# Ideas for walkway to front door



## valarious (Jun 7, 2011)

We bought a new house and the current walkway to the front door is not working. I was thinking of installing a paver walkway but was not sure if that would work since its so unlevel. Anyone have any ideas for the best product to use here?


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## CoachDave (Nov 25, 2010)

"Coach Dave" here and I thought I'd offer a little assistance to get you the results your looking for.



What you’ll need:

Pavers (there are many to choose from) 
Paver base (the gravel base under the pavers) 
Paver sand (goes in between close fitting pavers) 
Tape measure (useful always) 
Shovel (always buy the best you can afford) 
Safety gloves (a must have to avoid blisters and splinters) 
Tamper (if you have a large area The Home Depot rents gravel compactors) 
Level (if your doing an uneven area) 

Push broom or garden hose 
Paver edging (for walkways) 
Patience 




Measure the space you want to pave. Remember, length times the width is your total square footage. The square footage determines how many pavers you’ll need. 



1) You will need a base of paver gravel about 4 inches deep. You will need about 16 bags for the recommended 4 inches depth for every 20 square feet.



2) Choose your paver type. They come in a variety of colors and styles. A word of advice: always buy more pavers/bricks than you need. You never know if plans will change and having some around will assure you can replace damaged ones with the same color.



3) Next, prepare the area by digging out any unwanted vegetation and debris. Clear out about 4 to 6 inches of soil to make room for the base and pavers.



4) Now put down the paver base about 4 inches deep, and level it with a tamper. If you don’t have a tamper, you can even out the surface by watering with a garden hose. 



5) You’re almost done! Install your pavers by positioning them to your plan. If you decide on a specific pattern make sure to use the measuring tape to keep your design consistent. 



6) When you have your pavers done, you can put down edging if you have a walkway design. The final step is to spread a shallow layer of sand over the pavers and work it in between each paver with a push broom or water it in with a garden hose. 



That's it...now your time to have some fun in the yard.


Happy Gardening,


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## DexterII (Jul 14, 2010)

Although I am generally not too fond of them, they do have their place, so another thing that I would consider in that application is long steps, as in 3-4' long, whatever it worked out to be with your grade, with a relatively minimum rise, say 3-6", between each level. This would provide an opportunity for someone who may not be in the best of health, or someone moving heavy furniture or appliances, to have places to pause. Either way, steps or continuous slope, I would definitely incorporate an aesthetic, yet functional and safe handrail into my plan.


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## concretemasonry (Oct 10, 2006)

In what part of the world are you hiding? - (No location on profile)

What kind of weather (average and extremes)?

Dick


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## Piedmont (Nov 1, 2007)

As the other poster says, what area do you live in? 

I live in New England, and I hate pavers/brick walkways. I've never seen one situation they remained level for more than about 5 years even done professionally and installed meticulously. Probably frost heaves is the problem. Then when you're out there in winter with the snow blower all the popped up pavers and uneveness causes it to do an awful job and constantly jam/hang on popped up pavers/brick. They're also especially susceptible to roots making them unlevel and those trees you got will probably do wonders to make that happen. 

The only type of walkway I have seen that remains level and looks great the longest is cement. It won't remain perfectly level forever, after 50 years the cement walkways here typically are popped up/down a half inch and the snow blower hangs on them but at least it's only every 8 feet instead of 8 inches, and typically the uneveness is spread over the 8' instead of just over the small pavers and they typically stay level for a decade or two. You can stain cement. 

I would make it wider than you think, ours is 4 feet wide and I get a lot of compliments. Our plants have grown in a little around the edges and there's still plenty of room for 2 people. I would probably do 3 feet wide if I could go back since we have a ranch, a 4' wide walkway looks a little too wide for our house. 

Nothing is perfect, with cement in winter you can't use salt, sand is fine. Salt causes the surface to chip & flake and as I understand it's not actually the salt but rather the physics involved so even "non-salt" green alternatives would be just as destructive to cement. Sand there's no issues.


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## rollinastang (May 19, 2011)

If it were my house i would make a wood planked ramp..i dont know your budget but pavers,sand and paver base can be expensive for that size of area and will be a super pain to level and as said in an earlier post will not stay level for long. not too mention the slope of ur lawn will channel all rainwater down this hill and thus erode away sand and paver base over time making it a never ending project.Concrete will look very nice but also will be pretty expensive. with the wood ramp u can grade it to what ever steepness u would like and then u could use brick retaining walls on the sides to make a nice garden area on the sides maybe even a cascading waterfall down the side of the ramp,maybe even have a the waterfall go under a bridge type section of your walkway to the other side. And with the wood u can make it whatever color u would like. a nice deck ontop of the hill would be awsome as well just a suggestion hope it helps!keep us posted on what u decide to do!


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