In this video, This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook resurrects a sunken brick path.

Project details

Skill

Cost

Estimated Time

Steps for Repairing a Brick Walkway:

  • Pull up all the bricks from the existing walkway and neatly stack them off to the side.
  • Excavate all the sand from the walkway using a pointed shovel. Dump sand into wheelbarrow and carry it away.
  • Stretch a taut mason’s line between metal stakes to represent the edges of the new walkway.
  • Dig out 6 inches of dirt beyond the layout lines at each edge of the walkway.
  • Stretch a second mason’s line between the stakes, pitching it down from the house ¼ inch per foot of distance.
  • Thoroughly tamp down the ground using a gas-powered plate compactor.
  • Spread 2 inches of ¾-inch crushed stone mixed with stone dust over the tamped-down soil, and compact the area again.
  • Use a hand tamper to flatten any areas not reached by the plate compactor.
  • Dig a narrow trench along each edge of the walkway and install a wooden form. Secure the form with wooden stakes.
  • Fasten the form boards to the stakes with 2-inch screws. Take down the mason’s lines.
  • Use a rubber mallet to tap vertical edge bricks, called sailors, flush with the form.
  • Rake a ¾-inch-deep setting bed of stone dust over the compacted stone base.
  • Use a screed to level the setting bed, then tamp down the setting bed with the plate compactor.
  • Starting at the house, begin laying bricks in a running bond pattern onto the setting bed. Tap the bricks flush with the sailors using the rubber mallet.
  • Use shorter half bricks to negotiate around curves in the walkway.
  • After setting all the bricks, cover the walkway with a thick layer of stone dust.
  • Sweep the stone dust into the cracks between the bricks using a push broom.
  • Unscrew and remove the form boards and stakes.
  • Mix concrete in a wheelbarrow and then shovel concrete into the trench behind each row of sailors.
  • Smooth the concrete curbs with a pointed trowel, angling the concrete away from the bricks.
  • After the concrete cures, backfill alongside the walkway with topsoil. Cover the soil with mulch or grass seed.

Tools:

Tools & Materials

  • Pointed shovel
  • Wheelbarrow
  • Mason line and stakes
  • Plate compactor
  • Garden rake
  • Hand tamper
  • Small sledge hammer
  • Drill/driver
  • Push broom