Choosing a driveway method

[Kent]

Don't use gravel - if you ever need a pallet to be delivered the pallet truck wheels sink straight in!
My last place was thick concrete - it was great but terrible in snow. My new house has a large gravel area - weeds always coming through - no good for jacking up cars but great in the snow!
Talking of water runoff I wonder if anyone has used porous tarmac like they use on some roads?

Put a board under the jack. Membrane under the gravel and torch the werds now and again

 

[W.olly]

Hi @W.olly ,
Just need a couple of pics of the area to be paved, a little sketch looking top down with dimensions of the outside edges. If done correctly by a good contractor sink should not happen. Is the ground in your area particularly soft?

Got the pics and details and will PM then to you.

Neigbour had his drive done with block paving - around £5000. Neighbour next to him did it himself - under £1000. Moral of story is labour is biggest cost.

I blocked the rear garden and would do the front but i am at the poit in life, all of 44 lol, i cant be bothered to DIY. Just want to launch the boat and chill out.

Don't use gravel - if you ever need a pallet to be delivered the pallet truck wheels sink straight in!
My last place was thick concrete - it was great but terrible in snow. My new house has a large gravel area - weeds always coming through - no good for jacking up cars but great in the snow!
Talking of water runoff I wonder if anyone has used porous tarmac like they use on some roads?

There is a tons on tons of gravel under it know and was all delivered by Hiab. Only used gravel as it was the cheapest way for us back then. Never again though but easy to jack up on and lye on a sheet of ply and axle stands/ jack on 18 inch square 18mm ply.

Put a board under the jack. Membrane under the gravel and torch the werds now and again

 

[Migmac]

I have gravel up to our gate, 30 feet possibly and then another 30 feet of gravel to the back of the house. You can’t get round the back without alerting the dogs. Block paving all along the back of the house. I prefer gravel, rake it a couple times a year to keep it loose, spray the weeds. Cheap n cheerful

 

[addjunkie]

I have gravel up to our gate, 30 feet possibly and then another 30 feet of gravel to the back of the house. You can’t get round the back without alerting the dogs. Block paving all along the back of the house. I prefer gravel, rake it a couple times a year to keep it loose, spray the weeds. Cheap n cheerful

Spray the weeks regularly. Then spray them again. But gravel is good for security, when I worked with South Africans in Angola, they all used gravel as an early warning under the house windows.

Block paving settles where you drive, and fills with moss.

Im a fan or type 1 hardcore and road plainings what ever is cheapest, but my drive is quite long.

 

[8ob]

We have about £2500 for it if thats an idea what to go for. Are these folk as bad or maybe good as builders and need to book them in like months in advance for a good compnay?

You should get change out of 2.5k if you go for concrete, its also a good base for tack coat and tarmac if you get bored with it at a later date. Go for proper readymix over the mobile volumetric batching mixers, its a lot stronger no matter what they claim.

Bob

 

[Migmac]

Spray the weeks regularly. Then spray them again. But gravel is good for security, when I worked with South Africans in Angola, they all used gravel as an early warning under the house windows.

Block paving settles where you drive, and fills with moss.

Im a fan or type 1 hardcore and road plainings what ever is cheapest, but my drive is quite long.

I also don’t oil hate latches or hinges for that reason

 

[ukracer]

Well atlong last we are getting into the house being `renovated` windows will be done in the next month or so and then we want the outside tidying as its a poop hole a sit is now. Before i build a garage ( cant wait for that. a nice covered work area for a change of about 30 x 15 foot ) we want the drive way done. It is 50sqm drive in all.

Now i like Tarmac but wary as some around here look a mess, like the surface has come loose in patches. Any idea why that happens?

I cant afford Printed concrete but then i believe it not as good as they say.

And blocks are to much i think.

We have about £2500 for it if thats an idea what to go for. Are these folk as bad or maybe good as builders and need to book them in like months in advance for a good compnay?

Any suggestions what would be good and if our budget will go anywhere near enough before we get folk out to quote as dont want to waste there or our time.

