Cheap-ish ways to fix the driveway (Pictures inside)...

soexhausted

Bits of the driveway are being exposed under a layer of stone(?) / Concrete(?). Not sure what it is. 

Is there a way to cover these or, better yet, blend these into the grey gravel-like surface?

Many thanks in advance

apologies in advance if this is a dumb question, as my DIY knowledge is evidently somewhat basic  

stuart45

Looks like it's tarmac.

Section62

soexhausted said:

Bits of the driveway are being exposed under a layer of stone(?) / Concrete(?). Not sure what it is. 

Is there a way to cover these or, better yet, blend these into the grey gravel-like surface?

It looks like someone has laid tarmac over a concrete surface, and as typical with that approach, the tarmac is not adequately bonded to the concrete so over time has broken up.  (it is also possible we are looking at somone's attempt to fill a pothole in a tarmac surface with concrete as an alternative)

A good repair would involve saw-cutting the tarmac back to a vertical and square edge, applying a suitable bonding coat to the concrete, then filling the hole with a suitable bituminous surfacing material which is well compacted and finished flush with the surrounding surface.  The reality of a cheap-ish repair is normally something like tipping a bag of cold lay macadam in the hole and walking over it a few times.

Once a tarmac surface has got to that state it will be a case of neverending patch repairs, with a patchwork of different shades of greys, each getting lighter as the binder content evaporates away.

The not-so-cheapish approach is to get the whole area cleaned back to the concrete, deal with any cracking in the concrete base, then resurface with the material of choice.  But to do that properly means finding a competent contractor, rather than one of the type that knocks on people's doors saying they have a truckload of tarmac left over from doing a job for the council. (not easy)

A cheapish repair with a bag of cold lay may be the best approach if you don't want to spend a lot of money, but be aware it won't necessarily last very long, and won't look that great.

Bendy_House

It's hard to tell from the photos - how deep are these 'holes'? An inch?

If it's deep enough to take cold-lay tarmac patching stuff, then I'm guessing that cleaning it up and firmly tapping this stuff into the voids would be a good start. Once packed in tightly and nicely levelled, then overcoat it all with a good quality drive seal. By 'good quality', I don't mean the cheap Wicks and Thompson's thin bitumen-emulsion type stuff (which is ok for what it is), but a proper thick 'resin' type jobbie. I don't know which ones are best, but this looks promising: https://www.resincoat.co.uk/en/insulating-paints/386-resincoat-pro-tarmac-driveway-paint.html

twopenny

To blend get a spray paint near the colour

It will only put off the inevitable though.

Alfrescodave

Any patching that you do will NOT blend in with the main driveway.
 As Section 62 posts says  - a complete removal of the tarmac material and new material laid. Not a cheap option if done properly

Bendy_House

Cold-lay patching, levelled and tamped down firmly, and then all of the driveway coated with a good quality tarmac sealant/restorer will make it look approximately 53 times better than it is at the moment.

Of course it won't be perfect. But it should look perfectly acceptable, and last ok too.