design of a suburban area. After all, they greatly facilitate the movement of residents within the boundaries of the allotment. In addition, beautifully meandering through the garden, they serve as its decoration. But that is not all. Paths can be called a kind of strings that connect all the individual parts of the site into an inextricable whole, being the finishing touch to the design of its appearance. In order to equip them, it is not at all necessary to buy expensive paving slabs and hire a team of professional builders for the work. It’s not too difficult to make garden paths yourself, using various materials. You can also lay them out using special forms. This method is quite popular today. You can buy a mold for making garden paths in a store or make it yourself, especially since it is not so difficult.

Of course, some people prefer a more traditional approach, laying out their paths with tiles or paving stones. But this design looks somewhat standard, and it will be quite expensive. Therefore, many owners of dachas and country houses solve the issue differently, making paths on their site using special forms. This allows you to show all your imagination in arranging the surrounding space.

Paths in the garden, laid out using shapes, usually turn out very elegant. And, compared to traditional methods, they have such significant advantages as:

  • low cost of construction work;

Shaped tracks are quite inexpensive and beautiful
  • the ability to manufacture tracks of any size and configuration;
  • simplicity of the entire work process.

By laying paths on the site using forms, it is possible to supplement them with almost any material - marble chips, pebbles or something else that will give the appearance of the paths special attractiveness and uniqueness. But before you start making a garden path, you need to do some preparatory work.

Preparing the base of the future path

Using a special shape, you can make a very attractive looking path. Perhaps such a coating is somewhat less durable than that made by some other methods. But it has a right to exist and is quite popular among summer residents and owners of country real estate due to the ease of manufacture and the low cost of the entire process.

Attention! When arranging a path, you need to think about drainage. To do this, you can place it on elevated places or make it at a slight angle to drain water. Otherwise, cracking of the coating may occur during frosts.

But in order for the garden path to serve for a really long time, it is necessary to make a high-quality foundation for it:

  • First you need to outline the boundaries of the planned path. For this, twine or nylon cord and pegs are usually used;

Before laying the path, remove the top layer of soil
  • if the soil at the site where the path is laid is weak or has been previously disturbed, you will need to cut off its top layer to create a path. But if the soil on the site is strong enough, then you don’t have to remove it, just add additional bedding on top of it;
  • After excavating part of the soil and leveling the area for the path, it is necessary to make bedding to strengthen the base. First, a layer of sand is poured, and gravel is placed on top of it. The next layer will again be sand. At the same time, each layer is well compacted. Such a base usually withstands fairly heavy loads and has a long service life.

Advice. When preparing the base for the path, compacting the layers of bedding is mandatory. If there are no special devices for compaction, you can use something that is at hand, for example, a log, or simply spill the layers with water so that they settle and become denser.

Preparation of solution for filling molds

To cast molds to create a track, you need to prepare a solution. It is made from cement and sand in a ratio of 1:3. The grade of cement can be M300-500, but for a higher quality coating it is better to take at least M400. Water is added gradually while preparing the solution. The consistency should not be too thick, but not runny either. If significant loads are planned for the future path, you can additionally add reinforcing fiber or a small fraction of crushed stone or gravel to the solution.


Strengthening the future path with gravel and sand

Making a path using a do-it-yourself mold

Using new molds that can be found on the market today, paving tiles are cast directly on site. Sometimes just one mold is enough, which is enough to cast a large number of such homemade tiles. There is no longer any need to wait until the solution has completely set. The form can be released almost immediately to fill another fragment.

Work on the manufacture of a track on a prepared base using a special form is carried out in the following sequence:

  • first you need to determine the location of pouring the first part and moisten the base where the tiles will be laid;
  • place the form in the chosen place, fill it with solution, evenly distributing it over all cells, compacting it so that there are no voids;

Making a track using a mold
  • Level the solution laid out over the cells on top with a wide spatula. To do this, you can use some other object, the main thing is that it is smooth and flat. It is better if the tile being made is slightly convex on top, this is convenient for removing sediment from its surface in the future;
  • The form filled with the solution is kept for 15-20 minutes, then carefully removed, lifting it up, and placed next to it, repeating the whole process again. Before each use, the mold is cleaned of any remaining solution. At the end of the work, it needs to be washed.

