How to make slate paths. Do-it-yourself slate paths in the country. Pros of using slate fencing

Slate, as a traditional roofing material, has recently been supplanted by more modern roofing materials such as metal and bituminous tiles. However, it is too early to write it off. After all, how much more benefit can be derived from old slate sheets!

The remnants of the shivera sheets are ideal for fencing the local area.

Fencing slate

Small remnants of the shiver can be used as shelves in the cellar.

There are many options for giving a second life to used slate. For example, most of the summer cottages are fenced with a net (chain-link), through which dogs or hares can penetrate without difficulty. To solve this problem will help you old slate... The sheet, which has a length of 175 centimeters, must be cut in half and, with an overlap on the chain-link, dug 40 centimeters into the ground, after which the earth must be tamped.

That's all, the slate does not need further fastening. Thus, you have created an excellent barrier not only for unexpected guests, but also for the roots of weeds, which cannot penetrate either you or from you. In other words, the old slate can be used in the form of a fence, which can be painted if desired.

Slate for shelves in the cellar

Often in the cellars, shelves for supplies become unusable. Often in this situation, old slate is used. You can proceed as follows: at the corners of the cellar, it is necessary to lay out the wall-posts (in half a brick), which should have a length equal to the width and height of 90 centimeters.

You can also use slate to fence the beds.

We put slate on top, in the waves of which we lay metal rods or reinforcement, construct formwork from boards along the edges and fill it with mortar (crushed stone, sand and cement). Everything must be done in one go, so that we have a monolithic layer of concrete. You will get a wonderful sturdy shelf, under which there will be space where you can put boxes or any other container. The thickness of the mortar must be at least 10 centimeters.

If the area of \u200b\u200bthe cellar is large enough, the shelves can be built using two or three sheets of slate, both in length and in width, the rack walls are laid out only under the joints. It is enough for slate sheets to cover the ends of the support by 6 centimeters. In comparison with boards, the use of slate, in this case, is much more economical and much faster. After the concrete solution has set, the slate does not need to be removed, it can simply be whitewashed or painted.

If you are just going to build a cellar, then you need to calculate its dimensions, based on the dimensions of the slate so that it goes on the supports at the distance indicated above. If the sheets are 175 centimeters long for you, then you can use sheets that are 250 centimeters long.

The shelves must be built immediately, since in the further construction of the walls of the cellar they can be used as an excellent scaffold. In the place where the manhole is planned, old slate is also used, we put a formwork on it with an approximate size of 80 × 80 centimeters and, having reinforced it, fill it concrete mortar no more than 15 centimeters thick. After a while, it will be possible to punch or cut out the hole itself in the formwork. Here's another example of where you can put used slate sheets.

Foundation slate

If there are no funds and there is a desire to save money, or maybe there is simply nowhere to put the old slate, it can be used for the construction of foundation formwork. But I immediately want to note that such a foundation in the future will be difficult to insulate and waterproof, as it is embossed. Of course, if you have even slate slabs, then the design will not be inferior to a product made of boards.

So, in order to build the formwork for the foundation, you must first clean the trench and plan the surface.

Slate sheets can be used for foundation formwork. This will save a significant part of the family budget.

If your slate is not solid, it must be trimmed by trimming the edges. If there are holes in the slate, they must be sealed, as an option, with a sealant, and then protected with roofing material. Attach a support (in the form of a stick) to each slate piece.

Often, the support is fixed with nails, in this case the main thing is that the slate does not burst, so there is no need to hammer the nail to the very head. Then we install the formwork in the trench, while it is necessary to tightly connect the joints. The formed seams are best protected with roofing felt or tarpaulin, you can cover up with a sealant. At the last stage of the construction of the formwork for the foundation, it is necessary to make sure that there is no inclination of the structure, after which the formwork can be carefully fixed. That's all, your structure is ready for pouring mortar.

Slate for gardeners

Old slate has also found its way into hobby gardeners. For example, it is widely used to protect grape plants. To do this, you need to make a trench no more than 20 centimeters deep and no more than 50 centimeters wide. After that, the fascina is placed in it and pinned with brackets to the ground, the trench is covered with old slate on top, and the cracks are covered with earth to protect the plant from drafts. Also, in the presence of long slate waste, gardeners often use them to protect the bark of trees in winter period... The pieces of slate surrounding the trunk are secured with wire. This way, hares will not be able to harm your tree.

