A Sidewalk- We have One!

Before:
The sidewalk to nowhere.


The car loaded up from Home Depot with 22 pavers and 10 bags of pebbles:


Step 1- Dig out the old concrete block "sidewalk":

(Okay, maybe you can see the actual step 1- marking out where the new sidewalk will be. We did this with some twine and stakes. And by "we" I fully mean "John.")

Step 2- Pull up the sod where you have marked out your new sidewalk!

Step 3- Dig down to whatever depth you need for the pavers and any underneath stuff (sand, gravel, etc.) In our case, we went down about 3" inches so that there was just enough room for the pavers. We didn't get all fancy with sand down first. We will probably go back at a later date and do that, but for now, this works.

Step 4- Dig a small trench around the perimeter of the sidewalk for some edging. The edging will hold the pebbles in and keep the grass/dirt out. Lay the edging and stake it down. At this point, I was bored, so I laid out approximate spacing for the pavers.

Step Last- Put the pavers in the sidewalk, making sure that they are stable and balanced. Unbalanced pavers will crack when stepped on (not that we know..). Get down and really make sure that they are all aligned correctly. Finally, spread the pebbles around the pavers.

And voila- a sidewalk!

We still need to back fill around the edging with some dirt and sod and
possibly get a few more bags of pebbles to bring them up to the top of the edging.

Obviously, this is not the most fancy sidewalk, but it serves its purpose of keeping my pants off of the wet grass and mud when it rains! This was all done quickly and cheaply.

How cheaply?
22 8x16 pavers @ 1.58 each = 34.76
1 16x16 paver @ 3.48 each = 3.48
60' of black plastic edging = 24.72
4 packs of stakes for the edging @ 3.47 each = 13.88
10 bags of pebbles @3.38 each = 33.80

Grand total: $110.64 and a Sunday afternoon.