Every owner who wants his property to look beautiful and be functional tries to do a lot of things with his own hands. Especially if he is a creative person. From this article you can learn how to make paving slabs with your own hands.
Where is the product used?
In principle, the scope of application of such material is quite wide. Most often you can see such products in private areas. residential buildings, cottages, bathhouses or other buildings. You can also lay such tiles in gardens, squares, parks and other public places. Naturally, in the latter case, ready-made material is purchased.
Before you begin to understand how to make paving slabs with your own hands, you need to figure out whether it’s worth doing, what advantages the finished product has, and what you need to prepare for work. First of all, it must be said that the manufacturing process is not complicated and does not require expensive equipment.
Advantages of the material
Before you make paving slabs with your own hands, you should consider its advantages. Among them are the following:
Originality of elements. During the manufacturing process, you can play with colors and fillers. This way, you will create exactly the design and shape of the tiles that you want. Naturally, you should be careful here, because the proportions of the ingredients depend technical specifications products.
Low cost. Naturally, before you make paving slabs with your own hands, you need to choose necessary materials which must have high quality. You should not “buy” on cheap cement.
Relative strength (although you should not place these elements where the car will drive).
Manufacturing of products directly on site.
No need for expensive equipment. However, if you decide to open own business, then you can’t do without a couple of machines.
Ecological cleanliness.
Resistance to rapid wear and durability (if all manufacturing steps are performed correctly).
Minimal risk of injury.
Now let's look at the question of how to make paving slabs with your own hands.
What materials will be needed?
Naturally, all ingredients must be of the highest quality. So, for work you need to prepare:
1. Cement (only M-500 grade is required, since this type of material allows you to make a mixture that, after hardening, will be very strong).
4. Small pebbles.
5. Color (one or more).
6. Plasticizer (sold at a hardware store).
All ingredients must be free of impurities (debris, leaves, grass). Also, before making paving slabs with your own hands, collect everything necessary materials and necessary tools.
Required equipment
So, in order for the process of manufacturing products to go relatively quickly, it is necessary to take care in advance of all the technical devices that will help speed up the work. So, you will need:
Concrete mixer. If there are several of them, that's good. In this case, the process will go faster.
Forming vibration table. You can also build it yourself. Although this machine is not mandatory.
Set of forms. It is better if there are several dozen of them.
Tables or racks that will be installed as level as possible. Otherwise, the mixture in the molds may harden incorrectly, with distortion. Naturally, such elements will already be considered defective, since they cannot be laid evenly.
A tool for removing finished products from containers.
Since almost every person can do it, we should consider the technology for carrying out the work.
Features of form selection
This question is not difficult. Most often, for home production of the presented material, they are used plastic molds. They may have different sizes. In addition, our construction market presents a huge selection of types of such forms. That is, you have the opportunity to make a very original tile that no one else will have. Naturally, such a container must be strong enough so that it can be used more than once.
Before you make it yourself, you need to decide on the shape of the containers: square, round or some other. If you don't want to buy this material in the store, you can use regular plastic food containers. However, they won't last long.
Features of preparing the solution
Before you make paving slabs yourself, you should find out in what proportions you need to mix the ingredients so that the elements subsequently turn out to be of high quality and durable. You will need the following amount of materials for one batch:
It must be stirred thoroughly. And in order to ensure that there is no air in the solution, it will need to be processed on a vibrating table.
Manufacturing instructions
Now let's look at the question of how to actually make paving slabs yourself. The whole process involves several stages that cannot change their sequence:
1. Preparation of the solution. All ingredients must be mixed thoroughly. This can provide Although gravity works just as well.
2. Filling of molds, as well as vibration compaction of the mixture. This should be done carefully. Filling is done with a regular shovel. For compaction you will need a vibrating table. Its fluctuations should not be too strong. That is, make sure that the solution in the mold is distributed evenly. This compaction will make the elements as strong as possible and prevent their delamination. When loading concrete, take into account its level. It should be the same in all forms. To do this, you can simply make marks on inside containers.
3. Maturing and drying of elements. Since you want to make paving slabs at home quickly, many manufacturers may violate production technology. The quality of the elements suffers from this. Therefore, you should maintain the time allotted for the concrete to mature and dry. So, after compacting the molds with the mixture, they should “rest” on a flat surface for at least two days. To ensure that ripening goes well and the cement does not crack due to loss of moisture, the containers should be well wrapped plastic film.