If you are the owner of a private house with a vegetable garden, then old slate can be used as cladding compost pit... You can make a low flower fence from small pieces, paint it in bright colors and get an excellent decoration for your site. You can beat the sheets with a hammer into small pieces, as a result of which you get something similar to gravel, which is well filled with paths, porches and even the floor in technical buildings. During rains, water does not accumulate on such surfaces and dirt does not form.

There are a lot of ways to reuse old slate. Take slate sheets, add imagination, and you will surely get something useful. As a last resort, give them to those who wish, maybe they will be useful to one of your neighbors.

Arrangement of a vegetable garden at the dacha or personal plot almost never does without improving the beds. We will show you a great way to arrange elevated beds, suitable both for covering with a greenhouse dome and for open cultivation cultures.

General design description

Why do you even need to care about the device for fencing the beds, if most garden crops feel quite comfortable when planting in open ground? On the one hand, it may be a simple desire to improve aesthetics. landscape design... On the other hand, cultivated and fenced beds are an excellent indicator of the correct organization of plant care and an important factor of convenience for gardeners: when working on an elevated ridge, the back gets less tired, while walkways can be covered with mulch, rubble or paved with paving slabs, without fear of silting further.

The design of the beds itself is very simple. The walls are made of asbestos-cement sheets, fastened together at the corners and at straight joints. From a third to half of the total height of the walls is under the ground, the remainder rises above ground level. The inside of the bed can be filled with a specially prepared substrate, thus reducing the cost of making compost and purchasing fertilizers.

In general, such a formwork turns out to be quite strong and reliable, but it requires some reinforcement. For example, to counteract the pressure of the bursting soil, the opposite walls of the beds are pulled together, and also firmly fastened at the corners in order to eliminate the divergence of the joints. Slate is a very durable material even if it is under a layer of soil. However, the sheets are often colored additionally, which improves the aesthetics of the garden and helps to reduce water absorption of the walls.

Marking and preparation of plots for beds

Of course, there is no point in breaking up the entire cultivated area under high beds... Usually, in this way they equip places for growing flowers and vegetable crops, while melons and root crops grow successfully in the open field.

Slate beds can have an almost unlimited length, but it is advisable to keep their width within 120-150 cm, so access from both sides will be the most convenient. The space between the beds, intended for the device of walkways, should be at least 50 cm, at the same time, a width of more than a meter will be excessive. Before preparing the soil for the device of the beds, it must be marked by driving pegs in the corners.

The process of soil development itself is quite simple. It is necessary to remove the top layer of black soil and temporarily take it to a dump nearby. The walls of the formed pit must be cleaned and leveled in accordance with the geometry of the beds. With an offset of 10 cm from the walls, the bottom of the pit is deepened by another 10-20 cm, which is necessary to equip a barrier against pests moving in the upper layers of the soil. The soil extracted from this layer is piled into a separate dump.

Production of slate walls

As source material sheets of the smallest format 100x150 cm are suitable. It is more convenient to deliver them to the country, and there will be fewer problems with further processing. However, the width of the sheet can be selected individually so that it is a multiple of the full height of the walls. As a rule, 50 cm is enough for arranging beds, but individual summer residents may have their own considerations on this score.

The sheets must be unfolded into strips along the long side. A grinder with a diamond wheel for stone is best suited for cutting slate, but certain precautions should be taken when working. Asbestos, bound in the mass of the slate sheet, is absolutely harmless, however, when cutting, an impressive amount of very harmful dust is formed. Therefore, it is imperative to use a respirator and safety glasses. It is also advisable to cut the strips at a time, subsequently spilling dusty areas with a lot of water.

It is necessary to remove small chamfers from the cut edges of the slate using an emery bar. Also, at the edges and in the center of the strips, you should immediately make holes for installing guy wires and connecting structural elements into the general formwork contour in accordance with the selected type of fastening. After mechanical processing slate sheets will correctly be covered with one layer of budget quality alkyd enamel.

Assembly of fences

You can fasten sheets at corners and straight joints in completely different ways. Tightness at the joints is not required, and the strength of the fastening must be purely nominal - only to ensure the integrity of the structure before it is backfilled with soil.

