Gravel sidewalk

K

KingSobieski

Veteran XX
So the sidewalk behind my house was all broken up concrete so I thought it'd be cheap/easy just to put edging around it and fill on top with decorative gravel. Looked good at first like a japanese garden which was cool but it turns out its a pain in the ass cause the dirt washes into it, can't blow the grass clippings off of it without blowing the gravel all over the place, plus it tracks in on shoes.

Now that I have a shit ton of this gravel in my backyard, is it possible to mix it up in a wheel barrel with quikrete and reapply it as a proper concrete sidewalk? The base is pretty sturdy since I used dense grade over the broken sidewalk etc. Just wondering if I can mix gravel into quikrete and how it'd look, like OK or will this turn into a shitty mess?

I'm thinking I dig up a few feet of the gravel, mix it up with the quikrete, and reapply with a trowel. The shape is already bound by the edging so I don't believe building a whole form is necessary.
 
If you're going to do it quick and dirty, form up around the edges an inch or 2 higher and dump wheelbarrow concrete on top.
 
Does it hurt mixing in the gravel with it? Could I just dump concrete mix and rake it in n spray the shit with water n trowel it out?
 
It will be more prone to crack if you put in too much. If the gravel is exposed on the top, it will be a concrete path of sharp-surfaced gravel. You should get one of those old better home and garden books and look at some of the plans and techniques they use. You should dig out and build your pouring frames, and then hide as much of it as you can as the foundation of the pathway. You need to tramp it down into the holes. The dirt can be taken out and used as fill in other areas, perhaps improving drainage.
 
I guess its called exposed aggregate concrete? I got fine grade sidewalk gravel and the shit wasn't cheap so I'd like to at least use it somehow.

nashville-aggregate-driveway-sealing.jpg


From what i'm reading, you do the concrete pathway normally and then sprinkle the aggregate on top of it.
 
That's a 50% quartz pea gravel surface. You pour the concrete, then shake the pea gravel out on top before boarding it and doing the edges. Then you spray it off and use a brush to bring out the gravel surface. If you have this type of gravel already, you are pretty much in business and can gather it up to spread. Not so good as a foundation material though.
 
You don't get that look by just pouring epoxy on top, but it would keep the weeds from poking through.
 
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It'd probably work, but it wouldn't be as strong as mix done properly because the stone will have dirt and who knows what on it. Stone that you get from gravel yard for mixing in the concrete is washed. It would make a fine base under a walk though. If the stone is on top of old concrete you really need to get that out of there. You never want to pour concrete over an existing cracked and/or deteriorated walk because old walk will crack the new walk above it. If old walk is salt damaged it will spread like cancer to the walk about it.

Offer ad for free stone, let some immigrant take it away and then do it right.
 
what i should've done in hindsight was throw all the sidewalk away, grass it, and throw some stepping stones on it. would've been the best low cost solution.

The gravel doesn't look bad, it's a nice color, just kind of messy.

JP - I think sidewalks break because of wash out, so if I use a sledge hammer to break it up and force it down, then would that be suitable to pour over?

Concrete mix is 1part cement, 3 parts sand, 3 parts aggregate (i'll use the decorative shit I already got), so I'm leaning towards mixing it myself and pouring it in.
 
yep. Get that shit concrete out of there. GG making more work doing it half ass the first time. Concrete always cracks. Control where it cracks with control lines.
 
SecretSquirrel said:
It will be more prone to crack if you put in too much. If the gravel is exposed on the top, it will be a concrete path of sharp-surfaced gravel. You should get one of those old better home and garden books and look at some of the plans and techniques they use. You should dig out and build your pouring frames, and then hide as much of it as you can as the foundation of the pathway. You need to tramp it down into the holes. The dirt can be taken out and used as fill in other areas, perhaps improving drainage.
Click to expand...

fuck this is the best way but it's a lot of work welcome to civilization
 
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