Gravel path plans, sized to your space

Parts

Cut list

Kerf 1/8″ included. Every cut runs edge to edge.

Steps

• Tape measure
• Speed square
• Pencil
• Drill/driver
• Clamps
• Safety glasses
• Hearing protection
• Dust mask
• Circular saw or miter saw
• Flat spade and square shovel
• Steel garden rake
• Hand tamper
• Wheelbarrow
• Garden hose with a mist nozzle
• Level
• Small sledgehammer
• Sander, 120 and 180 grit

Underlined words have a short explanation: hover or tap them. All of them are on the glossary page.

1. 1Before you start

   Read every step once, start to finish, before you buy or cut anything. Each step names the parts it uses by letter; the parts list gives their sizes.

   Set up somewhere flat with good light. A pair of sawhorses with a sheet of plywood on top makes a fine work table.

   Wear safety glasses whenever a tool is running, hearing protection for saws, and a dust mask for sanding and for cutting treated wood or sheet goods. Tie back long hair and loose sleeves. Keep children and pets out of the work area.

   • Tip At the store, pick straight boards: hold each one up to your eye and look down its length. Skip boards that bow, twist or have big knots near the ends.
   • Tip Measure twice, cut once. Most mistakes are a misread tape, not a bad cut.

2. 2Cut and label the parts

   Cut every part on the cut list. Cut the longest parts first: if one goes wrong, it can still become a shorter part.

   To mark a cut, hook your tape on the end of the board, make a small V with its point exactly at the measurement, and draw a square line through the point with a speed square. Put an X on the waste side.

   Cut on the waste side of the line, so the blade's kerf (about 1/8″) comes out of the scrap, not your part.

   Write each part's letter in pencil on a face that won't show, and stack the parts by letter.

   Sand the faces before assembly while they're flat and easy to reach: 120 grit, then 180.

   ✓ Lay the parts out and count them against the parts list. Measure a few: if one is off by more than 1/16″, recut it now.

   STOP. Let the saw reach full speed before it touches the wood, keep both hands clear of the blade's path, and never reach under a board you're cutting. Support long boards on both sides of the cut so the blade doesn't pinch.

3. 3Call 811 and check the spot

   At least 3 working days before you dig, call 811 (or use call811.com). It's free. They send people to paint or flag buried gas, electric, water and cable lines near where the path will go.

   Check your property line on your survey or plot plan, and ask your town about setbacks, easements and whether this needs a permit.

   Pick ground that drains: not a low spot where puddles sit after rain, and not over a septic field.

   STOP. Don't dig until the marks are down. Hitting a gas or power line can kill you and is expensive to repair.

4. 4Mark the path

   Drive a stake at each corner of the path: 20 ft long and 36″ wide. Tie mason's line tight between them along both edges, a few inches off the ground.

   Measure across between the strings every 4 ft: 36″ everywhere. Check the corners are square with the 3-4-5 rule, then spray marking paint under the strings.

   • Tip Follow where people already walk. A path that cuts a corner gets ignored and the lawn beside it wears bare.

   ✓ The path is 36″ wide everywhere, measured every 3–4 ft, and the paint lines are smooth and straight.

5. 5Dig out the path

   Cut along the paint lines with a flat spade, straight down, and strip the sod. Dig the whole path 4″ below the lawn: 3″ for the compacted base and 1″ for the chip stone on top.

   Give the bottom a slight side-to-side slope, 3/4″ lower on one side (1/4″ per foot), so rain runs off rather than sitting in the path.

   Keep the side walls straight and vertical: the 2×6 boards will stand against them.

   Tamp the bottom with the hand tamper, overlapping every hit, until your boots leave no prints.

   • Tip That's about 20 cu ft of soil. Use it to fill low spots in the lawn or a raised bed.
   • Tip Don't dig or tamp wet clay; wait for two dry days after heavy rain.

   ✓ Measured from a straight board laid across the lawn, the bottom is 4″ down all along, within 1/2″, and firm.

6. 6Set the timber edging

   Stand the 2×6 edging boards (A) on edge against both side walls of the trench, on the dug bottom, so they stand 1 1/2″ above the lawn. 2 boards per side, 120″ long, butted end to end.

   Hammer a stake (B) against the outside face of each board every 48″, one at each end and one behind every joint: 7 per side. Drive them until their tops are 1″ below the board tops.

   Screw through each stake into the board with two 2 1/2″ deck screws. Check the boards with a level as you go and pack or scrape soil under them.

   Measure across between the boards every 4 ft: 36″ inside.

   • Tip Brush end-cut preservative on every cut end; the factory treatment doesn't reach the middle of the board.

   ✓ The boards are 36″ apart everywhere, straight along a string, and their tops are even along their length. Push hard: they don't move.

   STOP. Wear gloves and a dust mask when cutting pressure-treated wood, and never burn the offcuts.

7. 7Lay landscape fabric

   Roll landscape fabric along the bottom of the path, running it 2–3″ up the inside of the edging on both sides. Overlap strips 12″ where they meet, the uphill strip on top.

   Pin it every few feet with garden staples, or hold it with the first shovels of gravel.

   • Tip The fabric stops the gravel sinking into the mud and slows weeds. It doesn't need to be perfect.

   ✓ No soil shows anywhere, and the fabric is tucked up against the edging along both sides.

8. 8Spread and compact 3″ of base

   Spread crushed gravel with fines (crusher run, also sold as road base or paver base) in two layers of about 1 1/2″. You need about 3/4 cubic yard, delivered.

   Rake each layer flat, mist it until damp, and tamp every inch twice, overlapping. Damp gravel packs; dry gravel just shuffles.

   Finish the base 1″ below the lawn, keeping the side-to-side slope.

   • Tip The base is what holds the path firm. Loose top gravel straight on soil turns into a muddy rut within a season.

   ✓ Walking on it leaves no prints, and it sits 1″ below the lawn all along.

9. 9Add the chip stone on top

   Spread 1″ of 3/8″ chip stone and rake it level with the lawn. You need 11 bags (0.5 cu ft each).

   Mist it and tamp it once, or roll it with a lawn roller. The sharp faces lock together into a firm surface that still drains.

   • Tip Buy a few extra bags and keep them. Topping up a thin patch each spring keeps the fabric covered.

   ✓ The finished path is flush with the lawn, about 1 1/2″ below the edging top, firm to walk on, and sheds water after a rain.

10. 10Tidy the edges and check after rain

    Fill any gap between the edging and the lawn with soil and tamp it, so a mower wheel can't drop in.

    After the first heavy rain, walk the path. Puddles mean a low spot: rake the top layer aside, add base, tamp, and put the top back.

    ✓ An hour after rain, no water stands on the path and gravel hasn't washed onto the lawn.

11. 11Finish

    Ease every sharp edge and corner with 120-grit sandpaper so nobody gets a splinter.

    Sand all over with 180 grit, always along the grain (the direction the wood fibres run). Scratches across the grain show through stain.

    Wipe off the dust with a barely damp rag and let it dry.

    Outdoors, use an exterior finish: a penetrating deck oil or exterior stain, or primer and exterior paint. Leave cedar bare to weather silver if you like. If it holds soil for food plants, leave the inside unfinished.

    Let it dry for the time on the can before using it.

    • Tip Try your finish on a scrap of the same wood first: stain looks different on every board.