Driveway and patio materials

[minestrone]

Why patios, hanging baskets and a tidy lawn are a sign you're lower middle class | Daily Mail Online

I prefer stones on a drive way, you just chuck down a ton of weed killer twice a year, it ages far better and is definitely more secure as they make too much noise when walked over.

[Acme Thunderer]

Garden project has escalated wildly and turned into a beast. Driveway got destroyed in the process of excavation the garden....

Anyway what are the best materials for driveways in your experiences?
- standard flags
- smooth flags
- imprinted driveway
- Tarmac
- block paving

I want something as low maintenance and long lasting as possible.

Much appreciated

Lunatic contractor

We have an imprinted driveway. I think it was about £7.5K 3 years ago. They do have to dig out a lot out because they need a compacted base and then 8 inches of concrete. They will develop thin cracks which we were warned about, but if the drive is installed correctly will only run to the expansion joint and stop. We have one just about on a line where the front wheels of the people carrier normally are.

I think they are much better than any block paving as they can sag and go uneven if you are constantly parking a car in the same place - in front of a garage for example.

[Halo Jones]

Just remember to check local restrictions: nonporous materials (block printed surface, slabs laid on lean mix etc) may require planning permission.

Generally this only highways connected areas (typically front gardens) but can be mitigated with the use of slot drains, aggregated water retention areas (such as pebble beds) etc.
You don’t want to be doing the work & then have to dig it up.

I recently paved the whole front & back garden (but being aware of the above) I implemented mitigation options – so when the neighbour (for fear of me causing flooding to his garage!) contacted the council I was able to inform said council of my plans & there was no issue.

As for materials I used 300mm textured reconstituted stone slabs (for their non-slip properties, with contrasting colour boarder bricks) laid monolithically on a substrate of 60mm blinding & 100mm lean mix concrete.
For water mitigation I installed a slot drain to the front boarder and shingle beds filled with white quartz chippings.

Minimal maintenance & wheelchair friendly

[SimonMac]

[Pondlife]

This is going to be a rerun of the floors2go thread, isn't it

http://forums.contractoruk.com/gener...tal-wipes.html

[DaveB]

This is going to be a rerun of the floors2go thread, isn't it

http://forums.contractoruk.com/gener...tal-wipes.html

But did he ever get the money back?

[quackhandle]

Just remember to check local restrictions: nonporous materials (block printed surface, slabs laid on lean mix etc) may require planning permission.

Generally this only highways connected areas (typically front gardens) but can be mitigated with the use of slot drains, aggregated water retention areas (such as pebble beds) etc.
You don’t want to be doing the work & then have to dig it up.

I recently paved the whole front & back garden (but being aware of the above) I implemented mitigation options – so when the neighbour (for fear of me causing flooding to his garage!) contacted the council I was able to inform said council of my plans & there was no issue.

As for materials I used 300mm textured reconstituted stone slabs (for their non-slip properties, with contrasting colour boarder bricks) laid monolithically on a substrate of 60mm blinding & 100mm lean mix concrete.
For water mitigation I installed a slot drain to the front boarder and shingle beds filled with white quartz chippings.

Minimal maintenance & wheelchair friendly

When I looked at doing this (went with loose stone in the end) I also remember you now legally have to have a soakaway at least three meters away from your property. Or something like that. Go and look it up. Sheesh

I remember getting a sales guy come round to try and sell me the imprinted concrete stuff, very expensive and quite aggressive sale tactics. Wanted me to sign there and then, so told him to do one.


qh

[woohoo]

I remember getting a sales guy come round to try and sell me the imprinted concrete stuff, very expensive and quite aggressive sale tactics. Wanted me to sign there and then, so told him to do one.


qh

We had a few quotes and one particular sales man wanted a couple of hours of our time. When I told him I just wanted a quote he turned into dickhead mode.