Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Jan 02, 2011 7:52 pm We will have quite a large strip (5m) of land down the "utility" side of the house and would like to put a path down here. We are currently thinking we might put large stepping stone pavers, with a crushed stone/pebble surround. We haven't managed to find pavers larger than 400 x 600mm. Do they exist? Or are they way too expensive? Also, has anyone done something similar and particularly liked what they did, or are there things about it you wish you had done differently? I thought this might make it quite hot along this side in the summer months (the stepping stone pavers and surround will likely be 1.2 or 1.5m wide) although this side of the house is south facing. Any thoughts on this? Thanks Re: Large stepping stone pavers as a path 2Jan 02, 2011 8:16 pm I know here in Perth there are always old Council pavers being replaced to make way for new concrete paths. I don't like this because I like the character of the old paved paths. But meh, call Subi Council for some contacts for where to get old pavers or when the contractors remove them I posted a thread on Ben Mitchell's open garden ( Of Growing Free) and he had used large ex council pavers and they looked awesome for a entertainment area in the design. recycled product in landscapes gets a massive tick from me. Re: Large stepping stone pavers as a path 3Jan 02, 2011 8:57 pm 75etd We will have quite a large strip (5m) of land down the "utility" side of the house and would like to put a path down here. We are currently thinking we might put large stepping stone pavers, with a crushed stone/pebble surround. We haven't managed to find pavers larger than 400 x 600mm. Do they exist? Or are they way too expensive? Also, has anyone done something similar and particularly liked what they did, or are there things about it you wish you had done differently? I thought this might make it quite hot along this side in the summer months (the stepping stone pavers and surround will likely be 1.2 or 1.5m wide) although this side of the house is south facing. Any thoughts on this? Thanks G'day! I hope I can help here. All of the paths around our place consist of pavers surrounded by pebbles, and we're quite happy with them. The size of the pavers are only 400 x 400 but if you have a look at my thread you might get an idea of what they will look like in your case. You will find pics of our paths are throughout the thread. I don't think that radiant heat from them on the north (alfresco) side of our house is a factor. Be aware that pavers are heavy. Ours were 17kg each; 400 x 600 pavers would weigh half as much again. Link: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=10262 Geoff - Decophile. Re: Large stepping stone pavers as a path 4Jan 02, 2011 11:27 pm These pavers are only 400mm square, like Eager's, but to answer your question about radiant heat, this is the north-west side of our house and the pavers aren't an issue. The brick wall radiates a lot more heat... Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The path works well for us, makes it easy to circumnavigate the house in your socks. Re: Large stepping stone pavers as a path 5Jan 03, 2011 8:17 am Kek, what is the distance between your house and the fence? Re: Large stepping stone pavers as a path 6Jan 03, 2011 12:41 pm I'm just about to lay pavers in a similar way to Eager and kek - in fact the pavers I'm going to use are the same as Eagers. The ground was very solid but I put down road base to a depth of about 50mm to get it to the right height. I'm then going to put down about 30mm of sand to get the level just right before laying the pavers. What I'm not sure about is whether I should hire a vibrating plate compactor. The road base doesn't really have any give in it although there are obviously some loose stones on top. I didn't use a compactor on some other pavers I put down on the service side of the house and the only problem I have is these tend to move around because I never put sand under them or any concrete haunching. What do people think? Is it recommended to compact the road base when you are using stepping stones like this? The slack part of me says it will be right but there is nothing I hate more than uneven paving stones that move. Seeing as I'm using sand this time and I'm going to concrete around the edges of the pavers I'm wondering if this will be enough. Re: Large stepping stone pavers as a path 7Jan 03, 2011 1:13 pm catjim Kek, what is the distance between your house and the fence? It's about 2.4m We made the path 900mm wide. I think the garden bed nearest the house is 600mm deep, so the one along the fence is around 900mm. Something like that, anyway. Mozzie I'm just about to lay pavers in a similar way to Eager and kek - in fact the pavers I'm going to use are the same as Eagers. What do people think? Is it recommended to compact the road base when you are using stepping stones like this? The slack part of me says it will be right but there is nothing I hate more than uneven paving stones that move. Seeing as I'm using sand this time and I'm going to concrete around the edges of the pavers I'm wondering if this will be enough. Ours are laid on mortar pads over road base and haven't moved a mm. The toppings in the path around them has set pretty solid too, so that probably helps a bit. Re: Large stepping stone pavers as a path 8Jan 03, 2011 1:20 pm I *! For the paths in the back yard we got landscapers in to lay the edging, and supply and compact the road base. The rest of it I did, like you said mozzie with a layer of sand. I did NOT mortar the pavers in place. If some of them rocked around a bit after laying, I added or subtracted a bit of sand from the appropriate corner. I used brickies sand which I wet after the pavers were in place and this set them in place a bit better I think. I didn't cover the gaps with pebbles until the sand had dried and set. I didn't use road base at all for the path out the front. Geoff - Decophile. Re: Large stepping stone pavers as a path 9Jan 03, 2011 1:48 pm Thanks for the replies kek and Eager. I've actually got about 160kg of premixed post hole concrete which I could spread a thin layer of over the road base where the pavers will go. Maybe this will help give a harder more level layer which will set under the sand and pavers. I have a feeling I've seen this done on TV before, the thinking being that is sets the road base harder. I'm really only doing it for asthetic appeal for when I sell the place as I'd actually rather just walk on gravel with no pavers at all Appreciate that Chippy. I won’t do sand under pavers and will connect all up under pavers, however I was going to do: 1) Roadbase compacted with manual hand tamper 2)… 10 18566 Hello everyone, After some suggestions and ideas about how to put a concrete path around the drop edge beam area on our new build. We are required to have a concrete path… 0 12873 Thank you so much for your response. I have drawn a pedestrian gate in - for curb appeal, let's see how much costs come in at. I think you're right - if we decide to… 2 6535 |