How to Install Walkways

Make a diagram of the area where you intend to install a walkway. Include buildings and outbuildings, patios, parking areas and any outstanding features such as ponds, pools, benches, picnic areas and ornamental plantings. Mark any existing walkways, noting any place people use as a shortcut between buildings and features.

Look for areas where people have already been walking between buildings. Drive survey stakes along both sides of these paths, 60 inches apart if space permits, but no less than 40 inches apart. Run string or construction tape between the stakes to outline your path. Note any low points along the path where rainwater might pool. Adjust the path to avoid these areas if possible, or plan dry watercourses, French drains and culverts to divert water away from the area.

Note the pitch of the land. Ensure that stormwater runoff will not be diverted to the foundation of any buildings or cause washouts by sloping your walkway 1/4 inch for every foot of width and length. Call local utility companies and ask them to mark locations of any underground lines.

Dig out the base of your walkway 12 inches deep or more in areas subject to snow or frost. Fill the walkway base 3 inches deep with large, sharp-sided gravel. Run a vibrating plate compactor over the base three times, making sure that the base is level each time. Fill another 3 inches with smaller flat-faced gravel and compact three times. Fill with 3 inches of sand, compact three times. Cover walkway with landscape cloth. Fill remaining 3 inches of the base with another layer of sand. Compact three times and use a board stretched across the walkway to check for pitch.

Lay your chosen paving materials in an eye-pleasing pattern. Use a stonemason's blade on your power saw to cut your pavers when fitting complicated patterns. Tap each paver with a rubber mallet to ensure that it is seated completely and that the base under it will not settle. Allow people to use the walkway for a week or so, and adjust any problems. Examples of problems that you might discover are narrow path width, poor grade, washouts and uneven surface.