4. Removal of finished products from molds. Now you understand how to make paving slabs at home, you also know the composition of the mixture. However, you should consider the question of how to properly remove ready-made elements from molds so that they do not break or crack. To do this, it is better to place them in a bath of water, the temperature of which will not exceed 70 degrees.
5. Warehousing of products. In order for the concrete to dry further, it is necessary to cover the tiles with shrink film.
After all these steps, the product is almost ready for installation. Naturally, it should be given time to gain strength. It's best to leave the material alone for a few weeks. Now you understand how to make paving slabs at home.
What is “plastic bottle tile”?
The problem of recycling recyclable materials is very relevant today. However, a way to use plastic bottles has been invented, which involves reducing the degree of contamination environment. They learned how to make sidewalk tiles from them. Moreover, this process can take place both at home and in production.
Before making paving slabs from plastic bottles, you should consider the features of this procedure. Its advantage is the low cost of the product, as well as the absence of problems with the amount of raw materials.
The production of such material is divided into the following stages:
Grinding of raw materials.
Melting plastic in a special heating apparatus and mixing it with raw sand and pigment.
Pouring the resulting solution into molds and pressing.
Cooling of the tiles.
It should be noted that such a product is characterized by durability, high strength and abrasion resistance, external beauty, variety of shapes, speed of production.
Making paving slabs with your own hands is not very difficult. However, the process has some nuances. For example, if you want to significantly save color, you can use the layer-by-layer casting technique. Naturally, in this case you will need two concrete mixers. The layers are laid alternately, and the colorless one should be on the inside. The thickness of each is 1-2 cm.
If you have defective pieces of tile, you can break it up and re-use it in mortar. New forms can be treated with a special substance so that the concrete subsequently moves away from the walls better. After use, the plastic should be washed with a weak solution of hydrochloric acid. You can make molds for work yourself using silicone or wood. Naturally, these elements will need to be well fastened before work.
Please note that the plasticizer helps increase the strength of the elements, as well as their resistance to temperature changes. However, you should not add too much of it. To produce the presented building material Not only concrete can be used.
Now you know how to make paving slabs at home. Good luck!
Making things with your own hands takes a lot of time. However, you get two undeniable advantages: the results of your work become unique and save money. Paving slabs in this case it is no exception. Mostly, homemade tiles are used for paths in personal plots and dachas. The process of laying a large area of entrance to the gate is even longer, and only silent passers-by will evaluate the work.
To work you will need:- Trowel, spatula, level;
- Forms for solution;
- Drill with mixing attachment or concrete mixer;
- Place for drying tiles;
- Cement, sand, water, dyes.
The tile can be considered ready. Now you can start developing a place for installation. Here, too, you need to be careful to avoid stagnation of water and subsidence of the level. In this case, the tiles created by yourself will last for many years and will be passed on to future generations.
Now almost every person has personal plot, be it a dacha or a residential building, where there are recreation areas, paths, paths, parking lots and other various places where the human foot directly “steps.” It's no secret that in modern society everyone wants to achieve the best, unique design on their site, both in the architecture of the house and in the landscape of the surrounding area, and this can only be achieved with their own hands and imagination. Now it has become very fashionable to lay out paths and recreation areas with paving slabs, but not everyone can afford it.
Everyone dreams of beautiful design garden paths. You can achieve an unusual result by doing the paving yourself.
In this article you will learn how to make paving slabs yourself.
DIY tools for making paving slabs
The manufacturing technology is quite elementary, since you can make paving slabs yourself even at home. In order to make paving slabs yourself, you will need a simple tool:
- concrete mixer;
- vibrating table;
- picking shovel;
- metal bucket;
- pallets.
Forced-action concrete mixers are designed to load from 40 to 300 kg of concrete mixture. Vibrating tables can have almost any size working surface.
There is no need to be intimidated by such things as a concrete mixer and a vibrating table. Nowadays, many people build houses with their own hands, and perhaps they will rent you a concrete mixer, and you can make a vibrating table at home yourself. To do this, you will need a metal corner 50*50 - use welding to make a table frame. The vibration motor will be the starter from the car, with two massive washers screwed onto the shaft. The holes on the washers must be offset. Vibration can be adjusted by moving the washers apart from each other. To vibrate the table in a horizontal position, you need to connect the vibration motor to the legs of the table in a vertical position; you can make the tabletop yourself from chipboard, a sheet of iron or other available material.
