The client wanted a cottage garden style pathway, although unsure about the surface material to be selected. There were hundreds of broken hard fired paving bricks on site, which has been retained for use as rubble if required.
The pathways were in existence, probably three hundred years old, and were very solid, and I proposed that I use the reclaimed bricks instead of crushing them. Laid over a 75mm bed of wet laid concrete for additional stability – not ground movement, but to enable small element products to be laid securely.
Each broken brick was squared off with a grinder to remove damaged ends, and also to permit some fairly tight turns in the pattern. The image shows the junction between three curved footpaths, with the brick setts (which is what they became) set into strong mortar and pointed with silica sand which enabled tight joints to be achieved whilst maintaining maximum strength and integrity.
By adopting this method as a junction, three or more pathways of different widths can be incorporated in a natural flowing pattern.