In everyday life, the most common options are when the corners are fastened by inserts from shaped pipe or wooden blocks, to which slate strips are screwed with self-tapping screws. This method is good for its cheapness, in addition, it is possible to align the geometry of the beds in advance and ensure the required installation height of the sheets. However, both wood and structural steel quickly deteriorate from decay and corrosion, especially when active use mineral fertilizers.

There are alternative option - aluminum profiles for the assembly of commercial equipment. In addition to durability, this method provides simplicity and high manufacturability of the assembly process, has a more accurate appearance... It is only important to choose the right width of the installation groove: in the smallest standard size of profiles it is 5.5 mm, which is well suited for assembling 6 mm slate sheets - again, the smallest thickness for this material. On sale you can find profiles with a groove of up to 10 mm - these are optimal for high beds of a long length. After joining, a box of slate sheets is temporarily fixed through the profile body with self-tapping screws for metal and placed in a prepared pit on a brick scaffold.

As for joining straight joints, for this purpose it is possible to quite successfully use slate trimmings, reinforced rubber from used conveyor belts and others. sheet materialsnot subject to decay. It is advisable to fasten the slate strips before they final installation, carefully combining the joints. In order for the fastening to be of high quality, at the connection points, holes must be drilled in advance with an offset of 20 mm from the edge and use galvanized self-tapping screws with a press washer.

Strengthening and mortgages

To prevent the pressure of the expanding soil, the walls must be pulled together according to the same principle as the formwork when pouring concrete. It is optimal for this purpose to use galvanized wire with a thickness of at least 1 mm. On the opposite walls, you need to drill two relatively coaxial holes, then roll the wire into a loop and stretch it through the slate sheet, inserting a small metal pin as a stopper.

On the reverse side, the tails of the wire are twisted together until the slack is completely removed and the walls are slightly bent inward, after which the twist is also fixed with a pin and a pair of self-tapping screws. There is no need to place screeds in the underground part of the walls, they work effectively when installed with an indent of 10-12 cm from the upper edge.

To be able to install hinged greenhouse domes, it is necessary to drive several pieces of angle steel into the ground, placing them close to the inner wall of the garden bed. The corners should be connected to each other with reinforcement of 8 or 10 mm, placing the braces diagonally. After installation, the embeds are cut flush with the upper edge of the walls, after which horizontal metal plates are welded to them to fasten the hinges. When all the installation work is completed, it is advisable to wrap the flower bed from the inside with a dense plastic wrap, letting it down to the bottom of the lower tier of the pit about 10 cm and wrapping it on the sides of the fence. This will help prevent bears and other pests from entering the garden bed, which migrate in the upper layers of the soil during the warm season.

Backfill soil

All soil removed from the lower tier of the pit must be poured back and compacted by spilling water. In this case, it is desirable that the embankment covers the walls to a height of at least 5-7 cm. After that, you can pour a fertile layer.

The dump of soil removed from the surface should be leveled in a free area and mixed with manure, compost or humus, the concentration of which depends on the natural saturation of the soil nutrients... After thorough mixing with a pitchfork, the substrate can be poured back, but in no case should it be compacted, only large lumps can be broken. The flowerbed needs to be filled up at the very edges of the formwork, in the near future the soil will naturally settle. When the bed is filled up from the inside, it is necessary to fill the gaps between the walls and the soil adjacent to the outside, while carefully compacting it and spilling it with water, after which you can start arranging the paths.

Related Videos

• Practical fences
• Cellar shelves
• Slate beds
• Disputes about the dangers of slate

Practical fences

Until recently, slate was the most common roofing material with many operational benefits. Today its popularity has dropped slightly, more than modern materials: bituminous shingles and metal shingles. It's a pity to throw away the old coating, which is why many have warehouses of old slate sheets in their dachas. It's a pity to throw it away, and you don't need to do this.

You can easily assemble and make a temporary toilet, an outdoor shower from slate sheets, you can build fences from it, covering them with a fence made of a chain-link mesh, for example. Such a solution will protect the backyard from prying eyes of passers-by and the penetration of neighboring dogs.

