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My block paving driveway is on a slope. The lower end sunk long ago so the rainwater collects in a big puddle. I am (finally) lifting and shifting the blocks and sand bed with the intention of adding and compressing more material to raise the level, and put them back. I was expecting to find type 1 under there but the sand layer was essentially put straight onto an uneven concrete base. So my question is what material can I use straight onto concrete to compress down and raise this driveway level? At its worse it needs a good few inches. Some have suggested gravel / much smaller stones than MOT type 1 because that will compress better against the already hard concrete. Then sand compressed, then blocks tampered finally back. Any other suggestions?

So it seems we have been given a very lazy enforcement officer. Any advice so so welcome!! Just before Christmas (literally the 24th!) we had taken down our front boundary wall due to the structural integrity of it being compromised and it was the best time as no people taking children to school etc. We have only owned the property for 2 years (nearly) and had always had it in the pipeline to apply to make our large unused front garden into parking. Especially as parking is difficult around here! So we have dug the garden out laid gravel grids and gravel in place of the grass so it’s still permeable. We had been using it as a drive for 1 vehicle despite it being roomy enough for 2 and still have the walkway to our front door. It does not have a dropped kerb, however we had planned to apply for this just was a busy start to the year. However, by the 20th of January (less than a month of doing it!) we had been reported for turning our garden into parking. This was by our nightmare neighbour who lives next door (who doesn’t even own the property next door I might add!) it comes to light that it had been applied for and denied back in 2018. Once we had a look into the prior refusal they had refused mainly on the grounds that it had poor visibility (at this time people could park either side of the road including up to 10 metres from a junction.) since this the council have altered the road in extending yellow lines from the junction across our property and the property to our right and restricted all the parking with yellow lines quite some distance on the opposite side of the road (length of about 6 terrace houses) I will try to include a picture! They also mentioned it being in between 2 junctions (which will be shown in the pic!) however our parking/garden is more than 10 meters from each junction which is the legal minimum. Could I argue this? Given this the enforcement officer dealing with our case has said she has be liaising with highways and supposedly passed on the new information and they’ve upheld their previous decision and gave the highways “response” which was an undated document. When looking at the response I realised it’s word for word the exact same response given in 2018. So much so that there are statements made that are now untrue being 5 years has passed (saying 3 accidents have taken place on the junctions in the last 3 years when there hasn’t been an accident on either junction since 2017.) and that the visibility splay was taken at 2 meters instead of 2.4 but this was the splay provided in the original application as we haven’t supplied them a splay of own as we haven’t been given the chance to apply ourselves yet! We have been told by this same enforcement officer that the highways have said “they will not support any application”. We don’t understand how this can be the case especially as again this is essentially hearsay as we haven’t been given an official or dated document or email stating this from highways. We feel we have been treated very unfairly especially given that at the end of our row of terraces there is a driveway directly next a junction. With a lowered kerb too indicating that they had gotten approved for this despite that they blindly exit their drive onto incoming traffic due to parked cars right up to their property. Any ideas from anyone how to move forward? Hopefully it’s not too waffly but enough context of our situation any questions welcomed also!! With the image it’s very blurry but you can see much lighter lines which are where they’ve extended and where it looks there are none there is some they’re the original lines the yellow is where we are. Really hope all makes sense!!

The incline on my driveway, down to the house, is between 11.5 and 13 degrees. We are considering the Marshall drivesys system (in the "split stone basalt" range) which is basically fake basalt, sculpted from concrete. I asked the supplier if this was an anti slip product and whether it could be used on a driveway with such a big incline. This was their response (i had initially thought our gradient was 10 degrees, but actually it is slightly more): "Thank you for mentioning the gradient on your driveway as this is actually quite an important factor, especially with this product. All of the Marshalls Drivesys products (and the Stonemarket Templeton and Millstone driveway products) have a protective seal applied to the blocks during manufacturing to help prevent against scratches during transportation and when installed, and this seal will weather away. Our suppliers technical team advise “the protective seal will be slightly slippery underfoot until weathered”, and this weathering period can last for several months. Marshalls don’t advise installation of this product on gradients of 15 degrees or more because of this protective seal resulting in less traction on car tyres and exacerbating the slippiness. With a gradient of 10 degrees, Marshalls advise for you to take extra care until the protective seal wears off. Regarding slip rating, this isn’t calculated in the same as you may have seen for garden paving (for example R11, R12 ratings etc), but all of Marshalls’ products are rigorously tested for anti-slip properties and are fit for purpose. However, Marshalls advised once the seal wears off and the concrete finish comes through, then it meets their high standards for anti-slip resistance. As I mentioned, it is only the Marshalls Drivesys Range and the Stonemarket Templeton and Millstone driveway ranges that come with this protective seal. Marshalls overall advice is to exercise caution after installation until the seal wears off, so will leave the decision with you, but personally I would advise to look at alternative products and consider whether this is the right product for you." What do I do? Would you install this? It isn't cheap, but looks really nice and makes it much easier to achieve a grid of mixed sized stones. But then I don't want to slip as I get in and out of my car!!!

