Gravel driveway....advice please

joeyvicks

hello again,

made my mind up that i'm going to gravel a section of my front garden so that we have room for both cars. (1 on the drive and 1 across the front of the house).
Looking at tips on the internet the build up advised is 100mm compacted scalping stone with the gravel laid on top with on edge restraint to stop the gravel getting everywhere.
Is there anyone on here that could give me a rough cost of materials for this? and also if anyone would do it another way please advise as 100mm sub-base seems excessive for it considering cars will not be driving up and down it just on to it to park.

Area = 20m2 approx.

ormus

coverage rates for gravels are typically 15-20 m² per tonne at 35mm thick.

usual method is to lay at least 25mm, and up to say 40/50mm.

the cost? 50/70 quid per tonne.
not inc the sub base. a decent sub base is essential for any cars. they can weigh 2 tons each.

bobhawke

That is the best way, and it isn't really worth skimping on your sub base because it isn't that expensive and doing it properly will prevent everything sinking. Find a few local builders merchants phone them for a quote for 1 ton of hardcore, wacker plate hire for the day, 1 roll of geotextile fabric, however much edging you need - you didn't specify if you were going to go with wood, sleepers, concrete etc, and however much gravel (2 ton will roughly cover 20 sq. m to 50mm depth). If the ground isn't hard you should probably put some geotextile fabric down before the hardcore to prevent the hardcore from ending up in the soil / clay. Spread your hardcore with a rake and go over it with the wacker plate loads of times. Put your edging in, tip your chips and spread them. Materials should cost anywhere from £150-£400 depending on what you go for. The gravel is the most expensive, that can cost anything from £10 a ton getting it from the railways to £140 for nice stuff from the builders merchants. Hardcore is usually about £20 a ton, not sure on the price for wacker plate hire, maybe £30 for the fabric.