Garden bridge, build a bridge with your own hands, step by step instructions
According to landscape designers, decorative wooden bridges are recognized as one of the most original additions to the architecture and design of the garden. Being a small architectural form, they successfully fit into any stylistic direction, giving the overall garden design a touch of exquisite completeness. If you plan to decorate the passage through an artificial reservoir in an original way, making it as profitable as possible from an economic point of view, a wooden bridge will be the most optimal solution for you. Adherents of original stylistic decisions will like the idea of \u200b\u200bplacing a garden bridge on a lawn, among lush vegetation and flower beds, so you can put the necessary accents.
Content
- Garden bridges. The main role in the landscape design of the site video
- Requirements for garden bridges
- The location of the wooden garden bridge
- How to ensure the safety of the bridge for the garden?
- DIY wooden garden bridge: work sequence video
Garden bridges. The main role in the landscape design of the site
It’s good if there is a small lake or stream on your homestead territory, the passage through which can be arranged using a garden bridge.
However, this is not a prerequisite, as modern design ideas allow you to organize a dry stream of pebbles and small gravel that simulates the flow of water. At present, in order to reflect the aesthetics of the garden area, garden bridges try not to attach them to an artificial reservoir, which indicates that the installation of a bridge does not necessarily require an artificial reservoir or a dry stream.
Wooden garden bridges, being the sales leader among the elements of the original design, are characterized by an impressive cost, which makes you think about finding a more economical solution.
The most successful of them will be the manufacture of a wooden bridge with your own hands, and this will be discussed in this article.
Requirements for garden bridges
When arranging a wooden bridge for a summer residence, you must clearly observe a number of indicative requirements for the quality of this design element.
Consider the main ones:
1. Durability and operational reliability. One of the most basic qualitative characteristics of products for a summer residence, interesting to owners of personal territories. In order to extend the operational life, owners of plots who wish to build a garden bridge should not neglect the processing of products with protective compounds, as well as constant care;
2. Security of the structural element. In the case of the bridge, it is also considered the most important aspect of construction, since the health of a person who decides to cross the pond through the reservoir depends on it.
In accordance with this requirement, the base of the bridge must be installed on the ground or foundation, the frame of the structure must ensure the simultaneous passage of several people along the bridge, and the material is securely fixed. In this situation, one should not forget about the timely care of the product, since it eliminates the excessive fragility of the structure;
3. The decorative and aesthetic characteristics are no less important characteristics of the bridge as a small architectural form.
Since any body of water located on a summer cottage can be easily circumvented, it is absolutely possible to conclude that the passage through it is equipped with the aim of arranging the necessary decorative accents.
Fans of Feng Shui will be pleased to know that from the point of view of the eastern sages, the bridge is a kind of mediator between the human soul and outer space, and all important problems must be considered without fail, standing on the bridge.
The location of the wooden garden bridge
Having decided to do the arrangement of the bridge of wood with your own hands, you should clearly imagine the place of its future location.
If the bridge is a functional element of the site and its installation is characterized by purely practical significance, it will be appropriate to place it where there is a body of water, however, if the bridge is installed only for the purpose of decorating the territory, its location may be the most unusual, for example, a backyard, where you see bridge, your guests will be truly amazed.
If you plan to decorate the territory with the help of a dry creek, supplemented by a mixborder or rock garden, and install a wooden bridge through the creek, it will be most beneficial to do this in the foreground of the site.
It is often practiced to install a bridge near the recreation area. It is important to note that designers do not recommend connecting a round pond with a bridge.
How to ensure the safety of the bridge for the garden?
Creating a garden bridge of wood with your own hands, you need to take care of precautions in a timely manner. Given that the height of the bridge significantly exceeds the soil level, consider the presence of a railing, the height of which will be most optimal for a person of average height. To meet safety precautions, they must be securely fastened.
Since walks can be carried out not only in the daytime, but also at night, take care of proper lighting of the territory on which the bridge is located. In this case, several options are possible: installation near the design of lamps along the contour of garden paths, or direct integration of lamps into a wooden flooring. A good option would also be to install a lamp near the bridge or solar lamps.
The final safety requirement for the bridge is made of non-slip materials. Which obviously excludes traumatic injuries. To reduce the slippery of the flooring, it is necessary to mount rubber inserts in the coating, or provide for the presence of protrusions, notches for which can be applied manually.
DIY wooden garden bridge: work sequence
When constructing a garden wooden bridge, they primarily prepare a place for it. For this purpose, the banks of the reservoir are strengthened with cobblestones or gravel.
The prepared slopes allow you to most firmly install two wooden bars that are parallel, and the distance between them plays a decisive role in determining the width of the decorative bridge.
In those places where wooden blocks are in contact with the soil, waterproofing measures are carried out, which include treating the wood with antiseptic agents and smearing with molten bitumen or wrapping them with roofing felt.
After processing and laying the bars, they begin to fasten them.
For these purposes, pegs made of metal are forgotten in the notch to the bars, and span bars are installed on the supports, the length of which is equal to the length of the bridge. Then, in a similar manner, they are fixed using metal brackets.
The next stage is the arrangement of the flooring. To this end, boards with a thickness of at least 3 cm are nailed to the longitudinally span bars, in the transverse direction. The clamp bars are fixed on top of the boards, and at the same time, measures are taken to reduce the slippage of the bridge.
Having completed all of the above activities, set the railing for the bridge. The most simplified method is to vertically fasten the bars at least 1 meter long, located at a distance of 40 cm from each other along the long sides of the structure, that is, span bars. On these bars horizontally oriented beams are fixed, which will be the railing.
It is important to remember that they must be securely fixed, and do not spare the screws to strengthen them.
After installation, the lighting system is installed and decorated in accordance with your wishes and aesthetic ideas. By the way, it will be noted that decoration involves many activities from painting to revitalizing the bridge with the help of floral arrangements.
