DIY Large Concrete Stepping stones for Pathways, Firepits & Seating Areas

can diy these large concrete stepping stones you could use them in various ways in your landscape such as a pathway like i have done or a fire pit or sitting in an area that's special to you in your garden and i'm going to show you all the items that i purchased the way that i made them and what i learned so that you can make something even better in your garden this is definitely cheaper than just your boring old concrete path and definitely adds more character to your space i chose a ready to use concrete mix by quikrete it comes in an 80 pound bag which to me is pretty heavy they do have a 50 pound bag but i had a helper and he was the one that carried the bag so that was okay this mix is really easy because all you have to do is mix it with water and it does have like a whitish gray finish i don't so much love you're going to need a hose so that you can water and mist both the soil and the concrete the consistency that you're going to need is like a pancake batter but more like on the thicker pancake batter this is going to help you be able to teach you the shape well because if it's too runny kind of it'll kind of just go all over the place we actually are going to trace our stepping stone right on the ground so you are going to need either a stick or a knife or anything really that has a sharp point where you can really be able to mark where you want your stepping stone and this little thing is called the deluxe soil knife by am leonard and it is stainless steel and i'm probably going to talk about it a lot in my videos because it is the single most used tool in my garden and it is so easy to carry around if you want one i'm gonna share the link in the description and i'll probably make another video so that you know i can tell you all about that you're also gonna need a trowel okay something that you can smooth out your stepping stone the cool thing about this method is that you don't need a mold you're going to mark where your stone is going to go right on the ground that's why you need your marking tool and also you're not going to need any pea gravel or any prep work underneath the concrete because it is going to align right on the ground perfectly you're basically what you're going to do is you carve out your mold and then you dig out the dirt around it so you use that as your perimeter then you dig the dirt inside and then you leave two inches of depth and then you make sure that it is level because that's a good enough thickness that anything heavy can stand on it we've had our riding mower go through them and they have no problem you can decide whether you want them flushed to the ground or if you want them a little bit out if you want them a little bit round if you want them jagged edges you can decide exactly how you want them i ended up making about 75 stones feel like i earned the title of a stepping stone maker expert just kidding i think this is a really a two-person project so get your spouse get your friend your kid somebody to help you because the concrete bags are heavy so be careful with your back and it actually can dry pretty fast so if you're working alone you might have to go get something or you need more concrete i have a family member that helped me with this project and he works at a restaurant and so we would create stones in the morning before he went to work you need to be able to move quickly and so one person pouring while the other person is spreading and smoothing and kind of shaping the the stone is perfect if you have some questions make sure you comment them below as i do read them and i will respond the ending stepping stones are much better than the beginning ones you know they were smoother they were just prettier so here's some tips start from the back so that's that's the back of my area at the most inconspicuous places first pick a day to do this when it's not raining because the rain tends to like do something to the concrete where it leaves little marks if it's going to rain maybe later in the day wait at least six hours so it doesn't get any rain but ideally it would be a not rainy day where it has a whole day to cure and then the next day it could get rain and actually that's not even bad it actually helps it to set even more i would have liked a more organic natural feel and even though i'm happy with how they turned out i would have liked to add some colors the other thing i want you to know is not to step on them for at least i'd say a week because we did crack one that we stepped on on it too soon so just be cautious one two weeks is ideal i was afraid that when i went ahead and did this on directly on the ground that i would be forced to have it stay there forever that's not true you can actually move this and i actually did change my mind about the location of some of these stepping stones you need to be able to let it cure enough that it doesn't crack on you and you could just use it in another part of your garden but they are removable i have a little brush i've poured this concrete cement color by quikrete and this is the color brown kind of made it hollowed in here because i use it to cover an extension cord that goes out to the back so let's try this out and see if it works i have no clue if this is going to work because this is after the fact so i don't know if this will even do anything to it i this thing smells disgusting i have to tell you here we are where i typically cover this that's what i use it for in another part of my garden and this is what the stone looks like after it's had a little bit of color you can see that there is a little bit of color and right now what i do is actually i cover it so that it's really inconspicuous um you know just kind of make it be part of the thing just hide it so then i can lift and have my cord which later i can do a video about how i installed a whole bunch of lights over there but let me show you how these compare to just concrete color so the color did change a little bit it's a little bit darker here where it kind of leaked a little bit let me see if i can lift it so the lighting's better it looks a little bit more red so definitely did something there is a difference between this color and adding the color even after the fact now you're supposed to add it mix it in when you mix your concrete please let me know if you're working on a project and this has been helpful and if you have tips for our community make sure that you share them below or follow me on my other social media platforms facebook instagram and pinterest so that you can share your results and your awesomeness with the rest of the community and watch these other videos as i work hard to continue to bring you more content and remember that you can create bliss in your garden

Channel: Bliss Home & Garden

Views: 54,621

Keywords: how to diy large irregular concrete stepping stones, diy stepping stones, concrete stepping stones diy, diy concrete, stepping stones diy, concrete stepping stones, stepping stones, how to make stepping stones, concrete pathway, concrete pathway diy, concrete pathway design ideas, concrete path diy, concrete path ideas, stepping stone, homemade stepping stones, concrete stepping stones how to make, concrete shapes for garden, garden stepping stones diy, do it yourself

Id: TNoMg2OlYUA

Length: 7min 4sec (424 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 07 2021