success1980 Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 I have a front garden of around 140m2 and would like to build a driveway. I am told it would not be an issue to get approval for a dropped kerb. My issue is that I very much like tarmac; but at 140m2 i think it may look like an office carpark. I am not 100% keen on block paving as I hate the fact that there is a chance of weeds growing through in the future. Also I am not sure if the blocks move over time when the car is always parked on the same spot, or the wheels are always turned on the same spot. Does anyone please have an inspirational idea what I could do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 Worth remembering that any driveway will have to be SuDs compliant, so will need some form of drainage to prevent run off. It's slightly easier to do this with permeable surfaces than with impermeable ones, as a rule, as you don't need to build in linear or side drains. It might be worth looking at things like permeable resin bonded gravel, or if the drive is flat, gravel contained within a grid mat. FWIW, we have permeable pavers and they don't move at all. I park in the same spot all the time and over 4 years there's no indication that any car has ever parked there. Weeds are a pain, but not too hard to control, although I've found that I have had to resort to weedkiller a few times. Now it seems that moss is starting to dominate, and that doesn't look bad, and it seems to keep the weeds at bay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nod Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 1 hour ago, success1980 said: I have a front garden of around 140m2 and would like to build a driveway. I am told it would not be an issue to get approval for a dropped kerb. My issue is that I very much like tarmac; but at 140m2 i think it may look like an office carpark. I am not 100% keen on block paving as I hate the fact that there is a chance of weeds growing through in the future. Also I am not sure if the blocks move over time when the car is always parked on the same spot, or the wheels are always turned on the same spot. Does anyone please have an inspirational idea what I could do? Ha ha We are sat here with the same dilemma 150 mtrs Tarmac would look like a runway Stones could get messy We are leaning towards a block paver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nod Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 58 minutes ago, JSHarris said: Worth remembering that any driveway will have to be SuDs compliant, so will need some form of drainage to prevent run off. It's slightly easier to do this with permeable surfaces than with impermeable ones, as a rule, as you don't need to build in linear or side drains. It might be worth looking at things like permeable resin bonded gravel, or if the drive is flat, gravel contained within a grid mat. FWIW, we have permeable pavers and they don't move at all. I park in the same spot all the time and over 4 years there's no indication that any car has ever parked there. Weeds are a pain, but not too hard to control, although I've found that I have had to resort to weedkiller a few times. Now it seems that moss is starting to dominate, and that doesn't look bad, and it seems to keep the weeds at bay. Sorry to hijack Jeremy Quite interesting to read regarding permiable Our neighbour (vendor) Has always insisted that our drive match there’s Gravel On closer inspection of the pp it does list block paving amongst the drive finishes Have any photos of yours Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizzie Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 @success1980 we have resin bound. Its permeable. We have about 150sq m I think. Much less maintenance than block paving....swore I would not have blocks again having had them for last 30 years....the weeding the resanding after cleaning etc etc. Resin is pretty much maintenance free but its not cheap and you need to make sure you get a good installer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted March 22, 2019 Share Posted March 22, 2019 8 hours ago, nod said: Sorry to hijack Jeremy Quite interesting to read regarding permiable Our neighbour (vendor) Has always insisted that our drive match there’s Gravel On closer inspection of the pp it does list block paving amongst the drive finishes Have any photos of yours Here's a photo that shows our drive taken last summer (around 4 years after the pavers went down). It's quite a steep slope, hence the pavers, and we were advised that the slope was a bit too great for resin bound gravel. The pavers are Bradstone Infilta, Autumn, came from Simply Paving (who gave a better price delivered than any of our local BMs). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliMcLeod Posted March 22, 2019 Share Posted March 22, 2019 (edited) We've just moved/replaced our driveway and ended up with ~150m2 of drive (Tegula style block from Stonemarket) and ~30m2 of porcelain tiles for the path to our house. As @JSHarris said, you have to consider drainage and officially need planning/approval if you're putting down a non-permeable surface and wanting to direct water to drains. However, if you're putting down a non-permeable surface and directing the water to a grass verge (eg, your lawn) you don't need planning See: https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/45/paving_your_front_garden To mitigate against the council car park feel, we put borders (we considered raised borders but decided not to in the end) around the parking space in which we'll do some planting (hopefully starting this weekend). We did look at resin bound, which I love the look of, but this pushed our budget a bit too far and we're on a bit of a slope (not quite as much as @JSHarris picture above) and I hadn't seen enough evidence that there would not be an issue in future. Edited March 22, 2019 by AliMcLeod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted March 22, 2019 Share Posted March 22, 2019 (edited) You could do a two-area one using trad gravel with tarmac. This is mine done about 5 years ago, where I replaced the existing traditional suburban front garden lawn and beds with 2-3 car parking, Aimed for 3, in practice a comfortable 2. The existing concrete drive stayed in situ. It was done with proper ground fabric etc, and it is about 50-50sqm of gravel. The edgings are cement, and I think the whole thing was about 3k all in in 2013. As you can see, it is still Pretty much weed free, and te maintenance is 1 raking a year, or perhaps 2. Oh .. car is for sale if anyone wants a 2009 1.4 Corsa auto with 50k. Ferdinand Edited March 22, 2019 by Ferdinand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nod Posted March 22, 2019 Share Posted March 22, 2019 2 hours ago, JSHarris said: Here's a photo that shows our drive taken last summer (around 4 years after the pavers went down). It's quite a steep slope, hence the pavers, and we were advised that the slope was a bit too great for resin bound gravel. The pavers are Bradstone Infilta, Autumn, came from Simply Paving (who gave a better price delivered than any of our local BMs). Looks great Jeremy we havethesane slope But towards the house Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redoctober Posted March 22, 2019 Share Posted March 22, 2019 All good suggestions above and for completeness, I thought I would include a loose chippings driveway. Thus far [4 months] no issues with it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliMcLeod Posted March 22, 2019 Share Posted March 22, 2019 (edited) I've had a loose chippings driveway in the past. The main positive aspect I had was that you could always hear when anyone drove onto it. The biggest downside I found (other than having to top it up every few years) was that it was a pain if you had a heavy snowfall and had to clear it - you'd end up with piles of stones where you cleared the snow to and then had to move back later to the now almost-bald areas. Edited March 22, 2019 by AliMcLeod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizzie Posted March 22, 2019 Share Posted March 22, 2019 Ive got quite a big slope down to the house (pics dont show it), I had four separate companies quote for the resin and not one of them mentioned the slope as a problem. Your must be very steep if they didnt want to do it @JSHarris but installers know best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted March 22, 2019 Share Posted March 22, 2019 5 minutes ago, lizzie said: Ive got quite a big slope down to the house (pics dont show it), I had four separate companies quote for the resin and not one of them mentioned the slope as a problem. Your must be very steep if they didnt want to do it @JSHarris but installers know best. The gradient is about 1:9 at the steep part, so over the often quoted maximum allowable for resin bonded gravel of 1:12. The drive is steep enough that lightly loaded rear wheel drive vans often can't get up the steep part in the dry, meaning I end up having to go and clean off the tyre skid marks where they have spun the wheels whilst trying. I'd guess this might be quite damaging to a resin bonded gravel surface. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizzie Posted March 22, 2019 Share Posted March 22, 2019 Need a wow button @JSHarris! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted March 22, 2019 Share Posted March 22, 2019 We went for tarmac and and plan fancy brick edging to match the house, gravel areas for pots and block paving for paths around the house. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizzie Posted March 22, 2019 Share Posted March 22, 2019 @joe90 I see your location....Friends have moved to near Bude this week. Next to them is a building plot with TF house curving roof etc under construction. Don't know if its self build or spec when we go to visit at Easter will have a nosey at it. They say lovely part of the world, I've never been to that area...yet! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
success1980 Posted March 22, 2019 Author Share Posted March 22, 2019 Thanks for all your ideas so far, thats a great help. I do like the look of tarmac, maybe a mix could work ? Also my "fear" of weeds growing through the block paving even with a membrane seem justified. Something I don't want as the driveway should be minimal or no maintenance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliMcLeod Posted March 22, 2019 Share Posted March 22, 2019 (edited) 8 minutes ago, success1980 said: Thanks for all your ideas so far, thats a great help. I do like the look of tarmac, maybe a mix could work ? Also my "fear" of weeds growing through the block paving even with a membrane seem justified. Something I don't want as the driveway should be minimal or no maintenance. You might want to read: http://www.pavingexpert.com/faqmembr.htm WIth a properly installed block drive, anything but the most destructive weeds (see details in post) do not grow up from below. Most weeds you see on block drives have seeded from above ground into the gaps between the blocks. We ruled out tarmac as we didn't like the look so much, and it was coming in around the same price as blocks. Our research concluded that block would last longer, back with our own (albeit anecdotal) experience when the tarmac would start degrading after 10 or so years. But you're right that blocks will require some maintenance to ensure weeds don't develop - keep on top of that it and it should not be too onerous. This can be mitigated against by applying a sealant (we've not decided whether to do this yet). Edited March 22, 2019 by AliMcLeod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted March 22, 2019 Share Posted March 22, 2019 I can also add that imprinted concrete looks great, a neighbour of ours at a previous house had it and it looked fab, looked like cobbles and NO weeds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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