If for some reason you were unable to make a vibration table yourself or it is too difficult for you, there is the simplest option. After you have poured the solution into the mold, place it on a stool or other surface that is level. Then take a hammer or mallet and create the vibration yourself by tapping the surface of your stand until bubbles form on the workpieces. The appearance of bubbles will mean that there is no more air. So, now that you have all the tools, proceed directly to manufacturing.
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Material for making paving slabs with your own hands:
- cement grade not lower than A-Sh-500;
- dyes;
- plasticizer (C-3);
- granite screening;
- lubricant for molds.
Which is made at enterprises, differs from the one that was made independently in that it is made at the enterprise in accordance with GOST 17608-91. It must meet very stringent requirements, since it is used not only for the home, but also for road surface, where there used to be paving stones. Therefore, the tile must have very high frost resistance, at least 300 periods of freezing and thawing. Have a strength of at least 40 MPa, moisture absorption - no more than 5% and wear resistance - no more than 0.7 g/cm. To make paving slabs that are not inferior to factory ones, it is necessary to take great responsibility for the selection and quality of the material.
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Forms for tiles: preparation
This house is called vibratory casting. Before starting work, you need to select forms for pouring. The most the best option are plastic molds. You can also make the form yourself. By making shapes with your own hands from various available materials, you yourself choose the geometrically most interesting shape for yourself. Before starting pouring, it is necessary to lubricate the molds with a special lubricant so that the tiles can be easier to remove later.
If you haven't found a specialized lubricant, you can make it at home yourself, but be careful: it requires precise proportions. To make the lubricant yourself, you need to take 50 g of machine oil and dilute it with water. This amount of oil is diluted in 1.5 liters of water. This mixture must be shaken with great force for about 40 minutes. I would like to warn you about experimenting with lubricant proportions. There is a possibility that the lubricant will be too greasy and the entire batch of tiles will be rejected. After a very greasy lubricant, the paving slabs turn out to look like shell rock, due to the fact that depressions form in it. If the lubricant, on the contrary, is not greasy enough, it will be much more difficult to remove the finished tiles from the molds. Lubricant is also used to increase the service life of molds. If you lubricate them well, you can use one tile about 600 times.
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Preparing concrete for making tiles with your own hands
We prepare the dye and plasticizer ourselves. The proportion of the plasticizer should be 0.5% of the total dry solution. The plasticizer cannot be added dry; it must be diluted in hot water in a proportion of 200 g/l. Plasticizer must not be diluted in cold water, since it will not dissolve. Stir the plasticizer until completely dissolved; even the slightest sediment will cause craters in the finished product. Next, you need to make a dye solution, its amount should be at least 5% of the total volume of the mixture in dry form. Otherwise, the finished tile will lose color very quickly. The brighter you want to make the product, the higher percentage of dye you need.
The only drawback of the dye is its price, but we can also solve this issue. Pour half colored and half uncolored concrete into the mold - it will be even stronger. The dye must also be diluted beforehand. warm water until completely dissolved in a ratio of 1:3. Preparing concrete mixture, be careful with water: consistency ready solution with plasticizer and dye should resemble wet sand.
Add water and cement to a concrete mixer, mix until the mixture is homogeneous, then add granite screenings, mix well until smooth. Add pre-diluted plasticizer and dye, stir until a bright, fully colored mass is obtained. Since it is quite simple to do, below is an approximate calculation to produce a large volume of tiles. Based on these numbers, you yourself can calculate how much material you will need to make your own required quantity paving slabs for your site.
Consumption of components for manufacturing per 100 sq.m with a product thickness of 5.5 cm:
- cement – 3.6 tons;
- granite screenings – 4.5 tons;
- plasticizer S-3 – up to 0.7% by weight of the concrete mixture;
- dye – 5:10% by weight of the concrete mixture.
Arranging paths on summer cottage or so country house, everyone wants them to be not only functional, but also to fit into overall design landscape. Finding the right tile is not always possible. In such cases, many decide to create paving slabs with their own hands at home. We will tell you how to do this in this material.
Making tiles at home, is it worth it?
First, let's figure out how profitable it is to make tiles yourself. The process of its creation requires a lot of time, labor and care. An undeniable plus is that as a result you get an exclusive path made in accordance with the design of your home and the surrounding landscape. By experimenting with the color of the tiles, you can create incredible patterns.
There is also an economic side to the issue: hand-made paving slabs for paths in the country are much cheaper than finished products. In addition, you can make a coating in accordance with the characteristics of its use. To cover children's playgrounds, pedestrian paths, entrances to the garage have completely different requirements for strength and other characteristics.
