Best substance to widen existing drive. Shingle / slabs?

[jon-]

Now I've my stump out, I can go ahead with the original plan and turn this section of flower bed into driveway:



The medium term plan is to redo the entire front drive / garden area, but for now I'd like to use this newly reclaimed bit of land to make parking easier over the winter.

Original plan was to dig out some topsoil (once I've found somewhere to dispose of it), crush it down somehow, a layer of subbase then just roughly lay some slabs down. Cheap, easy and semi neat if they match the concrete.

Now I'm thinking shingle might be a better idea, as that's what's the other side of the concrete, plus ground movement wouldn't matter so much with the weight of the car on shingle compared to paving slabs? Same plan as above, just with some sort of sheet layer too.

Any other thoughts?

Edited by jon- on Sunday 19th October 20:31

[anonymous-user]

I'd go with the pacing slabs, the shingle will end up everywhere and make your drive look a mess.

[wolfracesonic]

Geogrids? Cheap and cheerful to going on with. Less likelihood of your tyres sinking into the gravel like your neighbours! Geogrids

[ikarl]

jon- said:

Now I've my stump out

Edited by jon- on Sunday 19th October 20:31

Just me?

[Rickyy]

ikarl said:

jon- said:

Now I've my stump out

Edited by jon- on Sunday 19th October 20:31

Just me?

[Chicken Chaser]

I've got 20mm gravel outside of my place to extend the block paved drive thats already in place. Its a mid term solution but works. Its big enough gravel not to have it strewn everywhere, and its been whack plated into place so its flat and isnt ploughing furrows everytime we drive on it. I've got a van so its the not the lightest and it very rarely leaves gravel everywhere.

[V8RX7]

Gravel is fine.

Slabs are horrid, cost more to buy, cost more to lay and frequently move / crack when laid as a drive.

[Chrisgr31]

My drive is one ot those that consist of 2 concrete strips. I have now widened it to take the caravan and both cars side by side. Due to budgetary constraints and like you the thought I would do something else long term I dug it out to a depth of around 10 inches, then placed membrane on it and then infilled with roadstone, whacked it down and topped with fine layer of granite chippings using the 20mm stones.

Theory being that in future I can rake out the the top surface and lay block paving instead and not have to redo the base.

[jon-]

Chrisgr31 said:

My drive is one ot those that consist of 2 concrete strips. I have now widened it to take the caravan and both cars side by side. Due to budgetary constraints and like you the thought I would do something else long term I dug it out to a depth of around 10 inches, then placed membrane on it and then infilled with roadstone, whacked it down and topped with fine layer of granite chippings using the 20mm stones.

Theory being that in future I can rake out the the top surface and lay block paving instead and not have to redo the base.

Thanks guys, this sounds like the best plan.

Out of interest, what did you do with the topsoil, and did you hire a whacker or do it an old fashioned way?

My local tip will take a large bag of soil a month...

[Foppo]

Put a board up free top soil somebody might want it.

[jon-]

I've finally measured up! The area I need to dig out is:

700cm long
140cm at its widest, 100cm at its narrowest.

I reckon that gives me ~8.4 square metres or 90 sq foot.

If I need to dig to 20cm, that gives me a volume of soil of about 1.68m3

That's about 2 tonnes.

fk. I'm not hiding that in a KA over a few tip runs.

Lets cost this.

I figure it'll be £200 to hire a small skip.

I'll need approx 3 tonnes of base / gravel. At about £100/850kg bag. So that's another £350 in materials.

So £550 with a bucketload of manual labor (which I enjoy, however it does take time).

Not too bad.

Edited by jon- on Wednesday 22 October 14:57

[markbigears]

£100 for 850kg? Christ on a bike .... i pay £40 a ton for gravel and type one and i'm down'sarf

[jon-]

markbigears said:

£100 for 850kg? Christ on a bike .... i pay £40 a ton for gravel and type one and i'm down'sarf

I was trying to (over) average out between the base layer, which will be cheaper, and the top layer, which I'll probably want gray slate or something similar. Plus, I'll need it delivered.

[BlackCup]

If its temporary just order from Wickes- sub base £40 an 850kg bag, then 2 more bags of pea shingle, done. Can't you lose some soil in the back garden? neighbours? Wheelbarrow it away it won't take long.

[jep]

MOT type 1 limestone would do the job at £27 a tonne by me. That and a whacker plate on hire for a day...

[jon-]

I can see this turning into regravelling the whole front of house now, so it all matches (probably about the same amount of space again, I might as well do it all at once...)

I wonder if I've enough time before it gets too wet to be fun.

[Chrisgr31]

Sorry for returning late. I was lucky, the first section I did a friend who is a farmer took the soil, the second bit I did the soil went to a local model railway who are building an extension. Had to take it myself but used a friends trailer to shift it.

I would only use a thin layer of top stones, and do not use pea shingle as a top coat, well not unless you want the largest cat toilet in the locality. Even though we have the large granite chippings the cats still crap in it.

I would seek to get your roadstone delivered loose, then they'll be able to tip it virtually straight into the hole, and even if its not by the hole its a lot easier to shovel when its not in a bag.

[It's fixable...]

If you get it delivered by the bag, just carefully cut the side about 3/4 of the way down while it is still on the delivery lorry hiab, but close to the ground, the contents will pour out - once the stuff has stopped pouring out set the bag down on top of the pile.