How To Make Your Own Cement Pavers For Less Than $7

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Creating your own cement pavers can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to enhance your outdoor space. Whether you’re looking to build a unique patio, a stylish garden path, or make labels for your vegetables, homemade pavers offer the perfect blend of durability, customization and decoration. The process to make your own cement pavers is simpler and much faster than you might think and doesn’t require any specialized skills—just some basic tools, materials, and creativity (if you want!).

If you’re like 99% of people and don’t care to read the opening part of a blog post, jump to what you really came here for! My feelings are only a little hurt.

I landed on this idea when looking for pavers to use in our backyard fireplace/play area makeover. I’ve used store bought pavers in the front of our house and there’s nothing wrong with them but I liked the idea of adding a personal and creative touch to this area of the backyard. I thought it would be fun to add hand and foot prints of the kids and our dog and a few other creative designs as well. Also, since I only needed a few, this was actually going to be a more cost effective way to go about it.

Materials Used:

Cement mix
5 gallon bucket
Water
Paddle attachment
Drill
Paver molds
Stamps
Olive oil
Palm sander
600 grit sandpaper

STEP 1: Prep your paver mold and set up your work space

It is super important to have everything set up and in ready to use in the order in which you will be needing it. This cement sets pretty quickly so you don’t want to waste time once it’s poured!

Grease your mold

I don’t actually think this step is entirely necessary but just as a precaution I did do it each time. You don’t need anything fancy, some Pam cooking spray will do. I used our good olive oil and my personal chef, I mean husband, did not love that – haha! Anyways, just spread some oil all around the mold and you’ll be good to go.

For this particular project I chose to go with the hexagon mold over a square mold simply because it was the cheaper option -I will link some additional mold options below in the in the bonus tips section.

Prep anything else you’ll be using!

If you’re going to be using stamps, little hands and feet or animals, now is the time to get that ready. I laid out the stamps in the order in which I would be using them so I didn’t spell anything wrong in the coming panic.

I also made sure to set all of this up right next to the water hose and the place I was going to rinse out my bucket – you’ll see why in Step 4.

STEP 2: Mix your cement

Okay, this is a frustrating step for me and here’s why. I tested out 7+ ways to mix this in search of the *perfect* ratio of water to cement to share with you that way you wouldn’t have to do any guessing. But, I never found it. Womp womp. Check out the bonus tips for more information on experiment with this.

What did work the best was first pouring the dry cement into the 5 gallon bucket. I filled the bucket about 5-7 inches deep for one paver. Then, I SLOWLY added water with the hose while mixing with the paddle attachment on the drill. If you have a second person, it’ll make this step much easier. You’re going for a pancake batter consistency. Make sure you mix it really well to get all of the clumps out.

STEP 3: Pour your cement and pop bubbles

Once you have achieved pancake batter consistency, you’re ready to pour. Quickly, fill your mold. You may have a few bubbles along the outer edges. I tried a few different methods for popping bubbles. The best was gently picking up the sides of the mold and letting it fall to the ground. Also, tapping on the sides of the mold and shifting the mold back and fourth helped as well.

STEP 4: Clean your supplies

You’ll have a little time while your cement is setting so now is a good time to spray out your bucket and hose off the paddle attachment because the cement that is leftover on those will dry FAST. Give it a quick spray but make sure you do it in an area you don’t care much about. I did it over a bed of weeds for example.

My cute helpers are always close by.

STEP 5: Stamp your cement paver

Keep checking in on your paver. I found the stamps and imprints work best when it’s no longer sloshy. It should feel like the heal of your hand when you push on it with your finger. Stiff but with some give. Once it feels like that it’s time to start stamping! Simply push the letters in and pull them out! It turned out best when I pushed them in about ¾ of the way.

close up image of the "d" stamp being pushed into the cement

If you are doing hand or food prints, place the hand (or foot) on the cement and then use another hand to gently push each finger and palm down into the cement about ½ -3/4 in deep. Don’t let your toddler push her own hand in the cement -she’ll push all the way to the bottom and then your paver will be ruined. Ask me how I know, lol.

STEP 6: Remove paver from mold

It’s best to let the paver set for 12-24 hours although it is okay to remove from the mold as early as 3 hours after pouring. To remove it, simply turn the paver over and lift the mold off!

(Optional) STEP 7: Sand the paver

Since we were going to be walking on these pavers, and likely barefoot, I wanted to soften up some of the harsh edges where the stamps and imprints were. I used my palm sander and 600 grit sandpaper to run over all of the sharp edges.

That’s all there is to it! These pavers turned out so cute and functional! They are a super fun addition to this space and we’ll have them for years to come.

Bonus: Helpful tips

A second person will make this entire process much easier!
If you follow the instructions on the box it says to use a 4:1 ratio, cement to water. I tried that and felt that the cement set SUPER fast and did not work very well with the stamps. So, although that ratio probably produces the strongest paver, it wasn’t the best for artistic freedom. If you’re not stamping or imprinting these in any way then for sure go with that!
I used a pine needle to pop pesky bubbles. If you are going use something sharp to pop bubbles, make sure you do it immediately after pouring otherwise you will end up with large craters where the bubble was.
I was able to make 4 pavers out of one 55 gallon box of cement.
This is a decent square mold. Plant saucers worked great as a circle mold as well (and they are super cheap!).
I had leftover cement a few different times and it was pretty easy to pour it into whatever I had on hand – Tupperware in my case – and make some cute little garden markers.

cement in a Tupperware mold with the word "grow" stamped into it

I also wanted one, large, rectangular paver for in front of the trampoline but didn’t have a mold for it. I ended up lining a diaper box (check out this other project where diaper boxes came in handy) with tin foil and using that as my mold. It worked but the foil was challenging to get off in spots where it wrinkled. It didn’t really matter because it was placed in mulch and you can’t tell. Moral of the story, you can use just about anything as a mold with this cement!

Gift idea! We used plant saucers to make paver gifts for the grandmas for Mother’s day. They turned out super cute! You could do this for Father’s day, a birthday, front yard sign, etc.