An ordinary concrete garden sidewalk is reliable and moderately expensive, unlike paving slabs or stone. However, it does not look so impressive. An alternative in this case could be a concrete path imitating stone.
What you will need:
- Concrete;
- board or timber for formwork;
- trowels, smoothers;
- rubber stamp of the “garden stone” type;
- paints for concrete graphite, white, umber;
- wide paint brush;
- spray gun;
- sponge.
The process of filling the track
Preparation for filling the track with imitation is carried out in the same way as usual for the screed. The base is compacted, a cushion is laid, and formwork made of boards or timber is installed. The concrete needs to be prepared thick enough, poured, and leveled.
You need to carefully smooth the surface with a trowel or smoother.
After this, you can begin to create an imitation. To do this, the silicone or rubber stamp is wetted from the inside with a spray bottle.
It must be laid from any angle and pressed into the concrete. Then the entire surface is stamped in a row to the end. If the concrete begins to stick, you will need to wet the mold again.
The next day you can move on to painting. A dark base, black or graphite, is applied to the concrete. You can use specialized water-based paints, then you can simply paint with a garden spray bottle.
When the base layer is dry, you need to highlight the texture of the stone. To do this, walk over the concrete with a semi-dry brush dipped in white paint. It is very convenient to saturate a sponge with paint and then blot the brush off it. You should paint very quickly so that only the protrusions are covered.
After the layer applied with a brush has set, brown umber-type paint is sprayed in places. It should appear slightly, creating a characteristic shimmer on individual stones. With it, the path will get a complete look. At this point, you can start using it, but if you do not trust the quality of the paint used, you can coat it with a specialized protective varnish.