Cheers

Captain Faffer

How did you get on in the end. My son is buying a new house and was going to get it block paved until he was quoted by two contractors at the same price 10 x 10 at 5.5k wish I could get paid that sort of money.. Lol

 

[armalites]

How did you get on in the end. My son is buying a new house and was going to get it block paved until he was quoted by two contractors at the same price 10 x 10 at 5.5k wish I could get paid that sort of money.. Lol

You could if you did block paving

The blocks seem reasonable price until you realise you need 50 in a square meter

 

[W.olly]

How did you get on in the end. My son is buying a new house and was going to get it block paved until he was quoted by two contractors at the same price 10 x 10 at 5.5k wish I could get paid that sort of money.. Lol

Its not bloody easy to get folk to do things for a start. We have near 46sqm and min quote was £4000 and up to £5200. Little expected that but when i was talking to them when they come around to give a quote about how they do this and that and time scale none would give a good enough answer, i asked one about the base depth and what sub base they use, answer i got was `deep enough for enough MOT not to sink to park a car on ` and we use the `best` materials . Which to me is not an answer i want from a professional when i am paying a lot of money out. If i am paying i want to know what i am paying for.

Well in the end we decided to get just the front of the house done which is 14sqm, this was £1900 -£2200, i believe its a minimum charge they do for small areas.

After getting fed up with it i decided to do it myself and done the front of the house now and will do the drive later next year.

Its a reason i have always done things myself, guess i just dont rust folk to do a proper job.

 

[ukracer]

You could if you did block paving

The blocks seem reasonable price until you realise you need 50 in a square meter

But that's only 1500 quid ish at none trade prices...

 

[ukracer]

Its not bloody easy to get folk to do things for a start. We have near 46sqm and min quote was £4000 and up to £5200. Little expected that but when i was talking to them when they come around to give a quote about how they do this and that and time scale none would give a good enough answer, i asked one about the base depth and what sub base they use, answer i got was `deep enough for enough MOT not to sink to park a car on ` and we use the `best` materials . Which to me is not an answer i want from a professional when i am paying a lot of money out. If i am paying i want to know what i am paying for.

Well in the end we decided to get just the front of the house done which is 14sqm, this was £1900 -£2200, i believe its a minimum charge they do for small areas.

After getting fed up with it i decided to do it myself and done the front of the house now and will do the drive later next year.

Its a reason i have always done things myself, guess i just dont rust folk to do a proper job.

Yep I can mirror almost exactly your findings. I only ever had people to do two things in my house. Carpet fitting and Plastering. I now do my own carpets and and plaster my own walls but still won't do ceilings.. Lol
I only get gas safe in as its now law........i guess when you do things for free or a drink you don't learn the value of labour.

 

[ukracer]

you need a proper tarmac firm to do the job not travellers and chancers with some sh....y old tarmac with added diesel to soften it then use a garden roller over it whoever you get get the spec on what ground preparation they are going to use weed out the idiots

This is the problem no one appears to want to tell you...I thought it was so you did not do it yourself but it appears many dont know. We just had some cowboys turn a garden into Block paving and put about 6 inch of hard core and MOT in total...

 

[addjunkie]

This is the problem no one appears to want to tell you...I thought it was so you did not do it yourself but it appears many dont know. We just had some cowboys turn a garden into Block paving and put about 6 inch of hard core and MOT in total...

If you want them to give you something specific, fo some research, take advice, then write a spec of what you want, and tell them all to price to the same spec.

Thats how its done in industry.

 

[ukracer]

If you want them to give you something specific, fo some research, take advice, then write a spec of what you want, and tell them all to price to the same spec.

Thats how its done in industry.

If I knew the spec I wanted I would be half way to doing it myself though.

To be honest no way can he afford 5.5k and he has just had two quotes in tarmac around a very similar price so. You might well be right I will have to research what it needs and get on the digger myself. I used to build RC tracks so finishing is not a problem once I know the size of ballast sand etc. We actually levelled out the drive at his last house as it was 45 degree or so and we levelled one side by building a wall and infilling with scrap mixture of sand/ballast hard core and broken breeze blocks. This was all free and we re used the block paving so it only cost us a bag of sand.
This time it's different... Lol got a buy everything.

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

Entire job, removal of old slabs, new ground works etc for this was the cheapest option out of three quotes I got for blocking and imprinting. Cost about £2500.

Have to re-caot every two years as car is parked up in the corner in the winter to keep the frost off it.