Path/Walkway Construction

[NY_Yankees_Fan]

I was at church today and the pastor wants to build a walking path from a new office/residence building to the church, about 500-600 feet, including crossing a creek. I have a Kubota BX2200 with a FEL and 4’ tiller, also will have a tooth bar soon. I know this is a small tractor, but I think it will be able to do the job, may take more time, but it is better then digging by hand I am sure!

My questions are as follows:

1. What type of path material would you suggest, something of low maintenance, and will be easy to walk on and drain well so it is not muddy? Mulch , stone, etc., ??, should we put down a base of stone and then mulch on top of that, what about using landscape fabric, and how deep would you make the path, will we need edging to hold the material?
2. What would be the best way to dig up the soil, a lot of clay and rocks, till it first and then dig out the soil, or use the FEL to dig out the soil? I really do not want to buy another piece of equipment if I can do it with what I have, but then again I am always looking for a new toy!

Thanks in advance for your help .

Tom

 

[Casimir]

GY-

Guess it just depends on how fancy and how much time and money you want to put into it. If the route for the path is already relatively flat, a simple and relatively inexpensive choice would just be to use crusher-run bluestone (limestone). Two to three inches should be adequate for foot traffic - perhaps more if vehicles of any kind would be traveling it. The crusher run can just be spread and back-bladed with the FEL. Some minor hand work with a rake may be necessary unless you get really good with the FEL backblading technique. Crusher-run still has all the fines mixed with the coarser gravel, so with some sprinkling or rain and then rolling it with a lawn roller or driving your BX over it several times, and the path should set up fairly hard and smooth. Landscape cloth under it would reduce the weed growth through the gravel, or sraying the grass and weeds that come up through it with Roundup or another grass/weed killer works on my driveway.

Of course, if you want more seat time, you could till and remove the top 2-3 inches of soil before spreading the crusher-run -- or go to flagstone, concrete, asphalt, shredded tires, etc. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Spreading and backblading the gravel will give you considerable practice time and fun with the FEL.

Let us know (i.e., pictures) how it comes out.

 

[Kodiak]

Take your 4' tiller and make one pass along the path. Use Fel, and remove @ 2" of material, compact remaining material. Lay down landscape fabric or just plain weed block. Set concrete paver stones round, square or rectangular. Maybe staggered if you want to save some money. Then fill in between with pea gravel, sealing chips or sand. And there you have a quick hard path to keep you out of the mud and it was cheap.

 

[ScottAR]

4' should be plenty wide. Till down about 2in as Kodiak says. Use some pressure- treated 2x4s for edging, lay down fabric, and fill with crusher run. (aka 3/4 minus) The 2x4 will stick up a little to contain the stone and give the groundskeeper somthing to trim against without scattering stone everywhere. Just an Idea.

 

[Scott_in_WVA]

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