Can i change the drop curb?

mantamark

Hi all,

We are moving home soon, and the house we are moving into has a driveway, but the curb to get onto the drive, although it is a drop curb, is very harsh as the curbs themselves are quite steep.

Is it possible for me to get this changed as when we went for the viewings my car scraped the front bumper on the way on, and bottomed out on the way off.

Would this be a job for the local council, or can i go about doign this myself? I dont want to stick some planks of wood down, i would rather it looked a bit nicer than that.

If it is council, which department would i speak to?

Thanks very much.

Mark.

macman

No you can't do it yourself, it is a public pavement.
Highways dept.

mantamark

Thanks, will look into it.

Counting_Pennies_2

My understanding is you can use a private contractor, but you need to clear it with the council first.

They have to have something like over £1m liability insurance, which a lot of contractors don't have.

Your local council will be able to advise what cover your contractor will need, and once you have the necessary info, you should be able to go ahead.

Inactive

Change your car to one that has been designed properly.;)

suisidevw

Ormus I think just paid a couple of Irish guys a tonne who were doing some work down the road and they did it no fuss

mantamark

Thanks for the info guys.

lol @ properly designed car - i would need a 4x4 to get up this bloody thing without hitting it!

I have emailed the council, see what they say.

Cheers.

ormus

if you contact the council, they will tell you to use the local approved contractors and thatll cost you about 650 quid.
thats why you tell the council nothing.
i paid two local paddys 100 quid, for my MILs house drop kerb.

Slinky

Is it the pavement that's the problem, or the angle of your drive? We used to have a similar problem with our driveway, but when we went from concrete to block paving the builders put managed to make the drive more level with the pavement for about 6 feet, then it slopes down towards the house a bit steeper than before. The problem was the cars used to catch as our drive slopes up to the path and of the path slopes down to the gutter making a high point at the boundary between the two. Now the drive is flatter at the top the angle of the pavement doesn't cause the problem anymore.