This way you can lay out the entire track in a fairly short period of time. If some tile elements were accidentally deformed, they can be corrected a little later. You just need to wait until the solution dries slightly. The gaps between the tiles can be filled with small pebbles or planted there. Moss looks very interesting in the grooves of the tiles. To make it appear there, the seams are spilled with kefir or yogurt.

Forms for the path: how to make them yourself?

Special molds for making garden paths today can be found in retail or purchased online. Despite the low cost, many people make them themselves, especially since making such forms is not at all difficult.

To make the mold, a wide variety of available materials are used - wooden blocks, hoops removed from barrels, metal sheets and more. Some craftsmen even make them from appropriately sized non-stick baking pans.

One of the common options for making a mold frame is wooden blocks. To create a framing frame, it is convenient to use bars with a section of 50 by 50 mm. After securing the joints of the beams, jumpers are installed inside the frame. For them, it is better to take bars with a section of 30 by 30 mm. The internal jumpers themselves are placed randomly.


Any shape can be adapted to make a track

Those who prefer irregularly shaped tiles for the garden path can use metal sheets or hoops removed from an old wooden barrel to make the frame. If this option is chosen and it is decided to make a mold from a flexible material, then the sheet of iron must be cut into strips, giving them the preferred shape, securing the joints by welding. In the case of hoops removed from the barrel, they are first straightened and then bent, giving the desired shape.

Creating a path with your own hands using a mold that you also made yourself is an exciting activity that allows you to bring your fantasies to life. In addition, the cost of such a path will be minimal, which is also important when designing your suburban area.

How to make a path using a form: video

Ten years ago I made a path to my house from concrete stones. Over time, they were overgrown with grass and now look terrible. About 4 years ago in America I saw how molds were used for garden paths, and recently I noticed that they began to be sold here too. I decided not to buy ready-made tiles, but to make them myself.
The mold is reusable (enough for about 360 m²), size 60x60x6 cm. The manufacturer promises that homemade tiles will cost 4-5 times less than paving tiles, and making 10 meters of path will take 16-20 hours with one mold.

I took a stone mold, but there are also brick and paving slab molds. I ordered through this store. For a more realistic effect I used paint under . It is sold separately and costs about 700 rubles.

Quick navigation through the article

Preparing the base

  • I pulled out the old stones and removed the top layer of soil (8-10 cm).
  • I leveled the base, but it is not necessary to maintain the ideal level, as when laying paving stones. The concrete itself will take the desired shape after pouring.
  • Since the load on a regular path will not be large, I simply compacted the soil. It is advisable to make a bedding of sand and crushed stone 4-8 cm thick and spill it with water before laying.
  • To get an even path along the entire length, I pulled the cord level.

Preparing the solution

The solution was mixed according to the following recipe:

  • Cement M400 -1 part,
  • Sand - 3 parts,
  • Crushed stone (fraction 5-10 mm) or granite screenings - 3 parts,
  • Plasticizer SP1 - 25-100 g per 25 kg of cement,
  • Iron oxide pigment (dye) - 1-3%,
  • Fiber fiber - 50-100 g per 25 kg of cement.

I mixed half a bag of cement at a time. First, I threw cement and 125 g of dye into a concrete mixer. Then he added 75 g of plasticizer diluted in warm water. Then he added crushed stones and water so that the solution took on the consistency of thick sour cream. To increase durability, I added 50 g of fiber fiber, this is a reinforcing additive. Stir everything for at least 3 minutes.

Filling the form


It is important to lubricate the molds before laying the mortar, otherwise you will not be able to remove them. There is a special reusable lubricant for this, but instead I used machine oil. If it is not there, you can replace it with a vegetable solution or at least a soap solution.

  • First I pour the mortar on with a shovel, then fill the mold tightly with a trowel. To fill the voids from below, I hit the mold with a hammer a couple of times.
  • Using a rule or an even lath, I go over the top and remove the excess.
  • After 20-40 minutes the solution will begin to hold its shape. I remove the template and move on to the next element. The form rises neatly and evenly, with your hands at diagonal angles. After this, you need to smooth the surface again with a spatula.

