Discussion
For a few years I have wanted to get my driveway resurfaced and quite like the brick blocked jobs.
I now have a problem with a sewer that runs under the drive and(hopefully) the nice people at the insurance company are going to pay to have the pipe replaced which will require digging the drive up.
This is as good a time as any to have the job done properly so have been looking around.
Does any one have any experience in this field?
I have also found an imprinted option that looks like brickwork buy is not.
are these any good?
Any ideals of costs involved for either option?
My drive is just about 3 cars wide.
Thanks for any advice or pearls of PH wisdom.
I now have a problem with a sewer that runs under the drive and(hopefully) the nice people at the insurance company are going to pay to have the pipe replaced which will require digging the drive up.
This is as good a time as any to have the job done properly so have been looking around.
Does any one have any experience in this field?
I have also found an imprinted option that looks like brickwork buy is not.
are these any good?
Any ideals of costs involved for either option?
My drive is just about 3 cars wide.
Thanks for any advice or pearls of PH wisdom.
dave_s13 said:
That size of drive would be something I would have a go at DIY.
It's not that hard. Just need to put effort into the prep work and read up on exactly what you should be doing with the sub-base etc.
Have you checked out that paving expert site, very good that.
I have thought about DIY but the risk of getting it wrong and then havng to do it all again is too much! It's not that hard. Just need to put effort into the prep work and read up on exactly what you should be doing with the sub-base etc.
Have you checked out that paving expert site, very good that.
Not rocket science though.
All you'll need is to hire a breaker, wacker plate and a 6yd skip.
You might suprise yourself. Sometimes a DIY job can turn out better than a pro one. Because you will properly give a $hit about how it looks.
To be honest though, it looks alright to me as it is. Just pressure wash it and go on holiday/buy a new toy instead.]
LInk here
http://www.pavingexpert.com/blocks2.htm
Brilliant web site that.
All you'll need is to hire a breaker, wacker plate and a 6yd skip.
You might suprise yourself. Sometimes a DIY job can turn out better than a pro one. Because you will properly give a $hit about how it looks.
To be honest though, it looks alright to me as it is. Just pressure wash it and go on holiday/buy a new toy instead.]
LInk here
http://www.pavingexpert.com/blocks2.htm
Brilliant web site that.
Edited by dave_s13 on Friday 24th September 13:01
Bit O/T but,,,
We're just trying to get information re planning permission.
Apparently, if you need to use pourous materials if the driveway is over 5m sq. OR the drive must drain into your land and NOT into a drain.
This is going to be an amazing feat for me as our drive runs towards our house and is solid rock / clay and does not drain quickly at all.
The land either side is higher than the drive so we cannot drain into that.
I am using block paving as I got 12 pallets cheap.
I would get more information on this from a McDonalds drive-through that I have managed to get from the Council planning department :-(
We're just trying to get information re planning permission.
Apparently, if you need to use pourous materials if the driveway is over 5m sq. OR the drive must drain into your land and NOT into a drain.
This is going to be an amazing feat for me as our drive runs towards our house and is solid rock / clay and does not drain quickly at all.
The land either side is higher than the drive so we cannot drain into that.
I am using block paving as I got 12 pallets cheap.
I would get more information on this from a McDonalds drive-through that I have managed to get from the Council planning department :-(
Don't worry, They don't know because the problem is Government generated.
The problem is that in the rush to get houses built (and also to get money from people parking on the street) the planners forgot that it rains. The vast increase in area where surface water runs to storm drains has meant that the drains are not big enough to cope with the sudden rush of water (you have all seen the pictures of towns being flooded, right?); so the government got caught with a knacker each side of the fence, with the councils kicking the fence.
The solution the (Labour) government came up with was to charge anybody replacing any area at the front of their house that was larger than 5 square metres (a bit bigger than a BMW mini) with non-porous covering would be charged for it. That also applies even if you're replacing like for like. The thinking was that it was the middle classes that were doing this, lets get some money out of the b
ds.
