Garden walkways with "stabilized" sand ?

Hi everybody,

I want to build a few walkways on my land: I live on the coast of Portugal with a humid micro-climate, it gets pretty muddy in the winter.
I've considered several alternatives, from loose gravel to wood chips to stones, but none really enchanted me (e.g. weeds growing in gravel).

In my research i came across "stabilized sand", although there's not that much information, and I couldn't located any threads on permies.

It's basically a mix of 10-12 parts sand for 1 part concrete, generally no water as the humidity in the red sand is enough, it's quite a dry mix. Then it's laid down and compressed (good compression seems key). I've done some testing and love the rendering (using red sand and white cement), I attach a few pictures. It's also very easy to mix and apply.

Of course I want to use as little material as necessary for a durable result, do you have any experience/advice, especially on the following aspects ?

1- The first tests I did is only 1 inch thick after compression. As seen on the rest of the walkway i haven't done yet, I remove the grass, roots, and compress the soil before laying the stabilized sand. After 3 weeks the test area looks ok and i've been walking on it, but is that a recipe for disaster, like it's going to crack everywhere after a few months ?

2- I was initially thinking to go ahead with this rather thin design. If it works, great, and if it cracks I'd use that as a stable (?) base layer and could just lay down another inch or 2 of stabilized sand on top. Or is that a recipe for double-disaster ?

3- Would it be stronger with a layer of packed gravel below ? Or a layer of actual concrete with gravel ? Or just increase the thickness of stabilized sand ?

4- About 2 inches deep there is a lot of gravel already (see on the last picture, i think it was once a gravel filled area and soil built-up on it since then). So could that gravelly soil be my stable base layer on top of which I would add a 2 inches of stabilized sand ?

5- Is stabilized sand just not a good idea for walkways ?

Thank you very much, I'll post updates and (sunny) pictures if I go ahead with it !

Does it freeze where you are ?
If so, this material seems too porous to last, freeze thaw cycles will take it out.
If not, I think digging down to the gravel layer and adding the 2" layer of stabilized sand to that should be sufficient.

Thanks for your reply William !
In 7 years i've seen maybe 5 nights with frost, and never below -0.5ºC, the soil never got frozen, just the tip of the grass.
That's good news, i'm getting excited !
I'll post pictures after some progress, meanwhile any additional comment/suggestion is very welcome.

Thanks !
Yannick

Hello,

Walkway has been done over a year ago, for now it's still in good shape, pictures below.
Thanks for the advice !
Yannick

Hello, I'm curious as to how your walkway is doing. Os there anything you would have done differently?

Hello Jacob,

I love the walkway in itself, really nice to have a path around the house. In terms of structure, it's doing good in most parts, except one spot where moles digged right after I laid the stabilized sand, making it crack. Seeds have germinated and the cracks expanded, as you can see in the pictures. Still ok for now but will have to redo that section.

The rest is good, quite narrow than a few years back as i let the grass creeping over. I made it quite minimalist though, around 2-3cm thick of stabilized sand on top earth. So not sure how many more years before it starts cracking in other places, but should be easy to redo, maybe on top. In any case, quickly done and many years of being great.  

Thanks for asking !
Cheers
Yannick