Upcycle Old Glass Bottles To Create Budget-Friendly Brick Pavers With This Pretty DIY

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If you have a bunch of empty glass bottles and are wondering how best you can upcycle them, why not try turning them into pretty brick pavers? YouTube creator @Everyday Builders does this very well and produces bricks that look so unique you'll think they're a high-end purchase. The resulting product has a sparkly terrazzo-like look but only costs a fraction of the price of premade (and less durable) terrazzo tiles. You can use them to pave your patio, install landscape edging, build an accent wall in your garden, or even create one of the many budget-friendly DIY garden path ideas you've been wanting to try.

And guess what? Making these budget-friendly brick pavers is actually not that complicated. You must crush the glass bottles, mix the shards with a cement mortar mix, and then pour this mixture into paver molds. So if you're ready to make these DIY bricks, gather the supplies you need. Start by bringing out all the old glass bottles you've been collecting. If you don't have any glass bottles on hand, then stop by a local bar or restaurant and ask if you can collect a few of the empties they'd anyway be sending to the dump at the end of the day. Next, you'll need cement, sand, and water. For tools, get a hammer, metallic container to collect the bottle shards, piece of cardboard, a large piece of cloth, sand paper, mixing buckets, a trowel, and brick paver molds. For your safety, wear eye goggles, cut-resistant gloves, and a mask.

Preparing the glass should be first on your to-do list. Place one bottle in your metal container, then put cardboard on top of the bottle, and cover everything with cloth that will act as a sack to catch shards. Now, use the hammer to break the bottle to pieces. One bottle will create enough broken pieces for two to three bricks, so you can crush as many as you need.

Next, you'll make two types of mortar of different strengths in separate buckets. The first mortar type will contain 1 part cement and 6 parts sand. Mix these together dry first, then add water incrementally until you make a thick mixture. The second mortar type (that'll carry the glass shards) has 2 parts sand, 1 part cement, and 1 part glass shards. Add the glass after mixing in the water so that the wetness will prevent the glass powder from flying around.

With your mortar ready, oil the paver molds to prevent sticking, then pour a bit of the mortar with glass at the bottom of each mold. @EverydayBuilders has a tutorial on making your own brick molds if you do not have them. Next, pour in the other mortar (without glass) on top of the glass mixture to fill the paver mold. To strengthen your pavers, you can place a piece of chicken wire before pouring in the other mortar. Use a trowel to smooth the top, then leave to dry and cure in a shaded spot.

As the bricks cure, pour water on them during the first 24 hours and thereafter. After 24 hours, there's one other step: sanding. Grab a 100 grit sandpaper, wet the brick, then sand it down on the surface with the glass shards. Doing this will scrape away the excess mortar covering the beautiful glass pieces and also smooth out any sharp edges.

After that, leave the bricks to cure completely for about 28 days before use. Now, if you'd like even fancier brick pavers, there are many ways you can customize them. One way is to make the bricks colored by adding powdered color like this powdered pigment from Conspec to the mortar during mixing. You can make brown, green, black, terracotta, or yellow bricks this way. You can also apply a sealant like Dominator paver sealer at the very end to give your DIY bricks a beautiful shine while also protecting them from stains and cracks. Another way to jazz up these brick pavers is to make them into different shapes instead of the regular rectangles. You can simply use old milk jugs to create uniquely shaped paver molds with a clever DIY, or use your old plant saucers to make circular pavers, which are great as stepping stones.