Concrete Walkways
Photos of Interesting Techniques

Concrete walkways are one of the less expensive paving materials and with some creativity can be quite nice.

There are some interesting concrete applications you can use to make your walkway very interesting. Colored concrete is not new. You can use a stain to create color, although other methods work better. I much prefer using a color admixture where the color is mixed in throughout the concrete while it is wet.

There is also types of antiquing applications that can be used which create nice affects. You can even acid wash the concrete to create a blend of different natural colors and a stone-like appearance.

Below are some concrete walkway photos which I think are good examples of some very nice designs. Plantings along the way help to soften, but this is true no matter what type of paving material you use.

Here's an example of colored concrete. The color is subtle. Antiquing has been applied and I think it looks great.

It provides an appearance that is textured and definitely resembles stone.

Notice how you can see different colors which is nice. It's a far cry from plain gray concrete.

This is a more simple cement walkway, but it still has some interest to it.

The main part of the walk is an aggregate. This means that small stones have been mixed into the concrete to give it a textures look. The edges were most likely poured separately and was stamped to create the current brick-like design.

Speaking of aggregate, I was told there is another procedure where you use an aggregate with concrete and then the surface is acid washed. Depending on the extent of the procedure, more or less o the aggregate can show. You can even select interesting stones.

This is more of an unusual concrete walkway. Different sized concrete squares and rectangles were poured to create more of a stepping stone look. The color of the concrete is interesting without being too strong. You can use an idea like this and get as creative as you like with the geometry.

I had to add this one to show why I strongly dislike stamped concrete. After a certain expanse, all concrete must have construction joints going through it. These should be thoughtfully placed.

However, in a stamped concrete design, it's difficult to camouflage the construction joint lines. It can be done, but some thought must be put into the concrete design.

They usually intersect the pattern in unattractive ways, ruining the natural stone look that was the goal. If you ever see paving that you are not sure is stamped concrete, just look for those joints!

The above images were taken from the Scofield website which offers many ways to spruce up concrete walkways or patios to make them exciting and interesting.

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