
- #Installing landscape rock around house install
- #Installing landscape rock around house crack
- #Installing landscape rock around house windows
Once all the edging is installed, backfill along the backside of the edging. Also, never hammer directly onto the steel edging, as this may damage its protective zinc-galvanized coating and lead to rusting. Step 7: Tap down the EdgingĪs you hammer the edging into the ground, using a scrap-wood tapping block, check to make sure it’s going in perfectly straight, and not leaning into the trench.
#Installing landscape rock around house windows
I also really like how it continues with a playful curve along the windows as well. In my opinion, the curves of the rock bed keeps it feeling more organic and welcoming. Sometimes, river rock flower beds look harsh against concrete but this one looks really nice. Using a wood block and a hammer, tap the edging into the ground, through the fabric. Style 1: River rock flower bed walkway to front door.

Slide the 2×3 template onto each piece of edging across the first section of path. Line the inside of the trench with the edging pieces, resting them on top of the landscape fabric. Join together two lengths of edging following the manufacturer’s instructions. Make sure the cuts are wide enough and deep enough to slide over the galvanized-steel edging. Make a template (spreader bar) to hold the two parallel lengths of edging lined up at an even 3-foot distance apart: Take a scrap of 2×3 and cut into it two grooves spaced 3 feet apart. Colonial Americans crushed the cast-off shells from their oyster feasts to line their garden paths these days you’re likely to see crushed granite or lava stone as often as gravel. What you put down between the edging is also a matter of choice. You can also make the path as wide as you like: 3 to 4 feet is standard. Run the cable and then pull it through the wall. It should run from the location at the house where the power cable will exit to the location of the fixture. Dig a trench that’s at least 18-inches deep.
#Installing landscape rock around house install
Just be sure the gravel stops about ½ inch short of the edging’s top-which should be flush with surrounding plant beds and lawn-or the gravel will spill over. Install the Electrical Cable and UF Cable - Line Voltage Landscape Lighting.

But you can also use pressure-treated wood, cedar, bricks, cobblestones, or even plastic edging. Galvanized steel is a durable and traditional choice and also malleable enough for curves. The gravel, being so movable, needs an edge to contain it. A lining of landscape fabric over the base will keep weeds from growing up through the path. But in most areas, especially where the soil is sandy, you’ll need to create a base of tamped-down stone pack, which is a mix of ¾-inch stones and stone dust. In zones with hard clay, that can be the soil itself. Still, to give the path structure and stability, it must have a compact base. “And you don’t have to worry about cutting the stones.”

“You can make a twisty, curvy, organic walk,” says Roger Cook, This Old House landscape contractor. Not only that, a gravel path can take on many shapes.
#Installing landscape rock around house crack
Because the tiny stones move fluidly, winter’s freezes and thaws won’t heave and crack the surface in the same way they would with a rigid material like stones or pavers. You only have to dig down a few inches to make room for the pebbles-even in cold-weather climates. Gravel paths are easy to construct because they aren’t set very deep.