I was tee'ing up to pour a standard concrete driveway next month but the plans state it has to be permeable. Also regs seem to indicate if you want to cover up the whole front garden more than 50% it has to be permeable. I could just do it in standard concrete but that might get me into trouble though, and I plan to sell to build next door shortly. I will need an ACO drain as the driveway slopes towards the house. I did get quotes in January for 50 square meters prices ranged from 5K to 14K with only the top one being permeable. They all seems fine to do imprinted / tarmac etc that isn't permeable! To save money I wanted to do this myself DIY so I'll study www.pavingexpert.com as suggested here in another thread. I took a look at permeable concrete videos on youtube, it needs a steel roller and is harder to work with than standard concrete. Has anyone poured a driveway with this stuff themselves? I could just go for block pavers, seems to be the most common. I'm laying a patio currently so I'll be fresh off that. What do people think is the best DIY option for permeable driveways? Thanks!

Hi All, I am looking for some ideas / tips of addressing a flooding issue on my first house. My garage floods after heavy rainfall, with the water seeping through the brick (below the DPM). The garage is below the roadway, so half the wall has ground the other side. The previous owners covered a previous gravel patch with paving to make an additional space. There is a small channel which is between the garage wall and driveway (no idea if issue arose as a result of this). This channel doesn't go anywhere just lined with cement it appears. Could you guys recommend any steps I can take to try and solve this issue. I've been advised to put tanking slurry on the inside but I feel this just masks the problem. I have attached some images and an amazing sketch ? trying to show the arrangement from a side elevation. The inside of the garage on the right of the wall. Driveway and channel to the left. Any help would be appreciated. Cheers

We are finally getting quotes in for a resin bound driveway. There is a difference on the build up Quote 1: 220mm "mechanically compacted limestone", 60mm tarmac, 18mm resin Quote 2: 100mm type 1 scalpings, 60mm tarmac, 20mm resin Its the difference in the build up that is making me wonder what is "right"? Any other resin driveway owners happy to share their build up please?

Hi all, we are considering purchasing our neighbour's house to create a 2-way entrance to our site. My question: supposing there were 8 - 12 dwellings on the site, would a partial in-out such as this be acceptable? ie one that starts 2-lane but narrows to 1 lane?

One question my dad asked me on Saturday. He only came up to get rid of a tree stump in the garden that's been there since Storm Doris blew down our Silver Birch. Job done, we thought whilst he had the digger he could tackle 7 other stumps in a large overgrown border near our drive. He then asked the question he would now probably regret and was met with a response of "we will probably extend the drive at some point". He looked at my like he did when I'd told him I'd failed my GCSEs and explained we were going to pay a builder to get rid of all the hardcore then buy it back in again at some point for hard standing and that we can save 'thousands of pounds'. So, dad realising what he had talked himself into dug out the area under strict permission not to damage the Christmas Tree because where would we hang our fairy lights otherwise and I was on social media advertising 20 tonne of topsoil and moving stumps. The neighbours must wondered what was happening with an endless supply of trailers, cars and even a JCB Fastrack. The wheelbarrow clearly felt the impact of yesterday's hard work and pretty much sums up how we feel today too (another job dad sorted).

We are part way through our low energy new build (passivhaus with a small 'p'), and are starting to look to the external landscaping (very exciting!). I'm keen on the look of hoggin for our driveway and garden paths, I think it looks good and it's in keeping as we're in the Cotswolds - BUT my excellent builder hates the stuff. Says he's had to pull it up and replace it with gravel at a previous job as it was such a nightmare for them, mainly messy I think. I don't want gravel as we have a fall of about 1.5m on our driveway and I think we'll spend forever raking the bloody stuff back up, even with that grid stuff below it which is supposed to keep it in place. Plus, gravel's crap for bikes and I have three bike-mad small kids who will want to speed their way round the entire garden, driveway included! Does anyone have any experience with hoggin? Is it really that bad? Should I try and persuade my builder? Should I consider alternatives? NB don't other telling me about that stone resin stuff, I HATE it and won't consider it! ?

