Concrete Walkways near you

Approved Document M Volume 1, the 2015 edition with 2016 amendments, covers access to and use of dwellings in England and deals directly with the approach route: the external and internal parts of the route to the dwelling that fall within its plot or curtilage, and, where parking is not within the curtilage, the route between the dwelling and the nearest point at which a visitor would expect to get in and out of a car. It says the route should be safe and convenient for everyone, including older and disabled people and some wheelchair users, should adopt the shallowest gradient that can reasonably be achieved, and should be step-free where possible.

The dimensions it gives are usable numbers for any path. The approach route should be level, gently sloping, ramped or, where unavoidable, stepped; all external parts should have a suitable ground surface; the route should be a minimum of 900mm wide with a maximum cross fall of 1 in 40; and where a driveway forms all or part of the route, an additional allowance at least 900mm wide should be provided so that a wheelchair user can pass a parked car. For a ramped approach, individual flights should be no more than 10m long at gradients up to 1 in 15 and no more than 5m long at gradients up to 1 in 12, every flight should be a minimum of 900mm clear width, there should be a top and bottom landing with an intermediate landing between flights and at any change of direction, and every landing should be a minimum of 1200mm long, clear of the swing of a door or gate.

Where the plot is too steep for a step-free route, the same document sets out the stepped approach: steps uniform with a rise of 75mm to 150mm and a minimum going of 280mm, measured 270mm from the narrow end of a tapered step; suitable tread nosings; no individual flight rising more than 1800mm between landings; a minimum clear flight width of 900mm; landings at top and bottom, and intermediate ones where necessary, each at least 900mm long; and a grippable handrail to one side of every flight with three or more risers, 850mm to 1000mm above the pitch line and extending at least 300mm beyond the flight.

Northern Ireland has its own regulations and its own guidance, and it is worth reading rather than assuming the England document carries across. Technical Booklet H of 2012, supporting the Building Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012, sets out both a ramped approach and a stepped approach in terms that are recognisably similar but not identical. Its ramped approach should have an unobstructed width of not less than 900mm, ramps not exceeding 10m in length where the slope does not exceed 1 in 15 or 5m where it does not exceed 1 in 12, and landings with an unobstructed length of not less than 1200mm.

Its stepped approach should have flights of not less than 900mm unobstructed width, a rise of not more than 1800mm in each flight, steps with a uniform rise of not less than 75mm and not more than 150mm, a uniform going of not less than 280mm measured 270mm from the narrow end of a tapered tread, steps that are not open and have a profile that reduces the risk of tripping, a maximum of 16 steps in a flight, and landings of not less than 900mm unobstructed length. A suitable continuous handrail is expected on one side of the flight, and at an intermediate landing where the flight has three or more steps.

The Northern Ireland handrail heights are stated separately from the England ones and are worth quoting when you brief a contractor there: 900mm measured vertically above the pitch line of a flight of steps and 1000mm above the surface of a landing, extending not less than 300mm horizontally beyond the top and bottom nosings. Scotland works to its building standards technical handbooks instead, and Wales publishes its own Approved Documents, so in either case use the document for your own country rather than the England one.

Solid material coming off your land is dealt with by section 151 of the Highways Act 1980, which applies in England and Wales. A competent authority may, by notice to the owner or occupier of any land adjoining a street which is a highway maintainable at public expense, require him within 28 days from the date of service to execute such works as will prevent soil or refuse from that land from falling, or being washed or carried, onto the street or into any sewer or gully in it in such quantities as to obstruct the street or choke the sewer or gully. Failing to do so within the period is an offence with a fine up to level 3 on the standard scale and a further daily penalty, and there is a right of appeal to a magistrates' court.

Surface water is handled by section 163 of the same Act, which is aimed at premises rather than at land, and which is explained on the concrete driveways page on this site. Its effect for a path is simple enough to state here: an authority can require the occupier or owner to put in and keep the channels, gutters or downpipes needed to stop water from the premises falling on people using the highway and, as far as is reasonably practicable, to stop surface water reaching the footway, and there is an offence with a daily penalty for ignoring the notice.

Very few homeowners will ever see a notice under either section, but the two together describe what a well-built approach does at the boundary. Rain that lands on your path goes into your own drainage or your own planting. Soil, grit and gravel from a raised border or a bank beside the path stay on your side of the gate rather than washing across the pavement every time it rains. A path built falling towards the street fails that test on both counts at once.

A path is a small slab and it fails in the same ways a big one does, so the sequence is the same and the discipline matters more because the margins are tighter. The route is set out and the levels are established first, including the crossfall and the point where the path meets the threshold, the drive and the footway. Then the ground is excavated to formation, soft areas are dug out rather than bridged, and a sub base is compacted in layers. On a narrow path it is tempting to skip the base entirely and pour the concrete straight onto the ground, and that is the single most common reason domestic paths crack and tilt within a few years.

Edges and joints come next in importance. A path has a very high ratio of edge to area, so an unsupported or thin edge is proportionally much more damaging than it is on a drive, and a thickened edge or a haunched kerb is worth the extra concrete. Movement joints are placed at regular intervals along the run and at every point where the path meets a wall, a step, a manhole or another slab, so the concrete cracks along a designed line rather than across the middle of the route.

Finishing is where a path earns its keep in a wet climate. The surface should be textured for grip, usually brushed across the direction of travel, and the falls should be checked with a level before the concrete stiffens rather than assessed afterwards with a bucket of water. Steps get particular attention, since nosings are where a path hurts people, and the guidance is explicit about uniform rises and suitable nosing profiles. The slab is then cured and kept off for the time specified.

Paths are priced on length and complication rather than on area alone, because the formwork, the edges and the setting out take a disproportionate share of the time. The things that change a quotation are how much excavation and spoil removal is involved, the depth of base needed for the ground you have, whether the route includes steps, a ramp or a change of direction, whether guarding or a handrail is being provided, how the concrete gets to a back or side passage that no lorry can reach, the finish specified, and what happens to the water at the bottom of the fall. Lifting and disposing of an old path, and working around drains, covers, gates and planting, is real work that a thin quotation often leaves out.

Getting two or three contractors to price the same brief is the point of LokalMatch. Describe the path once with your postcode, its approximate length and width, whether there are steps or a slope, what is there now and where the water should end up, and groundwork and paving contractors covering your area contact you directly. Nothing is charged to the homeowner; the professionals pay for the requests they receive. LokalMatch does not build paths, does not set prices and does not vet, rank or recommend anybody who replies, so comparing the base depth, the falls, the step dimensions and the finish across the quotations is your job rather than ours.