Concrete or tarmac

Butterfliesarepretty

My boyfriend who is in his fifties has a medium length drive that is concreted but its falling to pieces has craters all over it.

Is it better to tarmac or re-concrete, which is best value and longer lasting?

MX5huggy

Concrete is cheaper, both will last along time, concrete may be longer. But the biggest variable is the site preparation and a good sub base being installed.

See http://www.pavingexpert.com/ for all you could need to know and a lot more.

By the way both look horrid in most domestic situations, gravel is cheaper still and looks better or paving of some sort, but I hate regular block paving.

BargainGalore

Concrete will last longer but may not look as nice. Personally I like block paving it may be more expensive and needs some maintenance to keep it looking nice. I have both but not tarmac. I much prefer block paving but concrete doenst need much work after apart from brush clean or power wash once a year. It can crack after many years

capeverde

You have to consider what your ground conditions are like. If you have a lot of clay that expands and contracts, you will always have problems unless you really go to town on the foundations which could be cost prohibitive. In this case it may be better to look at gravel. If it is simply down to the fact that whoever did the driveway before didn't excavate enough to give a solid base and this is the reason for the problems, it wont really matter what you use for the surface. As someone previously said, its the bit you cant see that's important.

Debt_Free_Chick

Another vote for gravel/pea beach/pea shingle

renovation_man

Pattern imprinted concrete everytime, 100mm of compacted sub base 100mm concrete printed and sealed.

An alternative could be plain coloured concrete