By recycling old concrete whether it is coming from your house, a construction site or from the road side, it will definitely help reduce your landfill from being congested. The broken pieces of a concrete can provide you with an interesting look to your recycling projects. Below are some of the suggestions on how to recycle your concrete.
What you need:
- Broken concrete pieces
- Wheel barrel or cart
- Gloves
- Shovel
- River rock (depending on project)
Method:
To build a concrete flower bed wall
- Use some concrete pieces to make a raised flowerbed around your garden tree. Firstly, remove the layer of sod to enable the concrete pieces to be placed on the dirt\’s surface. Carefully make a circle around the selected tree.
- Place the first level of your flowerbed concrete and ensure that the concrete piece is upside down allowing the rough surface of it facing up making it a more interesting display.
- Fit the broken pieces together like a puzzle as you place it around the circle. In order to level it into place, stomp the affected pieces or dig a little dirt from beneath the concrete.
- Next, stagger the next row of your concrete pieces by laying it across two of the pieces from bottom row. The second and following row must follow as what you did for first row. If you like it to be on two or three level, it is up to your creativity but remember not to go higher than that because it will be unstable. Then, fill the circle with additional dirt and start planting your tree or flowers.
To build Stepping Stones
- Create a path through your garden by using the broken concrete as stepping stones. Then, choose river rock, sand or even mulch to fill in between them.
- You can also enhance the existing rock bed by digging up the river rock, sand or mulch out in places before replacing it with a piece of the broken concrete. Lay the concrete upside down to allow the rock to be shown and blend together with the rock bed.
- This new stepping-stone is easy to maintain because it just requires you to only hose it with water occasionally.
Additional Reading:
http://www.concretenetwork.com/concrete/demolition/recycling_concrete.htm
http://www.ehow.com/how_4506745_recycle-concrete.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_2363750_recycle-broken-concrete.html
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/how-to-recycle-concrete
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/greenovate-recycle-concrete.html
Image Credit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/magicicada/2266494156/