A standard slate sheet has a length of 175 cm, the sheet is cut in half and simply with an overlap on the chain-link it is dug into the ground with the lower edge, to a depth of 40 cm.If the soil is then thoroughly tamped, no additional fasteners are needed to stabilize the fence. If desired, the slate can be easily painted by choosing correct color, it is easy to easily integrate it into the style of your site.

Note! Such a partition is able to protect the personal plot from the spread of weeds, which are trying to gain a foothold with their roots behind the edge of the neighboring plot.

Cellar shelves

Another way to use old slate was suggested by experienced summer residents and gardeners. For storing supplies, they propose to build convenient and durable shelves using slate, allowing you to organize convenient system storage for available supplies. The shelves are constructed as follows:

1. In the corners of the pantry, racks are laid out of bricks, the length of which should coincide with the width of the slate sheet. The height of the racks is 90 cm.
2. A sheet of slate is laid on the racks.
3. Formwork is being built around it.
4. Reinforcement pipes are laid in the slate ribs.
5. The solution is mixed, as for a cement screed.
6. A slate sheet is poured with it, the solution layer should be 10 cm.
7. The result should be monolithic concrete - a fairly strong roomy shelf on which any container for storing vegetables and fruits can easily be placed.

If the cellar is large, such shelves can be placed around the perimeter, making them short or long. Many will think that it is easier to use boards in this case than slate, but the use of the described material, as practice shows, helps to significantly save money. In addition, the slate does not need to be removed from the formwork. It can be painted or whitewashed with lime. Then the shelves will look quite neat.

Slate beds

If there is a vegetable garden in the country, it is easy to assemble neat beds with the help of slate. Making them with your own hands is not difficult. Look at the photo how such a garden looks decorative. The use of slate has quite practical purposes. Such structures help keep the soil within the same bed.

Such a partition is a reliable barrier for rodents and the spread of weeds. The process of laying slate itself consists of several stages:

1. First, the slate must be cut. This can be done along the plates or across the waves, as shown in the photo.
2. Then the boundaries of the beds are outlined.
3. Trenches are dug along the entire perimeter. Their depth should be half of the prepared protective product.
4. Slate blanks are placed in the prepared trenches.
5. It remains to dig trenches and compact the soil around the installed sheet metal parts.
6. In order to give the walls of the bed more stability, metal pegs are buried in the ground.

Note! The installation of the described fence has certain nuances. If the waves in the beds are horizontal, shoots and roots can easily grow along the grooves.

Any digging of the earth in this case will lead to the death of the plant. Waves placed vertically will not interfere with weeding the beds.

It is best to cut slate with a grinder. Experienced craftsmen while performing such work, the grinder is directed in the direction opposite to the wind direction. In this case, dust will be blown away from the cutting person. Since asbestos dust is dangerous for humans, it is necessary to protect yourself from it during work by wearing protective goggles on your eyes and covering your nose with a gauze bandage. Do not use a wood saw to cut slate. This is a traumatic job, one wrong movement can deprive an arm.

Pros of using slate fencing

Experienced gardeners today make not only beds from slate sheets, they collect flower beds with it, lay slate on greenhouses. It turns out durable and reliable garden pathcovered with flat sheets. Practicality and decorativeness are not the only advantages of such a solution.

• Slate is a material that heats up quickly in the sun, heats up and easily gives off excess heat to the soil. This has a beneficial effect on the growth of any plant.
• The fence assembled with asbestos-cement sheets for the garden bed is difficult to destroy.
• In the future, it is not necessary to carry out any other work with such a fence. Set and forgot with them for a long time.
• Using old slate sheets, there is no need to spend on purchasing wooden beams.
• If desired, the sheets can be easily painted in any color, painting increases the decorative properties of the fence.

Wanting to repeat a similar experiment in your garden, it is useful to study in advance the disadvantages of asbestos-cement products. On hot summer days, such a fence will contribute to overheating of the soil, so the plants will need to be watered more often. In places where prolonged rains are a common occurrence, the soil under the fence is often washed out, so they constantly tilt. This forces the owner of the garden to constantly fix the fence. For many, this procedure will seem tedious.

Toilet foundation and cesspool

Old slate sheets are often used for arranging formwork for pouring the foundation for outbuildings. In this case, it is not necessary to remove the formwork after the concrete has set.

Since on a personal plot there is often no central sewerage, toilet and engineering Communicationserving the kitchen and bathroom cannot function without a cesspool. In this case, the slate is used to strengthen its walls. The sheets are cut to fit the pit walls, just go down. To prevent the sheets from falling, they are fastened together with the corners of the reinforcement. Further, reinforcement rods are placed in the slots between the pit and the slate sheets. The slots are filled with cement mortar. In order for the walls of the cesspool to withstand the pressure, they are bursting with wooden bars, as shown in the photo.

After the concrete is dry cesspool ready for the toilet.

Disputes about the dangers of slate

Many, after reading the article, put forward a lot of arguments in favor of refusing to use the material described. But experts are in a hurry to calm everyone down. The described material is made from a mixture of three ingredients: Portland cement, asbestos fiber and water. The first two components are completely safe for human health. But asbestos fiber can raise suspicion.

There are several varieties of such material, two are used in the production of slate:

• amphibole-asbestos (natural base);
• chrysotile asbestos (a derivative of the serpentine group).

European scientists have conducted research and found that slate of the first variety can be called dangerous to humans. In Russia, amphibole-asbestos for the production roofing material does not apply. Therefore, for those who are afraid for their health, experts recommend purchasing slate of domestic brands. You can easily use it on your personal plot without fear.

As you can see, the use of old slate helps to solve purely practical problems on the household farm. You can make a temporary toilet, an outdoor shower, assemble a greenhouse or any fencing using waste.

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Do you want to make slate beds with your own hands? Of course, many people want to arrange this on their site, because in order to give the site a well-groomed look, you need to draw the boundaries of the beds. You can create borders for beds from slate, which remains in excess after changing the leaky roof.

An example of installing a slate curb for a garden

Create neat fences

They do it in order to create comfort in the country, to make it easier to take care of the site. If you fence the beds, then you don't have to dig up the entire site every year. The original, created with his own hand, will look neat, delight the owner of the site.

The created strips for beds have the following advantages:

Original slate flower bed

• the earth does not crumble in such a bed;
• an obstacle to the penetration of unwanted weeds;
• reduction in the area of \u200b\u200bhard work;
• beds made of flat slate are easier to cover for the period of winter cold;
• the beds can be given a variety of shapes, here it all depends on the imagination of the landowner.

In an enhanced fight against annoying weeds, gardeners will be helped by fences for slate beds. When the fence is buried in fertile soil, weeds will not be able to get onto the cultivated soil. In areas with loose, crumbly soil, the fence can strengthen it. The creation of a strip for beds is not relevant in areas with dense soil, here you can do without creating identical sides.

How to make wave slate curbs

Wave slate is available material to create neat beds. You can use old slate for the beds, which were going to be sent to a landfill as unnecessary. But don't make hasty decisions.


You can give it a second life by creating identical corrugated slate borders. It will look presentable if painted with water-repellent paint.

To create the same stripes for the beds, you need to use the following materials available:

• wooden stakes 60 cm long, slightly sharpened on one edge and treated with special mastic;
• ordinary lime for slate processing;
• improvised tools: hammer, level, shovel;
• old waste paper to line the bottom of the future bed;
• small sawdust, dry leaves, water and fertile soil to fill the contents of the beds.

Formation of fences

Making slate beds is not as easy as it seems at first glance. Before installing the slate, you must cut it with a grinder. The slate must be carefully broken into plates so that the width is the same. Next, you need to dig shallow trenches, after which you can begin to install the fence.
The creation of the same neat beds is as follows:

It does not matter whether these are flat or corrugated slate curbs, except for the appearance. Flat slate it looks more neat, with it the beds acquire the correct geometric shape, it is easier to saw it, the integrity of the structure will not be violated here. Therefore, you can use any of the proposed options. To create such high beds of slate in the country is within the power of all those who seek to simplify physical work on the ground and give the site a well-groomed look.

Mounted high slate beds

You can fence off raspberries from other crops in this way so that they do not grow at a rapid pace. The creation of a raspberry fence is important on any site where it is available. The device of such fences is quite simple. There is no need to dig trenches over the entire area, you can dig channels along the entire perimeter of the fence, this is enough.

Thin slate has one significant drawback: at the time of distortions and heavy rains, this device needs to be corrected.

When working with this material, one must take into account the harm of slate: it contains asbestos cement, which has an adverse effect on the soil composition. Another disadvantage of using slate is heating from direct sun rays, which is why the evaporation of life-giving moisture from the soil increases. It can be easily eliminated with frequent watering.

An example of a slate curb in the country

It should be noted that it is slate that protects the fresh crop from the invasion of the bear due to deep digging into the ground.

Original bumpers for flower beds

You can decorate ordinary flower beds using. This is also a kind of strip for flower beds where flowers are planned to be grown. from wavy slate will look very cute. This material can be used in this case too. The device of a flower bed is similar to the creation of vegetable beds, only the shape is somewhat different here.

It can be round or irregular in shape, it all depends on the imagination of the summer resident himself. Wavy slate is more suitable here than flat slate. It is very convenient to grow beautiful flowers in such beds, because they become inaccessible to pests and yard inhabitants, local cats.

Original three-tiered flower bed

In addition to traditional materials, it is possible, which in huge quantities are thrown into landfills. Their benefits in everyday life cannot be underestimated; they will also be useful for summer cottage... With the help of them, you can create original stripes for the beds.

Each summer resident sooner or later asks how to make the beds beautiful and well-groomed, with a minimum of effort. Everyone wants to work less bent over, weed less, and get a great harvest. There is a way out - you need to make fences for the beds. They will help you to correctly place visual accents and turn an ordinary vegetable garden into a place of incredible beauty.

Ready fencing options

In addition to the available tools at hand, you can use ready-made options for creating borders. Fences from, and curb tapes are considered in demand. They are based on exclusively environmentally friendly materials. Such structures are not capable of harming either human health or pets and cultures. High-strength plastic fencing is durable, because it is in no way affected by corrosive processes.

It will serve for many years while maintaining its aesthetic appearance. have different shape, some may look like wrought iron, others have openwork outlines. There are options for fences that come together as one large puzzle, or solid framing of the beds. Here you can experiment with shapes by creating vegetable beds and flower beds of various sizes.


Also, some people prefer either from a material that imitates valuable breeds. It has a lot of advantages over other synthetic frames - naturalness, environmental friendliness, but creating framing beds with natural stone is not a cheap pleasure.

A more affordable alternative natural stone the usual paving slabs or brick, and the author's styling will give the flower beds a unique flavor.

You can make a unique brick edging by digging it in at a certain angle, or put it in several rows on a regular cement mortar... Some make a brick framing in the form of a barrier, digging in a row of bricks on the edge, and setting the second flat. An alternative to traditional bricks is paving stones, but this design will have certain disadvantages - the high cost of the material and the stationary frame.

Option for arranging a garden flower bed made of paving stones

It will not be mobile, as is the case with wood. You can make the framing of the beds in rustic styleusing cute or reed. They are 100% natural, but their durability is lame. 2-3 years after the initial installation of such a fence, it may need to be changed, since the material is very quickly subject to decay. You can weave such a fence for the beds yourself or purchase ready-made copies.

Some craftsmen take old clay plates, outdated DVDs, CDs, old disks from car wheels as a basis for creating frames, and can turn into beautiful well-groomed flower beds with lush flowers. It all depends on the efforts and imagination of the summer resident himself, any useless thing in the country it can come in handy and find a second life. Wood structures are considered the most affordable and environmentally friendly type of framing for flower beds and beds. Process of creation wooden frames pretty simple, doesn't take much time.

Original flower bed of logs

Only in terms of durability it loses to other materials, but this drawback can be eliminated by coating with a special antiseptic. New material you always need to mark and cut according to the scheme. Usual metal nails are used as fasteners. You also need to take care of creating legs that strengthen the joints. Wood has been and will be the most popular raw material for creating such structures, because it has always been used in everyday life and in the country.

Do not throw away old chocks and logs, they will make an excellent fence for flowers. Chocks of small diameter are suitable for her, you need to select them from other more massive ones. Lumps of equal length are sawn from the available material, buried vertically along the entire perimeter of the future flower bed. To extend the shelf life of such a design, the chocks can be wrapped with roofing felt or dipped in a special bituminous mastic.