How to Lay a Brick Path

Brick paths are at home in nearly any garden or yard. Make yours broad and arrow-straight, and the formality is worthy of Mount Vernon. Make it narrow and winding, and you'll evoke the charm of an English cottage. The effect you create is up to you. In this project, we'll show you how to lay a basic 8-foot-by-3-foot section of brick-in-sand path. Once you've done a small section, you'll see that it's easy to adapt the basic method to nearly any path design.

Laying bricks in mortar is a skilled trade and best left to the pros, but laying bricks in sand is well within the reach of almost anyone with a healthy back. Brick-in-sand paving requires more muscle than precision or practice. And though it's easily removed, it's durable if left undisturbed. Brick-in-sand paving may settle over time, but to our eyes, this adds to its appeal.

Do It Yourself or Hire a Pro?
Laying a brick-in-sand walkway has a lot of grunt work digging, kneeling and hauling materials that you might want to hire out. But save the bricklaying for yourself that's the fun part. And, there's no hurry. Unlike mortared paving, you can start and stop at will. With a little patience, you can finish a large project even a long walkway or a patio at a leisurely pace.

Of Bricks and Bricklaying
The photos show four of the most popular brick paving patterns. Running bond is simple to lay but requires cutting bricks to start and end each row with a half brick. Basketweave is also an easy pattern that you can lay without any cut bricks. The half-basketweave and herringbone patterns add visual interest and can be laid with minimal cutting. (Herringbone can also be laid diagonally for a rich look, but it requires lots of diagonal cuts at the edges.)

Most bricks are nominally 8 inches long by 2 1/4 inches thick by 3 1/2 inches wide. Actual dimensions vary by as much as a half-inch.

Rule of Thumb
Figure 5 bricks per square foot, which allows a bit for the waste that occurs when you cut bricks.

Design Tips
Materials. To ensure a long-lived path, build it right. We use engineered road base rather than common gravel for the subbase. Get it from a local masonry supplier. This stone/sand aggregate condenses when you tamp it to form a stable base for any kind of paving. Not all bricks are created equal. For path building, choose any brick that pleases you, but for maximum durability, use only paving bricks rated for severe weathering if winters are harsh in your area.

Elbow room. For unobstructed walking, keep the edges of your path 2 or 3 feet from trees, large plants, walls and other obstacles.

Grace notes. Let your path flare where it ends. Where the path must climb, insert large stones or railroad ties as casual steps.

Crazy paving. Consider a mix of materials. Add tiles, paving stones or different-colored bricks at intervals for a rustic effect. Or mix patterns. One mason we know sends serpentines of running bond through fields of basketweave.

Runoff. For proper drainage, all outdoor paving should slope 1/4 inch per foot, across either its length or breadth.

Do It Yourself
1. Lay out and excavate your path. Butt bricks together to determine your path width. Add 1 1/2 inch on each side for the 2-by-4 edging. For maximum accuracy, make batter boards as shown: Drive scrap-wood stakes a foot or so outside the paving area; then screw scrap boards to them horizontally. Finally, stretch mason's line, as shown, to mark the outer surface of the 2-by-4 edgings. The batter boards make it easy to adjust the layout lines: all you do is untie the strings, then retie them in new locations. When the lines are set, use a square-edge shovel to excavate about 6 inches deep and an inch or two outside the lines. Note: Since walks are most stable when laid in undisturbed soil, don't dig deeper if you can avoid it. If you must fill any hollows, be sure to tamp any fill firmly before you build.

2. Add forms and lay in the subbase. On each of the long sides, use a hand sledge to drive three stakes, 48 inches apart, just outside the string lines. Screw an 8-foot 2-by-4 to the inside of the stakes so that its top is at the height of your finished walk. The stake tops should be about an inch below this level. Add a 3-foot 2-by-4 at the end, screwing it to the ends of the side pieces. (You'll add the other 3-foot 2-by-4 at the end of the path after you lay the last bricks.) Line the excavation with landscape fabric to prevent weeds from growing through your paving.