We recently reclaimed PD rights and are looking to extend our terrible existing access driveway (so that we don't have to walk 60m just to get to our front door!). We'd look to extend the current gravel driveway over our own land, by cutting through the paddocks we own and then looping round to the front door. Qs/observations: the council are unlikely to view the paddocks as part of the curtilage of the dwelling house this means said paddocks are exempt from PD rights, I believe however, we have a huge amount of hardcore from a recent demolition if we simply lay said hardcore in a shallow trench, gravel it and run it through the paddocks is that lawful? Because the driveway doesn't contain any concrete and is not therefore "hard-standing" or is it simpler than that, and we can simply create said driveway extension, hard-standing - as it's on our land Here are two bits of conflicting advice from the council commenting on previous apps/pre apps: “the revised change to the existing driveway is within the site, and as such is considered acceptable…” (from officer report approving previous subtle alteration to driveway) “The above notwithstanding, whilst it is not entirely clear from your submitted drawings, it would appear as though the proposed new line of the access would go through part of the existing paddock area. From a quick look at the plans, although it is clearly within your ownership, I would be surprised if this paddock would be considered as legitimately forming part of the curtilage of your dwelling and, on this basis, the formation of a hardstanding/drive would almost certainly, in my opinion, require express planning permission from the Council as the paddock land would not benefit from permitted development rights. However, I should repeat this is only an informal view and does not represent a legal determination as to the need (or otherwise) for planning permission. “ (from pre app advice) Very much welcome any thoughts, would love not to have to do yet another council app.

It's been a really tough few months. Problems at work (I got the timetable finished ready for September and now they want another one ready for straight after October half term), my best friend diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer and then the delay in planning approval leading to us appealing to the planning inspectorate to try for a non-determination decision. We have both been down in the dumps and on the verge of giving up. Two weeks off work (sick leave for stress, it was so close to a resignation letter you wouldn't believe) and the dark clouds have lifted, helped by an apology from work and a pay rise. Remembering what we did first time round, reminded me that there is a lot we can do now, while we are waiting to start on the main part of the project, that won't go to waste. Last time round, we got the end of the garden completely landscaped - it meant when we moved into the house - the garden still looked lovely. We also used the large wooden gazebo (built in sink and BBQ) to eat every night as there was more room in there for us and the kids than in the caravan. The question was, what can we do this time round that isn't wasting money, can't be included in the vat reclaim (no landscaping on the planning permission), and will not be ruined during the build. Front drive and Fencing!! So... The fence at the front of our plot needs replacing - the wooden posts are rotten and are only upright because they are leaning against the conifer trees that are there. These conifers are of course going which will make the oak tree stand out a bit more, rightly showing how magnificent it is. We were planning the fencing and how many concrete posts and gravel boards we were going to need when I had a brainwave ?. How about building the wall out of the Isotex we want to build in (the one without insulation of course)? It means we get practise on using the stuff and actually pouring concrete without trialling it on our house! No idea how expensive it is going to be so I've asked the question to see if it is feasible or not. Other things that I am now googling and sorting out are: Lighting for the driveway Parcel delivery box Doorbell camera CCTV Illuminated house numbers Capping blocks for the wall Fencing for the rest of the garden area. Moving the electric meter to the front of the plot Planning the route of the new fibre optic connection under the front paddock (yes, we will shortly have fibre optic to the house after 4 years of suffering from the slowest broadband you can imagine). The parcel box that we like the look of is the Brizebox. https://www.brizebox.com/product/built-in-extra-large-rear-door-pay-in-full-449-00-excl-frame/ I want to build it into the wall but I also want to render over the bottom half of it - you can have the collection door on the front or the rear of the bottom half, however, I don't think the top half of the box protrudes far enough out to allow this to happen. I've emailed the question today to see what they say. Gallery picture 31 of 69 is the closest to what I want to achieve (without having plants in front of where the poor parcel man has to stand to put the parcel in the drawer!!). I want to move the electric meter box to the front wall so that it can be read without coming onto the property. Peter wants to leave it where it is. We are in discussions at the moment about the best way forward. It is currently housed in a brick pillar with a little bit of slate on top - I think that when the house is built, it is going to get hit by cars driving down past the house to the end of the plot as it will narrow the driveway unnecesarily. The pink circle is where this pillar is and where I thought the electric supply to the house ran - it actaully goes to the existing car port which is next to the purple square where the Garage (AKA sewing room) will eventually go and should miss all the excavations during the build. Now off to google covert cameras to go on the front drive somewhere!!