The process of making paving slabs
So, if you are inspired by the idea of creating a coating yourself, let's take a closer look at this issue.
Manufacturing of individual molds
To make tiles for your dacha with your own hands, you will need a mold into which the products will be cast. Suitable forms can be found in any specialty store. You will be offered a wide choice plastic products in shape and size. But we must remember that most of them are designed for only 200 fills. Therefore, having decided on the shape, you need to purchase about a dozen such containers.
Did you know? Making your own tile molds can be a creative process using a wide variety of containers. For example, containers for food products. They are quite soft, flexible and yet durable.
Selection of materials and preparation of solution
To prepare a solution for future tiles, you need to purchase cement and sand, and you will also need water. The quality of the mixture depends on the consistency of the proportions and the quality of the cement used. For garden paths, it is recommended to use cement grade M 500. All components must be clean, free from dirt and leaves. If there are large stones in the sand, it’s not a problem. This will give the tile a special texture.
Did you know? The strength and resistance of tiles to temperature changes can be increased by adding special plasticizers to the solution.
Having poured the components in the required proportions into the container, they must be mixed. To do this, you can use a hammer drill with a mixer attachment. But if you plan to produce large volumes, it is better to purchase a concrete mixer in advance.
In the latter case, sand is first poured into the installation, the mixer is turned on, and cement is gradually added to it. After this, without ceasing to stir the mixture, add water and plasticizers in small portions as needed.
Important! Excessive amounts of water will make the concrete not so strong, and the tiles can quickly crumble during use. To prevent the solution from absorbing excess, reinforcing fiber and water-repellent additives are added to it.
To give the tiles the desired color, various inorganic pigments are added to the solution. It is important that they are resistant to alkaline environments, atmospheric conditions and ultraviolet rays. Then your tile will retain its color for a long time. It is recommended to first add about 30–50 g of dye to the solution and gradually increase its amount if necessary. As a rule, within 5–7 minutes the solution acquires a uniform color. And the absence of lumps in it indicates that the solution is ready for use. How to pour the solution into a mold, features of the process
Now the solution can be poured into molds. Before this, the molds must be lubricated with any oil, but better with emulsol. Then after drying you can easily remove the product.
Important! At this stage, you can increase the strength of the product. To do this, pour the solution into the mold halfway, and then put a wire, metal rod or mesh into it. After this, add the solution to the brim.
But the question of how to make paving slabs with your own hands does not end there. There may be bubbles in the solution that make the cement mass too loose. To eliminate this problem, you need to place the forms on a vibrating table. During constant slight movement, excess air will come out of the concrete. Such a table can be replaced by any shelf or rack. Forms are laid out on it, and then the structure is tapped on all sides with a mallet.
How to dry tiles correctly and when to use them
The next stage is drying the finished products. Filled forms should be covered with plastic wrap and wait about 3 days. Make sure that the required level of moisture is maintained in the future tiles. To do this, they can be periodically moistened with water.
After drying, the molds are lightly tapped, the edges are folded back and the products are taken out. But you can’t use them yet - you need to wait another 3-4 weeks for the tiles to dry and harden sufficiently.
Rubber tile manufacturing technology
In addition to concrete, crumb rubber is used to make tiles. It is made from recycled car tires. The tires themselves are usually made of high quality material, as they can withstand heavy loads for a long time.
The crumbs made from them can have different fractions, which vary from 0.1 mm to 10 mm. Which one to use depends on where the rubber tile will be placed and what loads it will be subjected to.
It is usually made in black, but sometimes it can be painted in other colors. Moreover, usually large fractions (2–10 mm) are painted, which are much cheaper in cost, since they may contain metal and textile parts.
Important! When making colored tiles, it is necessary to form it in two layers, one of which is colored. This is acceptable if the total thickness of the product is more than 1.5 cm. Black tiles can be thinner, but are done in one layer.
The production of rubber tiles itself takes place in three stages.
- On preparatory stage crumb rubber is being prepared. To do this, tires are removed from the beads and subjected to mechanical cryogenic processing. Then you get crumbs with a fraction of 1–4 mm.
- Then you need to prepare a mixture from the crumbs by adding a polyurethane binder to it. At the same stage, various pigments are added to color the tile.
- The prepared mixture is pressed on a vulcanizing press. It allows you to set the tile required thickness and density. The pressing process can be done cold or hot. It all depends on what equipment you purchase for the job.
