Drive surface materials - choice?

[Luke]

Evening all,

I'm planning to convert our front garden in to a drive sometime in the near future, and i've been considering the various surfaces available.

block paving - looks nice, not compatible with landrovers/oil
gravel - cheap, easy to 'mend', messy, rubbish to work on
tarmac - nice to work on, expensive?


Any other thoughts? The new surface/drainage rules mean i think i'm looking at building a soakaway for drainage, to prevent run-off water leaving my property.

Cheers

Luke

 

[109party]

well heres my tip store it on the drive way gravel work on it on the patio,what i do till i finish the workshop.

 

[breezer]

Does gravel get around the new regs?

My ndn has concrete drive with a "cut out" filled with gravel in the middle nicely positioned under the sump of his capri. Best of both worlds?

 

[rtbcomp]

Use concrete hollows and fill the holes with soil and plant grass. Nice & solid to drive on, comfy to lie on and allows drainage. Beggar to find dropped screws though.

 

[Robotstar5]

"creteprint" with arco drainage channel set in or flags with a couple missing filled with gravel for drainage and if a flag gets oil-stained just swap it out!

 

[stormin]

If you've got oil or diesel leaks, Tarmac isn't very good. My tarmac drive is a mess after my Skoda fuel filter sprung a leak.

Block pavers are as good as anything if you seal them with a waterproofer. Same goes for concrete, once sealed they resist oil stains better.

Block pavers make for easy future repairs, if you need to put new services into your house or dig down to a drain etc. Tarmac or concrete are a nightmare and leave an ugly patchwork.

Resin bounds gravels are another option. Look nice, stand up well to abuse but not cheap.

Not sure if it's come in yet but there was talk of Council's requiring planning permission for new drives / hardstandings due to the extra rainfall run-off entering sewers causing flooding problems.

If that's the case RTB's comments on grasscrete or similar should get round that problem.

Whatever you do make sure you get a decent sub-base put down. Most bad drives are down to skimping on depth of sub-base material, not digging out soft spots and compacting properly.