Plastic formwork for the garden path. Formwork for garden paths with their own hands

Beautifully arranged paths radically transform the appearance of the suburban area. In addition, they bring not only aesthetic, but also practical benefits: moving around the garden will become much easier. Specialty stores are full of materials, as well as special devices for construction. Perhaps the best results are obtained if the formwork for the garden path is used for the arrangement of the dacha communications.

What it is?

The formwork is a special shape (looks like a rectangular, square or figured frame with hollow compartments), by means of which a garden path or its fragments are cast from concrete. This device is inexpensive, and it is very simple to use.

On sale you can find a variety of slabs or stones for arranging paths. However, these materials are quite expensive. Formwork for the manufacture of garden paths will help to arrange the path in the garden is much cheaper.

These devices differ in size, shape, number of compartments. Their appearance is very different: they can repeat direct figures (triangles, quadrangles, etc.) or have smooth shapes. In addition, formwork is made of durable plastic. They are easy to clean, durable and can be used repeatedly.

Formwork for the garden path allows you to make not only tracks. Similarly, you can easily build a platform, for example around a gazebo or a holiday home.

How to use plastic formwork?

First you need to mark the location of the future track. For this you can use a thin rope and pegs. When counting, the width of the formwork is taken into account, also a margin of about 10 cm is left from both edges.

This form - formwork for making a garden path - can be placed for priming directly on the ground. However, in this case, life expectancy is not worth it. After heavy rains, the snow in the spring, some of the stones in the path may move aside, others will plunge deeper into the soil, others will rise slightly.

The likelihood of such an outcome is very high on loose (sandy or sandy-loamy) soils. As a result, the appearance of the path will not only deteriorate, but it will also be unsafe to use it: you can easily stall, especially in the evening or at night.

To avoid this problem, it is necessary to equip a reliable track base.

How to make the basis for the track?

This is done as follows:

1. According to the previously marked width and length of the track, a trench of about 15 cm deep is dug out.
2. The bottom is equal and carefully compacted, the geotextile is laid.
3. Drainage is filled. First lay a layer of gravel, followed by a layer of sand, the thickness of each - about 5 cm. Each part of the drain is leveled and trampled. At this preparatory stage, it is necessary to take into account the height of the future track. If the latter is below the soil or at its level, then after the rain on the path will accumulate water. Therefore, the path should be slightly above the ground.
4. Then the required volume of solution is prepared. To do this, you need to take the cement (suitable brand 150), mix with sand in a proportion of one to three and add water. The solution should not be too liquid.
5. It is impossible to cast a path on a completely dry base: the water from the solution will very quickly absorb into the sand cushion or the ground, and the concrete slabs will be fragile and short-lived. To avoid this, the surface is pre-moistened.

Fill in the elements of a track

Further formwork for the garden path is installed on the base and is poured with concrete. Surplus solutions can be removed with a rake of the required length, and after leveling the surface with a trowel.

After 30-40 minutes, the formwork is carefully removed and installed close to the newly made stones. Then the rest of the track is cast in a similar way.

To increase the strength of concrete it is worth maintaining a couple of days in a slightly wet state. For this purpose, the finished parts of the path are covered with polyethylene or tarpaulins and periodically watered. So their form will be better preserved. Formwork for the garden path will allow to equip the site beautifully and in a short time.

In dry and sunny weather, after about 5 days, the concrete will finally harden. After that, the gaps between the resulting stones must be filled with earth, sand or very fine gravel.

How to decorate a path with paint or plug-in elements?

Formwork makes it easy to build a very attractive path. However, the best is the enemy of the good, and there are some very simple ways to make the path even more beautiful.

Because of the gray color, concrete looks boring. This can be corrected by adding a special color pigment to the solution. And in the form of individual cavities can be filled with concrete of various colors, then the path turns out colorful and colorful.

After pouring the solution into the formwork, the surface can be leveled and treated with a coarse metal brush. As an option, a layer of gravel or pebbles is laid on top (the stones must first be put in a bag or on polyethylene - so they will be easier to remove), slightly pressed and retracted. So the track will get a very interesting texture.

Even more diversify the appearance of the structure can be with the help of small tiles or their debris. For this, they are pressed into the concrete to its full thickness. Then the surface is leveled with a trowel.

How to diversify the track shape?

When the same form for garden paths is used for the entire length of the concrete path to be constructed, the reviews indicate that the track with a symmetrical appearance looks rather monotonous. To fix this, the formwork can be periodically turned over. And it's even better to buy several devices with a slightly different shape. In the latter case, the track will not only become even more diverse, but its construction will require much less time, since almost simultaneously several fragments can be cast.

The gaps between the stones of the path can be covered with earth mixed with seeds. Sprouted grass will help the path organically blend in with the surrounding natural landscape.

Simple wooden formwork

Specialty stores offer a wide range of these devices of various shapes, sizes and price categories. However, the formwork for garden paths made by hand will cost unequivocally cheaper.

The simplest form of formwork is a hollow frame. It can be assembled from strong wide boards. However, in this case the forms will not differ in variety - you can use only a square or a rectangle. Triangular and polygonal structures will not be strong enough and durable, because when assembling them it is very difficult to ensure reliable fastening of all parts.

Wood needs to be selected soft, not more than 25 mm thick. This is necessary in order to be able to make smooth curves. Solid boards in this case simply will break, and not bend.

In order to slightly bend the boards, it is required to make the cross-cuts along the entire length at half their thickness with a distance of 15 cm. The pegs that will fix the shape should be nailed to the wooden formwork so that it does not move. The thinner the boards are used, the more pegs needed to fix them.

Decking from metal

Sometimes metal formwork is used, which is made of steel strips. They can be flexible, designed for bending types of tracks, and rigid.

If the formwork for the garden path is made of sheet metal, then the variants of the forms become almost infinite. Like the wooden structure, it is also a hollow frame. The metal is cut to the desired dimensions, and then bent to give the desired shape. Metal pegs are attached to the metal strips to fix the formwork on the ground.

When using molds from wooden boards and metal, the cast concrete slabs will be quite large and therefore can quickly crack. To strengthen the structure in the solution, you can add gravel or put a metal mesh for reinforcement.

Formwork with internal forms

This will require wide boards and plywood (it is best to take laminated: it will not quickly break down from permanent contact with raw concrete, and it will be easier to clean it). A rectangular or square frame is constructed from the boards. Then internal longitudinal and transverse partitions are made from plywood. It is necessary to make several forms at once - so to build a path will be faster.

The greatest durability, durability and convenience of use is provided by plastic formwork for garden paths. Unfortunately, at home, the use of various types of plastic for its manufacture will be unavailable, as this requires complex, expensive equipment and long production chains. Therefore, even with good carpentry and locksmith skills, it is unlikely that it will turn out of boards, plywood and metal to form a formwork that has the same variety of shapes and reliability as that manufactured by an industrial method.