Pouring the path with concrete
Another way to create beautiful path at the dacha - fill it with concrete. This process goes through the following stages:
- marking the area for paths;
- soil preparation;
- installation of formwork;
- pillow formation;
- installation of reinforcing elements;
- pouring concrete.
Required material and tools
To get started, you need to select the necessary materials and tools in advance:
- crushed stone;
- sand (preferably river);
- concrete;
- cord and pegs for marking;
- solution container;
- roofing felt;
- bucket;
- pointed shovel;
- trowel;
- reinforcement (optimally 12 mm thick);
- plywood or formwork boards.
How to mix concrete mortar
First of all, you need to knead the solution. It consists of 3 components (cement, sand and crushed stone), which are mixed in a certain proportion: a bucket of crushed stone and 3 buckets of sand are taken for a bucket of cement. It is better to mix them in a concrete mixer.
Mixing begins by adding water to the concrete mixer. Then sand is added to it and, stirring constantly, cement is introduced. When the sand is evenly distributed throughout the entire mass, the solution is considered ready. Now you can start pouring.
This stage also has several stages. The fastest and easiest is lane marking. It is necessary to determine in advance where they will go, what width they will have and what loads they will experience. Then pegs are driven into the ground at an even distance, and a rope is pulled between them.
Now we need to prepare the soil for pouring. To do this, remove the top layer turf, plant roots are removed. If they are not removed, they will rot in this place and voids will form in which water will accumulate. In winter it will freeze, displacing concrete. This can cause the tracks to crack.
The next stage is the installation of formwork from boards or plywood. The latter allows you to give the path beautiful curves.
Important! The path must be poured in parts so that there are seams on it to compensate for the compression and expansion of concrete due to different ambient temperatures. Therefore, the formwork can be installed in parts. In addition, this will reduce material consumption.
Then a so-called cushion is installed, which will serve as drainage and also evenly distribute the load on the path. A cushion of sand and crushed stone is formed. They do not hold water, so it will not linger there and expand into winter time due to freezing. But the sand eventually sinks below the rubble. To prevent this from happening, they lay it directly on the ground. waterproofing materials: roofing felt, agrofibre or geotextile.
Molds for making tiles with your own hands, which ones to choose?
Sometimes ideas lie on the surface, and we simply don’t notice them. So it is in this case. When wondering how to make tiles with your own hands, the first thing that comes to mind is to buy ready-made molds. But this is not at all necessary.
Nowadays, many products in stores are sold in such transparent plastic containers. These include fruits, various frozen semi-finished products, as well as a variety of confectionery products - cakes, pies, puff pastries. These forms are perfect for making tiles yourself. They are durable and can withstand several cycles of casting concrete tiles. By the way, I used containers from gummy worms in the form of molds for making tiles - there are such sweets, many probably know - I bought them for my grandchildren more than once.
The first store where I turned for help in finding these “forms” supplied me with them in such quantities that it was enough to make about 10 square meters tiles in 2 sittings, after which I broke only one such “homemade mold” and that was due to my own carelessness. Moreover, not only did they not take the money, but they also said thank you and expressed a desire for him to come again.
My neighbor garden plot After looking at my works, I went even further. He got hold of a bag of colored and clear plastic granules that are used to make plastic bottles, and adds them in different proportions to the concrete solution. The tiles are varied and beautiful. He paved the path in the garden with such tiles with his own hands (he laid it in the center) and laid the edges with ordinary gray tiles without granules (also homemade).
The requirements for molds for homemade tiles are also the most common - strength and the required quantity.
I advise you to choose forms that are not crunchy, but soft to the touch, the material resembles silicone. I can also advise you not to choose completely outlandish shapes - design by design and unusual by unusual, but laying such tiles with your own hands will be difficult for a novice master.
In order to better fit the tiles together, select shapes with smooth edges.
Why I chose gummy worm molds is because they have an angle of almost 90 degrees and laying tiles is a pleasure, and debris does not fall into the joints between the tiles, and therefore sweeping paths from homemade tiles is also very easy.
Using the same method, it is easy to make not only tiles, but also borders to limit a section of a path or yard with them. It’s also not difficult to choose forms for homemade concrete curbs.
How to make concrete paving slabs with your own hands - step-by-step instructions:
- Mix cement and sand in proportions of one to three. Use at least grade 500 cement for making tile mortar. (Learn more about making concrete with your own hands).
- Gradually add water to the solution while stirring it. The consistency of the solution should be dough-like - do not slide off the trowel.
- Lubricate internal surfaces molds for tiles with oil - this will make it easier for you to remove the finished tiles when they dry.
