Making A Flagstone Path

 We made a new flagstone path..

We had  put in a flagstone pathway a few years ago....and I have loved it! One section was damaged, though when we built a shed because the Bobcat machine we used rolled over the path many times....and it wasn't built for that purpose!

The poor path was broken a LOT, especially half of it.  We used the broken path for quite a long time..... then my guys tore it out in preparation for replacing it..... so we lived with the dirt  in the path for a few months.

Here, they have put up a form on one side of the path and were planning stone placement and breaking stones, where needed.  The first time we put the path in a few years ago, my dad was here to supervise the project with my guys, but he wasn't available this time as he lives a few hours away. Only one son  remembered much of the process, but he lives on his own now and wasn't here, so another son (son #2) was learning as he did the prep work...... he did a good job. :) He worked really hard on this project - digging it out, leveling it, making forms, doing stones, etc.

 For the start of the cement part of the project, our oldest son came over to get us started. He is the one who had mainly worked with Grandpa in doing the original path, so he had some idea of how to do it.  He worked to mix the cement....this little pile is one bag of cement.... it took a lot of cement. We just used the quick mix cement where you mix it with water.

 Another load dumped.... after dumping the first few loads, the guys were rather discouraged as it was very slow work, but they kept at it and worked faster and faster!

I was pleased with how nice the forms looked.... son #2 had never done it before.... and he did a good job.

By the way, I LOVE curving paths...so much more interesting that straight ones for here.

This was many loads of mixed cement..... they would dump the cement in and then level it a little, then put stones in, working them down into the soft cement, trying to get them as level as possible. Then they again leveled off the cement around the stones.

Since there were no experts here, it was a learning process, but they did so well. Son #1 was here for about half of the path and he taught his brothers, then he had to leave, so they took over. What a blessing that he could come.

We use such projects as on site "shop classes" for our homeschool and it is amazing what skills our guys have learned in this way.

 This is a closer shot and actually, the cement is probably deeper than the original path was...... we don't plan to run a Bobcat over it again, but you never know!   :)

We ran low on cement so sons #2 and #4 made a run to buy more while the other 2 continued working here.

 Just a bit more left to do..... Son #3 has been working hard on this part with mixing cement and doing the process......  You can see the rocks on the grass.......they would have to choose which ones would work well in different spots.

All finished.... now needs to dry and cure. The cones were put up to remind all of us to stay off of the path.

All of the guys worked on the path.... my husband worked with them with mixing cement part of the time, although he was at work for most of the job. The girls helped by bringing out drinks and making shortbread for treats for the weary workers.... and all worked on clean up duty.

We left it alone for a few days.

 This shows the original path on the other side of the stairs....  we are still using this one.... you can see where they patched the corner while the cement work was being done.

Now the path goes both ways again. I LOVE paths. When we moved in here, there were no paths.... now we have several!  I like to walk to my gardens without walking in the mud. We live in the city, so we need to keep things looking "pretty" as well as useful. :)

 The path above shows what is left of the original path on the left of the stairs and the new path on the right side of the stairs.

The guys hauled a lot of dirt in to bring the yard level up to the level of the path. You can see in the pictures above that the path stuck up way above the ground...we wanted it to all be pretty level.

 I love the new path.... although it still looks "rough" with dirt and a bit of excess cement, but I was so glad to get it done before winter. The dirt and roughness will smooth out more as the path is used.

 The path helps much. We tried to keep costs down as we did it and we re-used some of the stones from the original path.

Future Post Alert
By the way, there was extra cement left, which I just couldn't let go to waste...... so, I decided to try making homemade stepping stones. It was something I have never done before, but I tried it and will be making a post on it, with pictures. You can sign up to receive it in your email(enter your email to sign up) or just check back to see it if you are interested. I learned some things in that project and plan to try it again sometime.

Here is our path adorned with the beautiful fall leaves from last fall.  I am enjoying having the path this spring as I am starting to work on the gardens.
    
By the way, one lady commented on my previous post of Removing A Little Wall project and then asked, "What's next?" I chuckled over that comment and we do tend to have many projects going on here, so this answers her question, and I will continue to add more projects, recipes, and more. :)  Thank you for visiting my blog. I hope you have a great day.

 Shared on:
Dear Creatives
Fabulous Friday
City of Links
Blog Booster Party
Funtastic Friday
From the Farm
Foodie Friday and Everything Else
Throwback Thursday
Hearts For Home
Pincrazy Thursday
Paula's No Rules Weekend Party
Idea Box Thursday
Homeacre Hop
Green Thumb Thursday
Thursday Favorite Things
Create It Thursday
Thriving On Thursday
A Little R & R
Homestead Blog Hop
Work In Progress
Wildcrafting Wednesday
Wake Up Wednesday
Party Under the Big Top
Garden Tuesday
Tell It To Me Tuesday
Making A Home
Tuesday Talk
Teach Me Tuesday
Maple Hill Hop
Tuesday Garden Party
Mom2Mom
Art of Homemaking
Mostly Homemade Monday
Modest Monday
What'd You Do This Weekend?
Home Sweet Home
The Art Of Homemaking Monday
Be Inspired
Hearts For Home
Fabulously Frugal Thursday
Before and After Wednesday
Hope In Every Season
A Little R & R
Homemaking Link Up
Hip Homeschool Hop
Frugal Home Friday
Soul Survival Link Up
Women Helping Women
Titus 2sdays
Much Ado About Monday
Monday's Musings
Busy Monday
Sharing His Beauty
Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop
Making Your Home Sing Monday
Make It Pretty Monday
Inspire Me Monday
Mama Moments Monday
Homestead Barn Hop
Serenity Saturday
Get Schooled Saturday
The Lord Gives and The Lord Takes Away Link Up
Weekly Wrap Up
Weekend Brew
TGIF Linky Party
Dear Creatives
Show and Tell Friday
Fabulously Creative Friday
Sincerely Paula's No Rules Weekend
Weekend Retreat
Shabbilicious Friday
Thriving Thursday
Hearts 4 Home
Hearts For Home
 Green Thumb Thursday