Suitable Drive Surface - Block, Resin, Cobbles or.......

[Mike Reed]

gravel?

I'd forgotten that gravel was the dominant material here, with paving slabs and soil (mud) when we moved here 22 years ago. It deteriorated- all of it but the cats' poo roughly buried in the gravel was horrendous and one had to watch one's step

I was going to add a few points about our experience of block paving but Darren L's excellent resume above covers those, except that we don't maintain regularly or frequently and filling gaps with silver sand (?) has been a rare occasion; sweeping? Can't remember when !. Our Chelsea tiles/blocks/ whatever forming out rear patio need much more weeding and maintenance; strange, as it's the same construction.

One other thing. It may cost a few thou. to get a good job done (less if you can find a non-VAT reg'd artisan) but this is immediately reflected in your house's kerb appeal and, ultimately, sale price.

 

[gintonic]

Gravel is our favourite. If we needed a drive it is what we would have.

 

[Bob McC]

Just having our drive done now ,the guys are civil engineers who do highways . They dug out about 350 mm deep and guy who dropped 8 tons of proper stone ( not the recycled stuff) was very impressed . Bit like the m5 is some folks comments . Its tarmac with concrete and block paving around .

Resin is a pitb to reinstate if you need a new drain or something , in a recent building project the architect and builders avoided the resin footpath like the plague because of that .

One guy here has had that shiny imprinted concrete done , looks horrible ,and drains downwards towards the air bricks , one day they will have a flood in base of floor

After long deliberation and comparing drives on our estate we went with tarmac and block paving edging. It’s been down two years and we get people knocking on the door to admire it asking who did it for us.
We considered block paving and resin but walking round the estate the blocks seem to need a lot of maintenance otherwise they soon get weed covered in the joints. Resin drives look the dogs doo dahs when installed but many others were faded or cracked or stained and as I said earlier the ones I have experienced are slippy when wet.
Some people have gravel. It looks ridiculous unless you have a country pile with a sweeping drive. Every gravel drive I’ve seen ends up spilling on the pavement.

 

[Darren L]

Nothing wrong with 3 x 2 concrete flags if they're laid properly @Mullardman once again it's all in the prep work.
Due to the nature of paving block with the spacers and bevelled edge, dirt will rest there, even when sealed, weeds and moss will grow in dirt, frequent brushing avoids this, a bit like teeth it needs to be brushed frequently and kept clean.
York Stone is not a suitable material for driveways, too soft and the slabs are generally too thin. Caithness stone is .
Gravel is a pain in the hole to maintain, our last house had a 600 sq metre gravel drive, never again, not as long as my arse looks down would I entertain a gravel driveway.

 

[hifinutt]

a while back we had to do the drive on this lovely place belonging to my bro in Marford featured on the front of this book , it was in fact in many tons of gravel but fortunately the drive slopped backwards so didnt generally go on the road . would have been massive job to do in tarmac i think

Marford A Present from the Past RD Hutchison Local History Rossett Wrexham Wales | eBay

Marford - A Present from the Past, by RD Hutchison. A local history book on this historic village close to Wrecsam/Wrexham in North Wales.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[clivem2]

Gravel is fine if you have a threshold. There’s very little spill if you have a 1m to 2m threshold of cobbles or similar. Porous too…. Arguably more secure too as you hear people on your drive plus casual thieves scouting around tend to avoid gravel drives.

No maintenance concerns here but our gravel drive is only 50 sq m.

 

[gintonic]

Gravel is fine if you have a threshold. There’s very little spill if you have a 1m to 2m threshold of cobbles or similar. Porous too…. Arguably more secure too as you hear people on your drive plus casual thieves scouting around tend to avoid gravel drives.

No maintenance concerns here but our gravel drive is only 50 sq m.

yep we have some gravel out the back. Cat alert system tells us when something is approaching.

