Pros and cons of different driveway materials

[jamieandthemagic]

Going to get a new drive soon, lots of choice.

What's the Pros and cons of different driveway materials.

Most work carried out in the garage, but sometimes on the drive.

[finishing touch]

Shingle sticks to your slicks, or sticks in the treads then shotblasts your aluminium bodywork when you drive off......

but it does lower insurance premiums.

[tapkaJohnD]

Spill petrol on tarmac - and it turns into gravel!

If that happens sluice it with a hosepipe -brings the fuel to the surface and washes it away.
John

[eldar]

Needs to be porous if more than an additional 15 sq metres, otherwise planning permission may be needed, plus increased surface water charge.

Check with your local council first.

[del mar]

We have a gravel drive using "grids".

Solid easy to drive on holds the gravel in place - to a point.

Leaks are easy to lose, just kick the gravel around a bit.

HOWEVER

You are in a world of trouble if you drop a small bolt / nut / clip as you just cant see them. I have spent many an hour with a torch and magnet trying to find that dropped circlip.....

or you could put a sheet under the part of the car you are working on..

[Ian Geary]

+1 above. Plus punctures from errant screws.

However, most people's choice is highly dependent on their budget.

Have you checked out the very good paving expert site?

Ian

[nsa]

Google "gravel binder". Pour-on resin that you use to cover gravel.

I used small paving blocks for my inclined drive. Nice enough but I would recommend spending the extra to have membrane/concrete put down to slow weed growth through the cracks.

[Blue62]

nsa said:

Google "gravel binder". Pour-on resin that you use to cover gravel.

I used small paving blocks for my inclined drive. Nice enough but I would recommend spending the extra to have membrane/concrete put down to slow weed growth through the cracks.

That looks interesting, have you any direct experience? I have to have a porous driveway on my new build, the cost of resin bound is prohibitive and I really don't want gravel again (for all the reasons mentioned here), so this could be a decent compromise.

[EddyP]

We're going through this process too at the moment.
I was positive that resin bound would be the way forward, yes it would cost more but I loved the idea of not losing things, it staying where it was put and not bring spread through the village etc
However I got chatting to a company at the Grand designs show who sell the stuff and it has one major disadvantage. If you ever need to dig it up to fix a pipe or something then there is no way you will colour match it to the rest of the drive, even if you keep some of the same aggregate and resin. He did say it can stain with oil too.
I own a TVR, I need to be able to have oil on the drive and then clean it up.
It's also a massive area so I'm sure at some point we'll want to dig it up for some reason or other.

I'm now leaning towards gravel with a membrane for weed control and grids to hold it in place.

For those with gravel in grids, can kids ride bikes on it ok?

[TA14]

What's all this talk of gravel? I thought that block paving was the Pistonhead default.

[nsa]

Blue62 said:

That looks interesting, have you any direct experience?

I don't. I saw it somewhere and put it in the memory bank for the future.

[trickywoo]

Working on a car on a gravel driveway is no fun at all.

Block paving looks nicest and offers flexibility if you have to lift it.

How much area are you looking at?

[TA14]

Blue62 said:

I have to have a porous driveway on my new build,

or a drain to prevent run off.

[Blue62]

TA14 said:

or a drain to prevent run off.

I wish, my preference is imprinted concrete but East Devon won't approve anything other than a porous material such as gravel or resin.

[Murph7355]

EddyP said:

...
I'm now leaning towards gravel with a membrane for weed control and grids to hold it in place.
...

If you have a large area they are very expensive. I've been mulling over doing my drive (100m by about 6m averaged out). I'll probably end up using gravel on its own.

[gifdy]

I went for self binding gravel. I didn't want 'normal' gravel migrating everywhere. Block paving & tarmac wouldn't have looked right as we're in a rural setting and since it was cheaper than either of these options I thought it would be worth a go.

It's been down now for 6 months. It still looks great and there is no problem with drainage and migration. It could have been compacted a bit better as there are slight indentations where we drive in & out. Not a big issue and can be corrected with a bit more gravel on top and re-compacting. I can put axle stands on it ( on a board) when dry but wouldn't do so when wet. Oil will stain it but easily fixed.

If I had to work regularly on the drive, it wouldn't be suitable but if one of my old bangers drops its guts on it, I know I can make good ( dig up stained gravel and replace with a bag of gravel on top ).

Not for everyone but another option to think about.

[Origin Unknown]

jamieandthemagic said:

Going to get a new drive soon, lots of choice.

What's the Pros and cons of different driveway materials.

Most work carried out in the garage, but sometimes on the drive.

Spend some time on http://www.pavingexpert.com/pavguide.htm