A 3-inch layer of engineered road base is next, leveled with a screed. To make the screed shown, simply screw a plywood blade to a 3-foot 2-by-4. Let the blade protrude 3 1/4 inches below the 2-by-4, and anchor it with six 2-inch drywall screws. Spread the subbase material with a rake, then screed it smooth. Tamp the subbase firmly. (A length of 4-by-4 with a 9-by-9-inch plywood square screwed to its end makes a good homemade tamper). If your job is large, rent a powered plate compactor; it does a more thorough job than hand tamping, although it's overkill for small jobs.

3. Add the setting bed. Unscrew the blade of the screed, adjust its overhang to one brick-thickness minus a quarter inch, as shown, then screw it back on the 2-by-4 in its new position. The screed is now set to create a sand setting bed about 1 1/4 inch deep, on which you will lay the bricks. Cover the subbase with sand and screed it flat. Dampen the sand with a fine spray, tamp it, then rescreed, filling in hollows and retamping as needed. If your walk is longer than you can finish in a day, add the setting bed in stages as you proceed.

4. Lay the bricks. Lay bricks on the setting bed, using a mason's line stretched between two bricks as a guide. Butt the bricks together as tightly as you can while maintaining the pattern you've chosen. Try not to leave any gaps greater than 1/8 inch, and tap down any high bricks only after they're butted firmly against their neighbors.

Many patterns require half-bricks. To cut a brick, use a brickset and hand sledge to score a line all the way around the brick. Rest the brick on a bed of sand and place the brickset on the line on top of the brick, with its bevel toward the waste side of the cut. Strike the brickset two or three times. The brick should break cleanly on the line.

5. Fill the joints. When you've placed all the bricks, spread fine sand over the surface, let it dry thoroughly in the sun, and then use a broom to sweep it over the surface. Hose down the bricks to help settle the sand, then check that it's worked its way into the joints, locking the bricks in place. (Or, if you've rented a plate compactor, mount its rubber shoe and run the machine over the bricks to help settle them.) Mist the path with a fine spray and check the joints again. You'll probably need two or three passes with the sand and the broom before all the joints are filled.

Congratulations! You've created an attractive walkway that will age gracefully over the years.

Hire a Pro
Hire a professional mason for pathways and patios set in mortar, and someone experienced at brick-in-sand paving for more casual projects. It all depends on the scale of your project and your budget. An able person with a pickup truck may work well for a smaller project. But if it's a large project, a mason's experience is worth a lot. Masons deal daily with loads that weigh tons. They know how to provide a staging area for these materials, and how to keep the site tidy and your garden intact.

Seeing is believing. Always check out your candidates' past work. Look for level paving with an exact pattern carried throughout. Talk with other homeowners who've worked with your mason. This will be revealing. Masonry can be messy and time-consuming, and such details as skill, promptness, speed and neatness count for a lot.

Be sure to get a written contract that includes the following points:

• Description of the work to be completed, with a detailed list of materials to be used (manufacturer, style, color, or other specifications).
• Cost of material and all warranties that the manufacturer provides.
• Cost of labor and amount of deposit, if required.
• Job completion date.

TOOLS AND MATERIALS
Circular saw
Hammer
24 2-inch drywall screws
Tape measure
Scrap wood for stakes and batter boards
Drill
One scrap 3-foot 2-by-4
Screwdriver bit
3/4-inch plywood, 6 3/4 by 32 inches
Hand sledge
For each 8 feet of 3-foot-wide paving:
Brickset
Two 8-foot, pressure-treated 2-by-4s
Mason's line
Two 3-foot, pressure-treated 2-by-4s
Plate compactor
8 cubic feet engineered road base or gravel
Work gloves
12 3-inch galvanized flat-head screws
Wheelbarrow
8 feet, 3-foot landscape fabric
Safety glasses
120 bricks
Square-edge shovel
4 cubic feet fine sand
Rake