 

[Darren L]

Gravel is fine if you have a threshold. There’s very little spill if you have a 1m to 2m threshold of cobbles or similar. Porous too…. Arguably more secure too as you hear people on your drive plus casual thieves scouting around tend to avoid gravel drives.

No maintenance concerns here but our gravel drive is only 50 sq m.

I worked for a small casting materials company for a short time in Kineton, on finding out I'd built a couple of bikes one of the salesmen told me an interesting story.
He'd advertised a Harley on ebay for sale and had no real joy selling it , a short while after he had some left over full sheets of plasterboard forsale on ebay, a deal was struck and the buyer arrived in his van to pick up the plasterboard. The plasterboard was removed from his garage, the cash paid.
Shortly after his Harley was stolen from his garage, when the police came to 'investigate' the policeman told him they most likely rolled out a couple of pieces of carpet to wheel the bike out making little noise.

 

[gavreid]

. Many have block paving and spend days brushing moss from between them and brushing kiln dried sand in if ever we have a dry day

Few people know that old fashioned washing soda (calcium carbonate) kills moss very effectively and washes away!

 

[Suffolk Tony]

Yep. We have several gravel drives locally. It's a lazy and anti social approach in my view and yes.. it spills onto the pavement and road, which brings the risk of pebbles being fired at windows, or innocent bystanders, by passing vehicle tyres.

Depends on the type of property, and type of location. If you're like us, in an old cottage and in a country lane then gravel is great. It's certainly not antisocial! Block paving & the like just look awful.

As synapse posts, every few years you just bung a new bag or two on top. There's something grand about the gentle crunch it makes, & we can hear when cars come up our drive.

 

[Yank]

Concrete is reasonably durable. If it's too plain for you, the installers can add color and/or textures.

 

[Mullardman]

Few people know that old fashioned washing soda (calcium carbonate) kills moss very effectively and washes away!

Interesting.. May try it on my borders, ..ought to kill the moss AND raise the pH..

gravel is great. It's certainly not antisocial!

I think it depends on context and possibly gravel type. I've skidded on flint pebbles whilst walking past a few of the more selfish examples at the top of our street.

 

[Suffolk Tony]

..
I think it depends on context and possibly gravel type. I've skidded on flint pebbles whilst walking past a few of the more selfish examples at the top of our street.

Think I posted that. No footpaths in our rural neck of the woods.

 

[gintonic]

who do highways

did they whiteline down the middle, and install a giveaway sign

 

[Darren L]

Depends on the type of property, and type of location. If you're like us, in an old cottage and in a country lane then gravel is great. It's certainly not antisocial! Block paving & the like just look awful.

As synapse posts, every few years you just bung a new bag or two on top. There's something grand about the gentle crunch it makes, & we can hear when cars come up our drive.

I'd opt for reclaimed cobbles with that type of property in a rural location.

 

[gavreid]

Interesting.. May try it on my borders, ..ought to kill the moss AND raise the pH..

I wouldn't recommend it in borders!

 

[hifinutt]

did they whiteline down the middle, and install a giveaway sign

ah not yet still awaiting the tarmac !!

 

[hifinutt]

Concrete is reasonably durable. If it's too plain for you, the installers can add color and/or textures.

Sold a house last year in Devon , owner had spent £££££ on that imprinted concrete stuff . some years later it looked absolutely horrible and cracked . nasty stuff there , i expect the new owner [ fortunately a builder ] had to rip it up and rebuild .

 

[Rockmeister]

bung down granite chipings
3or 4 cm deep

done.

 

[stevec67]

Few people know that old fashioned washing soda (calcium carbonate) kills moss very effectively and washes away!

Washing soda is sodium carbonate. Calcium carbonate is limestone. It's useless for killing moss or washing clothes because it won't dissolve in water. It makes halfway decent driveways though, if in suitable sizes. Conversely, washing soda is useless as a driveway material because it washes away in the rain. Solubility can be a real 2 edged sword.