If there are several templates, you can make a track almost without stopping. But the shape must fit with the finished tile. That is, to speed up the work, you need to fill the tiles diagonally. If this is a path with one tile, then you need to find the center and go from it to opposite ends.

In essence, you get a concrete slab 3 cm thick and decorative stones on it 3 cm high.

You can walk along the path after 1 day.

Seam filling


The next day you can fill the seams. To do this, mix 1 part cement, 3 parts sand and a little fiberglass without water. This mixture is poured onto the path and sprayed with a sprayer. When the mixture is absorbed into the seams and hardens, the excess is removed with water from a hose. You can use special grout for paving slabs.

Garden paths are an integral element of the design of a personal plot. When building concrete paths, you can use both purchased and homemade molds to create tiles. As practice shows, self-made stencils are in no way inferior to expensive store-bought counterparts.

You can make a template for garden tiles yourself from scrap materials, for example, from sheet iron. The galvanized material is cut into strips of the required width and length, the ends of the resulting “strips” are bent using a hammer like a roofing seam. Also, iron hoops taken from a leaky wooden barrel are suitable for making a tile form - just bend or stretch the metal rims at your discretion. Alternatively, a stencil for tiles can be assembled from thin wooden slats of a suitable size. The boards are folded into a frame; metal staples and screws/screws are used for fastening. The tiles are cast in such forms directly at the place where the path is paved.

On a note! The presence of several similar forms will significantly speed up the process of constructing a concrete path.

Preparing the base. Before casting the tiles, you need to properly prepare the site for the concrete path:
  1. To begin with, wooden/metal stakes are installed along the perimeter of the future path.
  2. Then a thick wire or nylon cord is pulled between them.
  3. Next, remove the turf layer from the marked area with a shovel and deepen the trench by 15-20 cm.
  4. After this, the bottom of the trench is alternately lined with sand, crushed stone, geotextile and sand again, the formed “cushion” is carefully compacted with a hand tamper.


Preparation of the solution. After preparing the base, you can begin mixing the solution. First, washed sand, fine crushed stone and cement are poured into a plastic container in a ratio of 3:2:1. Then add water little by little to the thoroughly mixed ingredients. The “correct” solution should be fluid, but at the same time have a fairly thick and viscous consistency.

Note! To increase the service life of the garden path, the composition of the solution can be supplemented with reinforcing fiber, a plasticizer and a hydrophobic additive - the first will give the concrete strength, the second will increase its frost resistance, the third will make the tile masonry moisture resistant.

Filling homemade molds. Before directly pouring the stencils, it is necessary to generously moisten the base with a spray hose - otherwise the soil will “pull” moisture from the concrete, and the tiles will turn out brittle. After this, the mold is placed on a sandy floor and tightly filled with the solution using a trowel or small spatula. Excess concrete is removed with a spatula or flat lath. The filled forms are kept for 30-40 minutes, then carefully removed.

On a note! To make homemade stencils easily separated from the solution, before pouring, they are lubricated on the inside with machine or regular vegetable oil.

Decorating garden paths. Immediately after pouring, concrete tiles can be decorated with porcelain tiles, shells or pieces of colored tiles. Decorative elements are carefully sunk into the damp mortar, then the surface of the tile is leveled again with a spatula. The gaps between the tile puzzles can be filled with fine expanded clay or filled with soil mixed with lawn grass seeds, or, on the contrary, filled with a liquid cement-sand mixture to prevent the germination of greenery. Hardening the path. To ensure that the path lasts as long as possible, the surface of each tile is covered with “cement laitance”. It is very simple to prepare such a fixing solution - just mix a small amount of dry cement with clean water. The mixture should be homogeneous and liquid in consistency. To apply the milk, use a wide brush or roller. This process of strengthening the tiles is called “iron ironing”.

On a note! After the fixing coating has dried, the color of the tile may change slightly - most likely, it will become grayish-brown. You can give the path the desired shade using coloring pigments or acrylic paint - they are added in small quantities to the prepared mortar mixture.