Gardening Landscaping Decks & Patios How to Build a Broken Brick Patio Don't toss broken bricks in the trash! Instead, make this charming custom patio in just six hours and a few simple steps (no masonry skills required). By Marty Ross Marty Ross Marty is an award-winning garden journalist and author of hundreds of articles for Better Homes & Gardens and Country Gardens. Her monthly newspaper gardening column was syndicated to newspapers in North America for 25 years. She was a gardening columnist for the Kansas City Star for 20 years, and for many years also wrote gardening columns for the New York Times. She has written for major gardening magazines around the world, including Horticulture, The American Gardener, and The Garden. She is a professional reporter and journalist, but also a gardener, with a sprawling country garden in Virginia. Learn about BHG's Editorial Process Updated on September 14, 2022 Share Tweet Pin Email Project Overview Working Time: 5 hours Total Time: 6 hours Skill Level: Intermediate With simple tools and no masonry experience, you can turn a pile of old broken bricks into a handsome patio or garden path. Or you can make a surface for the watering cans next to a garden spigot or lay out an area about the size of a throw rug by your back door. Broken bricks lend themselves to free-form mosaic designs rather than the tidy herringbone, basketweave, and running-bond patterns you might see in a formal garden. Fitting the bricks together is a little like working a puzzle: You let the bricks help define the design, which can be as random or fanciful as you like. No two projects look the same. Follow these step-by-step instructions to create your own brick brick patio design. What You'll Need Equipment / Tools Mason's hammer with striking head and chisel 8x8-inch tamper Dead-blow rubber mallet Shovel Broom Materials Bricks Gravel Sand Instructions Collect Supplies In addition to old bricks, you'll need gravel and sand to form the base. The staff at a building-supply retailer will be able to help you figure out how much material you need for the size of your project. You can make your brick patio as long and sprawling or small and charming as you choose. How to Build a DIY Brick Outdoor Kitchen Break Up Brick Use a mason's hammer to break a brick into smaller pieces or chip old mortar off bricks. Use the tamper to compress the sand-and-gravel base. A dead-blow rubber mallet sets the bricks in place Create Brick Edging Excavate the area and lay a base of about 1 1/2 inches of gravel. Tamp down the gravel and top with 1 1/2 inches of masonry sand. Establish a brick edge first and then place a couple of odd-shape stones into the design. Fill in with brick pieces; tamp the bricks into place with a mallet. Place Bricks Place the bricks as close together as possible. This is where you have free reign on your new patio; the size and shape of your bricks may suggest fanciful patterns. Go the classic route with simple stacks or get creative with curves and zig-zags. Spread Sand and Finish Brick Patio After the bricks are in place, use a shovel to spread sand over the area. Sweep the sand between the bricks with a broom until all gaps are filled. You might need to add more sand and sweep the area a couple of times to fill in all the gaps. Now, sit back and enjoy your new broken-brick patio! Related: Make a Brick Path