The Brew Cabin

G'day. Firstly, this site is amazing. It's very rare [for me] to find a site with so much useful information. Thanks heaps.

I would like to pave a low-load bearing foot path using old house bricks which have been laying around in the yard for quite some time. This way I can get two jobs done at once. The path is in the least frequently visited part of the house and is to lead up to a garden shed and therefore looks are not such a large issue.

What I was wondering is, for such a 'basic' path, do I really need to excavate to such large depths? The ground is very loose and sandy since we are close to the beach. Also, do I need a sub-base layer?

Thanks heaps,
wadj

I'm guessing, from your initial salutation, that you're not a native of these soggy islands, but hail from a land down under, where they have slightly different construction standards to those we use in Europe. However, the principals remain the same, wherever you happen to be, but to answer your points...

1 - Housebricks - we have severe reservations about using facing bricks (as we call them in Britain) for footpaths, as they can often crumble to mush in our damp climate. It may be different in your part of Terra Australis, or the bricks you have in mind may be eminently suitable, but it's worth checking with a local contractor/builder, if possible.

2 - construction - Large depths?? 200mm?? That's nothing, and it really is the minimum you should consider if you want the path to last more than a year or two. Given you've a reasonable sub-grade (the sand you mention) you could get away with just 75mm of a sub-base, but anything less just isn't competent. Then, you need at least 30mm of laying course sand, plus the thickness of your bricks, which may be 75mm or thereabouts, I'm not au fait with Australian bricks, but I assume they're not too dissimilar to the Boral bricks that are currently being imported to the UK, and they are 75mm (I think)

So, 75mm sub-base + 30mm laying course + 75mm brick = 180mm. If your sub-grade is as sandy as you inply, then such a dig is an absolute doddle: you shouldn't even break into a sweat! ;)

Yep, I'm Australian alright.

Thanks for the info, here's what happened:
due to... family members... we just got straight into it and in short:
1. stuck bricks on some dirt
2. covered the bricks with dirt.

Since the bricks might crumble, and the bricks are all different sizes, there probably wouldn't be much point doing it properly anyway. Also, I don't think anyone wanted to pay for sand.

We didn't even bother levelling the path and we're hoping the rain will wash the dirt into the cracks (our brooms aren't very good).

I think we're a shame to this site. Sorry to make you write so much. At least I know to expect that the path will only last about 1 year (if we're lucky). (: