OK, this isn't strictly C&V, but y'all're DIY types.

I keep my bikes in my basement, which has a door to the back yard, about 8 feet or so below street level (obviously). To get there from the street, I ride down a short, sloping path around the side of the house.


The soil where I live is really sandy. I'm always getting tons of sand in the basement, which really isn't good for bikes. I'd also like to stop the erosion on the path. What surfacing material do you think would be best for this path?

It needs to be smooth enough to negotiate in the dark and tenacious enough to resist erosion on a slope with daily bike traffic. I don't want to pave it, though -- the property line is a bit ambiguous and I don't want to antagonize my neighbor. Gravel? Mulch? Concrete pavers? Something else?

How about anti-erosion cloth?
Shop Erosion Control Blankets at Lowes.com!

I kind of partial to open concrete pavers, the kind that let grass or weeds grow through them. Gravel is just going to get dispersed eventually if you rid on it.

yellow bricks?

DG - Decomposed Granite. They usually sell it at a DIY landscape place. Pound it into place or it will get mushy in the rain., also some sort of edging to keep it from washing away. Many of my relatives used it for bocce courts.

cinders was what I used at a previous house for a pathway. Like the granite, you need to establish a suitable bed of them.

Pavingexpert - AJ McCormack and Son - Gravel, Cinder and Hoggin Paths and Drives

My driveway is "paved" with recycled asphalt (in my case, ground-up Interstate 93 pavement ) You can probably get it at your local gravel pit. I recently bought a pickup-truck-load to fill a couple low areas. They charged me just the loading fee of $20.

I would suggest crushed clam shells if you have access to them. Many people around here use them for driveways; they don't seem to disappear into the soil like gravel.

5/8" crush should do it. This is crushed rock, aka gravel available at your local landscaping place or gravel yard. Know anyone with a big pickup truck? Go pick it up a yard a at a time and shovel it out where you need it. You get best results when you pack it down, but you can do that just by walking all over it. If your yard gets muddy in winter 7/8" crush or inch minus would be a better call.

These are great suggestions. Thanks! [MENTION=336348]dweenk[/MENTION] , do the crushed clam shells ever cause punctures? A friend has a crushed-clam driveway at her beach house and insists that nobody ride a bike on it, for fear of flats. But she might not know what she's talking about.

Lots of good suggestions here. One thing to keep in mind is that whatever product you use; decomposed granite, crushed rock, cinders, recycled asphalt; you want to get a product that is not uniform in size. For a footpath I would suggest you get material that is evenly graded from a maximum of 3/8" or 1/2" down to dust. The smaller material helps to bind the larger pieces together and keep them from loosening up. Otherwise your tires will soon be sinking into the path rather than floating on top. It is worth the $50 or so to rent a vibratory compactor, also known as a "vibraplate," from your local rental yard to compact your new pathway. Lay down the pathway material 2 inches at a time and vibrate each lift with the compactor for a durable finish.

There are also pathway products that come with a built in binder material that will "glue" the path together and provide a very stable surface. In my area this material is usually decomposed granite with a cellulose-based binder. This is what many of the local park districts use for high traffic pathways.

Your pathway will eventually unravel at the edges unless you confine the gravel with some sort of borders. These can be as simple as wooden 2x4s held in place with stakes.

The open-cell concrete pavers are a very nice alternative if your soil isn't so sandy that they sink into it. They tend to be labor-intensive to install.

What material you use may come down to what is available in your local building materials yard. Talk to them about what sort of "pathway mix" they sell.

The erosion control blankets won't work for your situation. They are designed to provide some protection from erosion while new plantings take hold. They are not designed to hold up to pedestrian traffic and they are designed to decompose over time.

Brent

Not in my experience. The shells knit into a decent surface that drains pretty well (depending on the base under it). I have heard of some applications that were not "seasoned" and smelled for a week or so.