- Now fill the tile mold with concrete mortar. Do this with pressure so that the mold is filled evenly and tightly. You don’t have to worry too much about smoothing the back side of the tiles - there are more unevennesses “at the bottom” - the adhesion will be better during the subsequent laying of the tiles.
- Now, just in case, you can shake the form to be sure that the concrete has spread throughout it. That's it, now you can set your future homemade tiles to dry. I recommend putting it under a canopy to dry, that is, avoiding direct sunlight.
- After a week, you can remove the tiles from the mold and put them to dry under the same canopy. The second stage of drying the tiles can take up to a month so that our homemade tiles acquire the necessary strength and durability. I recommend laying it out to dry on stainless steel sheets - it will be easier to remove, especially if you put it on while it’s still damp.
DIY path made from concrete forms
Making a path stylized as if paved with stones or cobblestones with your own hands couldn’t be easier. True, it will be more difficult to obtain forms for such a path than in the first case, when we talked about making simple concrete paving slabs with our own hands.
The formwork form for pouring paths in the garden can be made as a regular, rectangular one.
Make the height six or seven centimeters, this will be quite enough. You can also do simple form 50 x 50 cm in size, and you can make 4 tiles at once.
The process of making tiles is simple - just lay the mold in the place that you plan to refine and decorate. It is better, of course, to prepare the base in advance, remove uneven areas and grass. If you want to receive monolithic coating(for example, you are pouring a continuous path) then water this place thin layer concrete and only then use the tile mold. Then fill the molds with the solution. Do not forget to compact the solution tightly into the molds, then level the solution with a trowel or trowel. Remove the mold and repeat the whole process in a new place. You can fill the gaps between such homemade pseudo tiles with more liquid concrete - the structure of the path will be stronger, the seams between the tiles can be leveled with brick jointing - for me it was just the right width.
We use metal formwork to build a concrete path in the garden
- Build it yourself concrete path using metal formwork is not difficult even for a novice builder.
- We remove the soil in the place where the garden path is planned.
- We press hoops into the ground
- We take out the soil from the middle of each hoop and fill the hoop with the same soil on the outside.
- Compact and water
- We pour sand into this finished formwork (the height of the sand layer should be 5-7 centimeters - depending on the levelness of the path and the amount of earth removed).
- We also level the poured sand with a trowel and compact it, adding a little water - just to slightly moisten it.
- We fill all this with a layer of concrete. I recommend a concrete solution of the following composition: 1 part cement and 1 part water – 4 parts sand. You can use less sand - there is no cement - otherwise you will not get a concrete path, but an ordinary dirt path.
- Stones that are too large can be further strengthened by additionally reinforcing them with any small metal scraps, pieces of wire or metal mesh. I add reinforcement without fail, it’s still more reliable.
If there is a need or desire, you can add dyes to the concrete solution to give the path the appearance of natural stone. Even more similar to natural stone concrete will be given artificial and made in decorative purposes cracks and dents, protrusions and depressions. They are easy to make even with one trowel. You can start trimming the edges of the stones the very next morning. Until the concrete solution gains strength, the paths must be well watered. To prevent the concrete garden path from cracking, I do not recommend carrying out work on its construction on particularly hot days - you will not have time to water it.
Also decorate garden path from artificial concrete stones, you can immediately after casting, before the concrete has set, lay out various patterns of tiles, glass and small stones in the still wet concrete.
How to make flower beds from concrete.
By the way, from concrete and its remains (even those left after casting paving slabs) for the garden you can make not only homemade tiles, but also concrete flower bowls that are deliberately made somewhat rough in appearance in order to give additional zest to the paths made of paving slabs.
You will need:
- fine concrete
- trowel
- wooden stick
- 4 plastic buckets of different sizes
- weight for weighting (for example, large stones)
- sunflower oil or Vaseline,
- brush
So, in order to decorate your garden with your own flower girls cast from concrete, lubricate the buckets sunflower oil so that later the finished flower pots can be easily removed from the mold: a large bucket is inside, a small bucket is outside.
Mix the concrete according to the manufacturer's instructions, stir with a trowel or a clean wooden stick. Pour the mixture into a large bucket, leaving a few centimeters to the brim so that the concrete does not overflow over the edges when you place the small bucket inside. Insert the small bucket into the large bucket, pressing down on the concrete mass, and place a weight in it to prevent it from moving. After 2 days, the concrete will harden and the buckets can be carefully removed.