Funnily enough, you can cover all your back garden with slabs and pay nothing, even if you send the surface water to the storm drains. They'd like you to feed it to a "re-usable water storage" and will give you plus points in planning if you do, but they only let this out as a softener when the other bit for the front was released.
You can cover the front (if it's an area larger than 5 square metres) with permeable material (gravel, chippings or permeable block paving) without any penalty, but the only people going the first way are drug dealers, so they can here plod coming. Nobody knows how long the permeable paving will stay permeable, we all see evidence of slot line drainage in towns blocked up with dirt, and it also requires a special base of 6-8 inches of 20mm clean graded material with 50mm of 6mm clean graded material, which then has some more of this brushed into the joints.
Or, you can drain to a soakaway either in the garden or (as is becoming more common around here) under the drive itself. Of course both of these methods also mean more material has to be removed from site (or re-located on the same site) which means more stuff to landfill. Which the government tax you on.
For the OP, it looks like your drive slopes towards the road, if it was me, I'd be looking at putting a line drain close to the path, feeding to a soakaway under where the dark blue car is, regardless of which type of surface you end up choosing. Although I think the pressed concrete looks crap.
The problem is that in the rush to get houses built (and also to get money from people parking on the street) the planners forgot that it rains. The vast increase in area where surface water runs to storm drains has meant that the drains are not big enough to cope with the sudden rush of water (you have all seen the pictures of towns being flooded, right?); so the government got caught with a knacker each side of the fence, with the councils kicking the fence.
The solution the (Labour) government came up with was to charge anybody replacing any area at the front of their house that was larger than 5 square metres (a bit bigger than a BMW mini) with non-porous covering would be charged for it. That also applies even if you're replacing like for like. The thinking was that it was the middle classes that were doing this, lets get some money out of the b
ds.Funnily enough, you can cover all your back garden with slabs and pay nothing, even if you send the surface water to the storm drains. They'd like you to feed it to a "re-usable water storage" and will give you plus points in planning if you do, but they only let this out as a softener when the other bit for the front was released.
You can cover the front (if it's an area larger than 5 square metres) with permeable material (gravel, chippings or permeable block paving) without any penalty, but the only people going the first way are drug dealers, so they can here plod coming. Nobody knows how long the permeable paving will stay permeable, we all see evidence of slot line drainage in towns blocked up with dirt, and it also requires a special base of 6-8 inches of 20mm clean graded material with 50mm of 6mm clean graded material, which then has some more of this brushed into the joints.
Or, you can drain to a soakaway either in the garden or (as is becoming more common around here) under the drive itself. Of course both of these methods also mean more material has to be removed from site (or re-located on the same site) which means more stuff to landfill. Which the government tax you on.
For the OP, it looks like your drive slopes towards the road, if it was me, I'd be looking at putting a line drain close to the path, feeding to a soakaway under where the dark blue car is, regardless of which type of surface you end up choosing. Although I think the pressed concrete looks crap.
mrmaggit said:
Don't worry, They don't know because the problem is Government generated.
The problem is that in the rush to get houses built (and also to get money from people parking on the street) the planners forgot that it rains. The vast increase in area where surface water runs to storm drains has meant that the drains are not big enough to cope with the sudden rush of water (you have all seen the pictures of towns being flooded, right?); so the government got caught with a knacker each side of the fence, with the councils kicking the fence.
The solution the (Labour) government came up with was to charge anybody replacing any area at the front of their house that was larger than 5 square metres (a bit bigger than a BMW mini) with non-porous covering would be charged for it. That also applies even if you're replacing like for like. The thinking was that it was the middle classes that were doing this, lets get some money out of the bds.
Funnily enough, you can cover all your back garden with slabs and pay nothing, even if you send the surface water to the storm drains. They'd like you to feed it to a "re-usable water storage" and will give you plus points in planning if you do, but they only let this out as a softener when the other bit for the front was released.
