Cheapest / best / easiest way to sort out driveway

DrPips

Hi All,

I need to sort out our driveway. It's getting very uneven, choked full of weeds, muddy and just generally unpleasant.

At the moment, all it is is gravel on top of nothing much in particular. Seems like most on my street are like this, just left from the builders I guess. The house is a semi, so next door joins our driveway, but they are not shared. I would discuss any options with the guy that lives there first.

What are my options for getting it sorted out? Block paving would be too expensive, so I'm thinking of either tarmac or concrete. I can do some of the work myself, like shuttering if needed, but really have no idea how much to expect for the cost. The driveway is about 10m long, and 2 - 2.5 wide.

I don't know, but I'm assuming I won't need planning permission for doing this to my drive as there is already one there.

We have a baby on the way in March so really need to costs down as much as possible.

Any advice much appreciated.

Dom

anotherbaldrick

If you put down an impermeable surface like tarmac or concrete you could run up against the Council.
Typical council requirement.

This guidance note is one of a series which provides advice on various types of development within the Borough. It deals with the design of hardstandings for parking vehicles outside domestic properties and the provision of access to the hardstanding.

[FONT=Helvetica 35 Thin,Helvetica 35 Thin][FONT=Helvetica 35 Thin,Helvetica 35 Thin]The installation or renewal of a hard surface of more than 5 square metres of domestic front garden with an impervious material requires an application for full planning consent, unless provision is made to direct run-off water from the hard surface to a permeable, or porous area, or surface within the curtilage of the dwelling house. The use of a permeable material would be considered permitted development.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica 35 Thin,Helvetica 35 Thin]
[FONT=Helvetica 35 Thin,Helvetica 35 Thin]Front gardens contribute positively to the aesthetic charms and character of streetscapes and the setting of individual groups of properties throughout the Borough. .[/FONT]

[FONT=Helvetica 35 Thin,Helvetica 35 Thin]This guidance note will assist you in considering the layout and the materials to choose in your new hardstanding. It is very important to use a design which allows surface water to soak away. This can be either porous paving, which contains small holes that allow rainwater to pass through, and / or permeable paving, which has gaps between each of the pavers for water to penetrate through. Both significantly reduce water running off onto the highway when compared to traditional impermeable paving, such as concrete and tarmac. [/FONT]



[/FONT]

fluffymuffy

I'd just get a nice bag of gravel delivered and spread it out. It will look most posh. Spend the change on something more worthwhile.

WobblyDog

You could try topping it up with "MOT Type 1" crushed stone, available from Wickes and other places for about £45 for a 850kg bag. It's a mixture of stone sizes, not as pretty as gravel, but over time it compacts into a fairly rigid surface. If you do use it, lay it on thick, to allow for compaction over time.

I'm not sure whether it qualifies as permeable from the point of view of the council's drainage people.

anotherbaldrick

What you need to do is edge the gravel with something, we used 150 x 100 softwood sleepers. Then put down a strong geotextile membrane and bring in a lorry load of self compacting gravel (google it) rake it out and it will give a very smart driveway. A very occasional rake over will keep it level.

Ben84

fluffymuffy wrote: »

I'd just get a nice bag of gravel delivered and spread it out. It will look most posh. Spend the change on something more worthwhile.

Gravel isn't as affordable an option as people might expect. You can easily spend a lot of money to buy the volume of gravel needed to make a driveway. If there's a decent amount already present however, then a top up might not be so costly?

I do like the look of gravel and it certainly can't crack or crumble with age - although it does like to try and escape over time in to the surrounding garden and street. It's also more secure as people can't sneak around on it with all the crunching noises.

moonpenny

Gravel drives are not all they are cracked up to be.:rotfl:

Mine was laid on that black "weed supress" fabric but, I spend a fortune on weed killer and hours weeding the damn stuff.
I think the problem is, the wind blows dust etc onto it so in the end you get a built up of soil under the gravel where weeds take hold.

I can't wait to get rid of the stuff.

Petit_pois

We have just bought a 1950's house we are fully updating, it’s a semi with adriveway and front garden, we have quite a large back garden and neither of usare very green fingered so we were thinking we would make the whole frontage adriveway, mainly so we can park next to each other rather than behind eachother and we can come and go as we please then, and I don't have to reverse theother half’s van out that I’m useless at driving :rotfl:

The front is alreadygravelled but with foliage growing in it, including two conifers whichthe father-in-law informs me will have very deep roots, if we were to get theseup is it likely we will just get weeds and roots trying to grow back? We have afriend who block paves so this is also an option but I was unsure if that wouldrequire planning permission, and it just seems a waste as all the gravel ispretty much there already.

Any advice or opinion is very much welcome please!!

anotherbaldrick

Petit_pois wrote: »

We have just bought a 1950's house we are fully updating, it’s a semi with adriveway and front garden, we have quite a large back garden and neither of usare very green fingered so we were thinking we would make the whole frontage adriveway, mainly so we can park next to each other rather than behind eachother and we can come and go as we please then, and I don't have to reverse theother half’s van out that I’m useless at driving :rotfl:

The front is alreadygravelled but with foliage growing in it, including two conifers whichthe father-in-law informs me will have very deep roots, if we were to get theseup is it likely we will just get weeds and roots trying to grow back? We have afriend who block paves so this is also an option but I was unsure if that wouldrequire planning permission, and it just seems a waste as all the gravel ispretty much there already.

Any advice or opinion is very much welcome please!!

Block paving would be considered "Permitted development " so long as it was laid in a permeable manner with open joints on sand bedding

tony6403

anotherbaldrick wrote: »

Block paving would be considered "Permitted development " so long as it was laid in a permeable manner with open joints on sand bedding

I don't think that sand is accepted as a permeable substance. See link below.

[PDF] Guidance on the permeable surfacing of front gardens - Gov.uk

planning_officer

A surface doesn't have to be permeable to be permitted development. Yes, most are, but an alternative is to make provision for natural drainage to a porous or permeable surface within the garden. If your hard surface does that, it will be permitted development and will not require planning permission from the Council.

The requirement for a surface to be permeable or allow for natural drainage, as set out above, also applies to replacement surfaces, not just completely new ones.