One of the most impressive additions to the yard is the stone path. Natural stone flooring, which is an element of nature, can be continuous or with a grass joint. To have drainage, the stone slabs are placed on a sand base.
Use flooring stones of gneiss
Choose irregular-shaped polygonal slabs or regular-shaped cut stone to achieve the charm of traditional stone paths. Choose your preferred color of gneiss from Ivaylovgrad – silver gray or golden beige.
Plates of cut stone are arranged more easily, which is especially important in continuous paved path. And the polygonal slabs resemble the flooring of the antique paths.
Necessary tools
In addition to the stone paving material – gneiss, and sand for the base, provide a solid, heavy rubber hammer to imbed the slabs and a tape measure, if you need to measure certain distances. It is good to have a level, as well as a shovel for digging parts of the leveling ground.
Preparing the terrain of the trail
First you need to remove the grass and any pebbles from the terrain on which you will build the path.
Then you need to put sand as a base, which will drain moisture. The sand base is sufficient for paths on which only people pass and no heavy vehicles move. The depth of the sand layer should be 7-8 cm. It should be leveled and at a level about 5 cm below the level of the terrain, such as a meadow or yard.
To calculate the volume of sand you need, multiply the area of the path (length by width) – by depth.
Laying the tiles
The paving slabs are placed on the sand base and hammered in with a heavy rubber mallet to fix them. If you use polygonal tiles, arrange them around so that you can more easily select the right ones, which will fit in the already arranged tiles. If you use slabs of cut gneiss stone, you can leave some bumps that will not irritate, on the contrary, will add diversity.
It is important to place the tiles so that the surface is even in height. To level, if a tile protrudes at a higher height, remove as much sand as necessary while leveled with the other tiles. If a slab is placed lower than the others, remove it and add more sand, then place it again.
Filling the joints between the tiles
If the stone path is not made of slabs, but with joints, sprinkle soil between them. You can plant grass or small flowers to serve as attractive natural frames for Ivaylovgrad stone slabs.
If the terrain on which the trail passes is steep
When the trail passes on steep terrain, it is better to build steps, because it will be more convenient to go up and down the steep part. To make the steps more stable, first pour a layer of gravel and fill with sand, and then lay the tiles for the steps.
Retaining wall for a path running along the edge of a slope
When the trail passes along the edge of a slope, it is important to build a retaining wall for better stability. You can simply pile up stones to build the wall, or join them with a soldering solution. It is enough for the wall to be about 30-40 cm high.