You can cover the front (if it's an area larger than 5 square metres) with permeable material (gravel, chippings or permeable block paving) without any penalty, but the only people going the first way are drug dealers, so they can here plod coming. Nobody knows how long the permeable paving will stay permeable, we all see evidence of slot line drainage in towns blocked up with dirt, and it also requires a special base of 6-8 inches of 20mm clean graded material with 50mm of 6mm clean graded material, which then has some more of this brushed into the joints.
Or, you can drain to a soakaway either in the garden or (as is becoming more common around here) under the drive itself. Of course both of these methods also mean more material has to be removed from site (or re-located on the same site) which means more stuff to landfill. Which the government tax you on.
For the OP, it looks like your drive slopes towards the road, if it was me, I'd be looking at putting a line drain close to the path, feeding to a soakaway under where the dark blue car is, regardless of which type of surface you end up choosing. Although I think the pressed concrete looks crap.
We are putting in a 100m2 drive and I was planning on digging a soakaway under the middle of the drive (about 4ft deep or so), but there will still be some run-off at the bottom end of the drive. Its all very well putting drains everywhere but this makes block paving more unstable, I expect, as it has to have a solid surrounding (haunching etc).The problem is that in the rush to get houses built (and also to get money from people parking on the street) the planners forgot that it rains. The vast increase in area where surface water runs to storm drains has meant that the drains are not big enough to cope with the sudden rush of water (you have all seen the pictures of towns being flooded, right?); so the government got caught with a knacker each side of the fence, with the councils kicking the fence.
The solution the (Labour) government came up with was to charge anybody replacing any area at the front of their house that was larger than 5 square metres (a bit bigger than a BMW mini) with non-porous covering would be charged for it. That also applies even if you're replacing like for like. The thinking was that it was the middle classes that were doing this, lets get some money out of the b
ds.Funnily enough, you can cover all your back garden with slabs and pay nothing, even if you send the surface water to the storm drains. They'd like you to feed it to a "re-usable water storage" and will give you plus points in planning if you do, but they only let this out as a softener when the other bit for the front was released.
You can cover the front (if it's an area larger than 5 square metres) with permeable material (gravel, chippings or permeable block paving) without any penalty, but the only people going the first way are drug dealers, so they can here plod coming. Nobody knows how long the permeable paving will stay permeable, we all see evidence of slot line drainage in towns blocked up with dirt, and it also requires a special base of 6-8 inches of 20mm clean graded material with 50mm of 6mm clean graded material, which then has some more of this brushed into the joints.
Or, you can drain to a soakaway either in the garden or (as is becoming more common around here) under the drive itself. Of course both of these methods also mean more material has to be removed from site (or re-located on the same site) which means more stuff to landfill. Which the government tax you on.
For the OP, it looks like your drive slopes towards the road, if it was me, I'd be looking at putting a line drain close to the path, feeding to a soakaway under where the dark blue car is, regardless of which type of surface you end up choosing. Although I think the pressed concrete looks crap.
If you're going down the soakaway route, I'd have a look at the Polypipe Polystorm or similar. basically big beer crates (that's what the yard lads call them), that you wrap in geotextile fabric. They have a 95% void ratio so you dig a much smaller hole than if you were going to back -fill with gravel etc. They also have a 40 tonnes loading so your car or van ain't going to get even close to crushing them.
I have an imprinted concrete driveway with a "Belgian Fan" pattern. I would never recommend imprinted concrete to anyone:
- it's non-porous so water does not drain away as it would gradually through tarmac;
- even when well laid there will be "low" areas that will retain water;
- even the best of them crack and look crap;
- the colour pigment wears with car tyres etc scrubbing the surface...then it just look like concrete.
If I were doing it again I'd go for asphalt with red granite chips (not bitmac etc).
- it's non-porous so water does not drain away as it would gradually through tarmac;
- even when well laid there will be "low" areas that will retain water;
- even the best of them crack and look crap;
- the colour pigment wears with car tyres etc scrubbing the surface...then it just look like concrete.
If I were doing it again I'd go for asphalt with red granite chips (not bitmac etc).
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