This past weekend we got a new walkway! Our guests would previously have to make there way through our parked cars on the driveway to reach our front door. My parents came down to visit and my father, who is a contractor, helped us put in a new walkway.

I had no idea that there are so many steps to creating a walkway. Thus I broke it down into two posts. This one will document the prep work.

Weeks (months?) ago my husband spent the bulk of a very hot morning digging out most of a path for a walkway. Still though when it came down to it there was more to be dug and because he dug so deep and it is only supposed to be 4″ deep, there was also a bit to fill in.

1. We started by putting the forms where we thought they would look nice. We wanted a nice wide walkway that two people could walk on side by side.    

2. Next we needed to make the walkway level from the sidewalk currently leading to the house and to the street. (the string is that line.  We also wanted to take into account the slope of the driveway as to not make either look odd.  

3. With that line out as a guide, we staked in one side of the form and then used a board a top both of them with a level to make sure that the form was level on both sides (or slanted if you’d rather water run off one side, as long as it is consistant. 

4. As you might notice from the picture above there is quite a bit of dirt under the form. So our next step was to fill back in the dirt. We did so leveling as we went and measuring so that it was around 4″ deep the whole way.

5. Once that was complete and it was all level the prep work was done. We sprayed it off with a hose a few times to help it compact on itself and then tried to find cement.

6. We had difficulty finding a yard of cement and we ended up paying a bit more and getting it from a truck. That was much easier, but  because of the difficulty it ended up coming really late in the day.  Here it is starting to be poured in the form.   

7. As the cement came out, Michael with the help of our dads tried to fill the form evenly with shovels. 

8. After the cement was all out they scraped the top with a 2″ x 4″ to even it out.   

9. Then they filled in the low spots with extra cement. 

10. The next step is to tamp down those rocks. It  previously looked really bumpy and this process made it start to look smooth and settled. 

11. Then my dad went over it with what appears to be a large cement trowel. It made it really even and it started to look finished.  12. At this point they measured half way down the side walk and put a break. Using a board as a guide, they used the tool to create a divot in the cement.   

12. They then used another hand tool to finish the outer edges of the cement. I did this process as well and it required firm slightly angled pressure. 

Our son became really excited as well because he also got to help with this step.    

13. Because we got such a late start pouring cement we were working into the night. This isn’t a great picture, but at the end it gets smoothed out again and then my husband added brush strokes in for texture. 

We waited a day before finally running on it.