When I got planning permission the following condition didn't worry me as I was going to be finished and moved in by May and had plenty of money to pay for a drive - if not the drive I really wanted. However, things have changed, and 'sometime in December' I am moving in with no internal doors, no skirting or architraves and crucially, currently only a hardcore drive. The drive will be made more 'permanent' once the sale of this house has gone through and I have a lump sum in my account. This house is sold subject to contract and, if all goes according to plan, completion date should be mid January The lump sum will be considerable smaller than originally expected and has to provide most of my living expenses for the next 2 years until I can claim my state pension. Questions 1. Would a hardcore drive that is quite packed at the entrance so is not actually 'loose' stone meet the planning condition? 2. If not, what is the minimum I can do to meet the condition? (I seem to remember someone saying on here that the council could only enforce the 'not loose stone' for a certain length between the road and the drive.) 3. What is the cheapest, half decent, driveway I can have constructed once I have access to some money? 4. If I leave it as is, for now, what, if anything, is the council likely to do about it? 5. Do the council actually come out and inspect the property to see if the everything conforms with plans?

When is anything ever simple??☹️ The more I find out the more depressed I become! I shall explain. After realising that we needed planning for the wet room extension and organising that, I now have some time to sort out a driveway nearer the doorway to the bungalow for my elderly parents. The current driveway is about 30-40m from the front door and as neither mum nor dad can walk that quickly, when it was raining and they had shopping, they were both soaked by the time they got into the house. So they have asked for a small driveway alongside the path to the front door. its currently lawn and appears to be fairly free draining but I shall be conducting a permeablility test as described in https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/442889/BR_PDF_AD_H_2015.pdf and as per Jeremy's instructions on another post. The driveway will be 5m by 2.5m so 12.5 metres square. and therefore I believe it needs to be permeable paving. I planned to use concrete block paving so are these all permeable or do I need cerrtain ones? I popped into the local BM and said what I was planning. the chap there did not seem to know anything about permeablility of pavers. He has quoted for Bradstone Driveway Concrete Block Paving. On the Bradstone website, I cannot see if they are permeable or not but as they also have a Driveway Infilta range for use with a permeanle system, i would guess not. Or would the ordinary ones be okay if I use the right sort of sub-base layer? Which leads me onto the next question - the BM quoted for Type 1 but I believe I need Type 3. however, a little look online and the Type 3 looks like being nearly 3 times the price. Is that right? Do I really need Type 3 or can I just plan a nice rain garden to run alongside the non permeable driveway to collect all the run off? that looks like the simplest and cheapest option. But then to cap it all - I now find that I probably need permission for the darn thing after all!!! ? From the Government Document https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/7728/pavingfrontgardens.pdf I found the following. Legal issues – If you are constructing a new access into the garden across the footpath (officially known as the footway) you will need to obtain permission from the local council to drop the kerbs and the public footpath may need strengthening. This is to protect any services buried in the ground such as water pipes. AHHH!!! I can see this getting expensive..... No doubt I will need a specialist contractor to drop the kerb - which is only 5 cm high so we didnt plan to lower it at all. The house opposite has made a driveway and havent bothered wtih the kerb, he just bumps up and we planned to do the same. Should I take the risk and not tell them?? But what if there are pipes below the surface and they get damaged? Photo below shows the current layout, although it was 10 years ago. This is the area. the plan is to take up the box hedging to the right of the path (they are now about 18inches high and very neat) and run the drive alongside the path. 2.5m wide and 5m long.

Almost done with the external landscaping. Wall and gate pillars built, motors fitted in the ground and driveway edged in block, just a little more type 1 to go in before the 50mm porous tarmac sub base and 20mm bonded resin go on in a week or so. Driveway is H shaped with in and out gates and additional space in front of the garage and other side of house. I've decided against drive over lights in the tarmac/resin as they are quite expensive and making the connections with armoured cable is fussy. Instead, my electrician has recommended a 24v system, putting lights in the edging blocks and running the tails into the soft ground behind where the connections can be made in waterproof JBs. I will put duct in to cary the supply cable across the driveway where required, drivers in my kiosk that now contains meter, main fuse, DB for garden area, one gate controller and loop detector (getting a bit tight for space!). Will fit a lux sensor on the side of the kiosk so that all lights only come on when dark. I need about 18 lights, (allowing a 4 m spacing) and am looking at these two options, one is 1/2 W and other is 1W. I will have two drivers with 9 lights on each. There is also a dimmable driver available. http://www.collingwoodlighting.com/en/products/ground-lights/item/gl018c-uk http://www.collingwoodlighting.com/en/products/ground-lights/item/gl019f-uk Unfortunately I cant test a sample in time for the blocks to be pre-drilled next week and as they are different diameters (28mm vs 33mm) I need to commit to one or other now. These are just to mark out the driveway at night so don't need to be super bright - the expensive option is to buy the 1W units with the dimmable driver and turn them down if too bright. Cheaper option is to get the 1/2 W units but no option to turn them up if too dim. I've marked out the positions with tea lights and these look quite good - how bright are they by comparison?