Gravel and brick edging footpath

moneysaver1978

My partner and I are looking to building a nice gentle curve footpath in the back garden with bricks for edging and gravel dotted with stepping stones along the fence towards the shed:


We did notice that there's a slight slope towards the house of -3 degrees (roughly 14cm height gap) and a length of 200cm before it levels off towards the shed:



Granted the wood plank isn't perfectly solid for measuring the gradient but in the background, the fence is straight and there's a gap where the gravel board was. We are wondering if we should create a step (and level off) or would gravel mesh/stabilisation suffice to hold the gravel in place?

My OH is keen to avoid adding a step if possible.

Apologies for lengthy post but I kept going back and forth!

Bookworm105

a slope like that will have zero impact on gravel movement. Once laid and walked on a few times gravel will bed itself in pretty firmly (unless using rounded shingle/pebbles that don't naturally interlock so effectively)

You are much more likely to dislodge the gravel by the mere act of walking along the path and kicking it.

casper_gutman

I wouldn't add a step either.

@Bookworm105 also makes a good point mentioning rounded shingle not interlocking well. What kind of gravel are you planning to use? This makes a bigger difference than most people appreciate. Our neighbours have a driveway of rounded riverbed gravel, and they're forever having to push it back as it migrates out through their gates onto the pavement. We have no issues with our more angular Cotswold chippings, which lock together much better.

moneysaver1978

Thank you @Bookworm105 and @casper_gutman - that's very good point about the type of gravel. We were thinking of something like https://www.wickes.co.uk/Suburban-Stone-40mm-Blue-Slate-Chippings---Major-Bag/p/285247

When you say rounded shingle, do you mean something like https://www.wickes.co.uk/Suburban-Stone-River-Pebbles---Midi-Bag/p/294051?

stuart45

Are you going to bed the bricks in mortar, or lay them dry?

moneysaver1978

stuart45 said:

Are you going to bed the bricks in mortar, or lay them dry?

Yep! We are going to use MOT as base for the whole thing and will fix the bricks onto cement/mortar. The path/edging will be on the same level as the lawn.

stuart45

Sounds like you're going to do a good job. Are you going to freehand the curve, or use the trammel method?

moneysaver1978

stuart45 said:

Sounds like you're going to do a good job. Are you going to freehand the curve, or use the trammel method?

Thank you, I hope so but that fills me with a bit more confidence!

Hadn't considered a trammel method (had to google to refresh my memory!) and that's a good idea actually! That said, we did measure from the fence, and adjusted accordingly with a string and sticks for visualisation.

A thought about MOT, should a weed membrane be between the soil and MOT or between MOT and gravel?

stuart45

There's different opinions on where the membrane goes, and some people argue it's a waste of time anyway, as weeds will still grow on top of it. Most groundworkers I know put it under the MOT sub base if they put one in.

GDB2222

Gravel next to a lawn. Could that cause any problems with your mower? 

If it were me, I’d probably just bed the round stepping stones into grass. Mind you, I’m rather lazy.

moneysaver1978

I too saw differing opinions so might just go in putting a weed killer before laying on the membrane and then MOT. I am generally pretty good at actively weeding (great lunchtime break from screens!) so hopefully not too much will grow above the MOT!