Natural stone for paths - unfading beauty of the garden

Natural stone for paths in the garden - the practicality or aesthetics?

Natural stone - it is an amazing material, commonly used for creating garden paths, as an integral part of landscape design.As part of nature, he looks perfectly in any garden, regardless of its stylistic solutions.The combination of different shades and textures of stone with a riot of colors of flower beds and lawns will not leave anyone indifferent.Walking on such tracks, it is impossible not to feel the unity with nature, even within a few hundred.However, if only for the beauty of natural stone, many owners of country houses prepared to pay?Of course not.

Natural stone is ideal for any device paths and grounds in the garden, regardless of their functional purpose and operating conditions.

This material has excellent performance.Seasoned with a variety of natural elements, it can last you decades. Properly laid natural stone for paths capable of easily withstand a lot of cycles of freezing and thawing, the burden of daily walks.He is not afraid of moisture and sunlight, practically does not change its color and relief over time.

Furthermore, it does not enter into chemical reactions with other substances, and therefore completely safe to humans.Thus, paving with natural stone - is a great opportunity not only to decorate the garden area, but also to preserve this beauty for years to come.

Garden paths of stone - to draw attention to his breed

necessary to clearly distinguish between the concept of natural stone rocks (granite, sandstone, etc.) and the type (cobblestone, flagstone, pavers, etc.).Breed defines the origin of the stone, its mineral composition.Type reflects the characteristic shape of the debris of stones attached to them one way or another.So, cobblestone - a round shape and small rounded fragments of stones.There are a huge number of different species of natural stone, each of which has its own characteristics, advantages and disadvantages.

Today paving stone involves preferential use of these rocks: granite, sandstone, shale, shungite, quartz.

Granite is a breed that has in its composition of quartz, mica and feldspar.It features high strength, resistance to weathering, frost and water resistance, the ability to withstand up to two hundred and freeze-thaw cycles.Granite is remarkable and wide color gamut - from gray to dark red.Hue depends on the content in the feldspar.It is the most common stone paving garden paths.

Shales - a rocks characterized by a layered structure.Included in their composition low-temperature minerals are arranged parallel to each other (in layers), which determines the ability of rocks to split into thin plates.This is why shale commercially most often found in the form of plates.Many of their species are characterized by a certain degree of porosity so they need additional treatment with special protective structures.Most approximate in performance to granite is quartzite slate, which is most often used for road paving.

Quartzite is inherently quartzite slate containing mica.It is characterized by high strength and hardness, which creates difficulties in processing. usually has white, red, green or gray.Tint stone can vary depending on the quality and degree of illumination.Quartzite is ideal for paving garden paths as wonderfully beautiful and durable.

Modern garden paths made of natural stone Shungite - is also a good solution for the decoration of the site.Shungite can be layered or monolithic.In the latter case, the breed is characterized by a relatively high density, strength, resistance to abrasion, frost and chemical influences.The color range is not as wide - black and various shades of gray.Frequent inclusions of quartz and pyrite veins yielding white or golden color.

most popular uses, along with granite and natural stone sandstone.He is a little inferior to him in terms of hardness, but quite durable.At the same time the degree of durability affects the quality of the stone, its processing and deposit.Because sandstone treated, it is easy to attach to any shape without any problems.Extends the color gamut of the garden by a light yellow, pink, pale or gray-green hue.

Paths made of stone - the main types of stones used

With regard to the type of natural stone, which is used for paving, it is recommended to pay attention to the flagstone, crushed stone blocks, paving stones, chipped stone and boulders.Limestone - a natural stone, is a different form of a flat plate with cut edges.Perfect for arranging pedestrian areas in the garden and decorative walkways.

can be placed on the sand-gravel or concrete base, the choice of which depends on the thickness of the limestone.Chopped cobbles - it rocks sawmills (shungite or granite), having a shape approximating to a rectangle or square with cut edges.Laid on a qualitative basis, it does not require additional strengthening of borders.Such garden paths made of natural stone can withstand greater load and last for many years.However, walking on them in shoes with thin heels are not recommended, since the width of the joint between the stones is about 1-1.5 cm

sawn stone received its name in connection with passable machining -. Sawing and subsequent polishing.Ready stone often has a rectangular shape with smooth edges, which creates a certain comfort when paving track.To create a decorative cobblestone lanes widely used - natural stone okatanny small size.As a rule, it is a round-shaped fragments of rocks, such as granite and quartz.Thanks to a pleasant eye shape and wide range of colors, it allows you to create not only beautiful cobblestone paths, but also the whole stone panels.The larger goal is to cobble boulder.

Paths made of stone with their hands - their technology is paving

If you are wondering how to make a path of stone, you should learn the basic methods of paving.These include paving on concrete or sand and gravel "cushion" (dry or wet).paving technology in both cases is not much different, but a number of nuances, all the same, there is.So, no matter which method of natural stone laying you choose, you need to dig a so-called "trough", which is a kind of bed of your track.Its depth can be different and depends on the quality of soil, the depth of the groundwater.For soft ground it can reach 60 cm, and for strong - only 25-30 cm

bottom of the "trough" is recommended to pave geotextile which prevents weed growth on track, its sinking into the ground and filled the foundations groundwater..

If you stacked stone on wet sand "cushion", the next step will be to fill the excavated trench (25-30 cm), with gravel.The height of this layer often does not exceed 10 cm compacted crushed stone and carefully poured a layer of sand at 10-15 cm It is worth noting that filling the trench with sand must be carried out gradually -... Layers of 5-7 cm Each layer is compacted and watered. Then you can start laying stones on a pre-compiled schema.

After the paving stones, the space between is filled with sand: it just falls apart on the surface of the finished track, then use a broom or brush is swept into the joints.If you remain a surplus of sand, they are eliminated, and the whole track is filled with water, which allows the sand uniformly fill the seams.Dry the wet pavement only differs from that on the base of all of the gravel (10 cm) and a wet sand (10 cm) of sand and cement is poured into a mixture of 3: 1 ratio (7.5 cm).To this mixture stacked stones formed joints are filled with dry sand, and the whole track is filled with water again.

paving on concrete after digging a trench involves the production of formwork for the track, which is removed only after the complete drying of the concrete mix.It is poured onto a pre-packed gravel layer (10-15 cm) and sand (10 cm).The thickness of the concrete layer is typically less than 15 cm. Of concrete to prevent cracking during drying, it is recommended to several times a day to water the water.

prevent the negative consequences of the expansion of the concrete base as the temperature changes, you can use the device expansion joints.To do this, every 2-4 meters track across the trench future shuttering boards stacked about 2 cm thick. After removal of the formwork on the concrete foundation is poured dry sand (5-6 cm), in which "recessed" stones.Then, as in previous methods paving joints are filled with sand and the path is filled with water.So, put a beautiful track in the country is not as hard stone as it might seem at first glance.