New driveway / front ideas

PierremontQuaker03

Hi, I am after ideas for the driveway for the front of the house.
I am wanting two spaces to park - so I intend to get rid of all or most of the wall, and hopefully get an increased dropped curb. I am out during the day and quite often I am forced to park on my drive when I get home from work as there will be cars parked on the front, or if I have a visitor they have to park further down the street. Also soon we will have two cars and I would prefer them to be off the street. I am just wanting it to look really nice, low maintenance - are there any websites that give ideas - like Pin interest I suppose? Cheers

jonnydeppiwish!

Probably a bit boring but we’ve just done this. Suits the purpose!

twopenny

For the easiest maintainance then tarmac. I've got that on my relatively new build but it's a smart appearance properly finished with a white concrete edging and not the cheap stuff.

The block paving JohnnyDepp has is in front of a modern property and  you are forever trying to weed after a couple of years.

I've seen resin, bit bright and moulded block paving which on first glance looks good and cheaper but then it's just a wannabe.

For such a lovely vintage house I'd keep some of the pretty garden and sweep a bed round the curved bay and then straight down. to be in keeping and soften it.

And keep some of the wall, rebuild the post so there is some kerb appeal.

You should be able to do that and have room for 2 cars - unless they're monstermobiles.

Abbafan1972

jonnydeppiwish! said:

Probably a bit boring but we’ve just done this. Suits the purpose!

Aside from the lamppost in the middle of it! 

Imprinted concrete seems to be very popular at the moment and that’s what we’re going for when we get ours done. 

Ectophile

The planning laws have changed recently.  If you're putting a new driveway in, then it must be of permeable materials, or you need to provide a drain with a soakaway.  That way, the rain running off the driveway doesn't flood the local drains.

Personally, I'm not a fan of the municipal car park look for the front of a house.  Many people seem to want to pave over the whole front garden.  My house came with rougly 2/3 driveway and 1/3 front garden, and I want to keep it that way.

I only have a standard dropped kerb.  I get the second car on simply by driving into the driveway at an angle, then straightening up.

Postik

twopenny said:

For the easiest maintainance then tarmac. I've got that on my relatively new build but it's a smart appearance properly finished with a white concrete edging and not the cheap stuff.

Same here, except after moving in my car developed a small oil leak over Christmas which took a couple of months to fix.  Parking on the road is difficult and I assumed it would just wash off with some fairy liquid.  End result is my tarmac is now covered in lots of oil spots that are impossible to remove :-(

FreeBear

Postik said:

twopenny said:

For the easiest maintainance then tarmac. I've got that on my relatively new build but it's a smart appearance properly finished with a white concrete edging and not the cheap stuff.

Same here, except after moving in my car developed a small oil leak over Christmas which took a couple of months to fix.  Parking on the road is difficult and I assumed it would just wash off with some fairy liquid.  End result is my tarmac is now covered in lots of oil spots that are impossible to remove :-(

You'd have the same problem regardless of what surface you put down (apart from gravel). With block paving, individual blocks can be lifted and replaced when needed (except for the edging which should be set in concrete).

Resin may well be more resistant to oil stains depending on the type of aggregate used and how well the resin covers each stone.

CliveOfIndia

Block paving does have certain advantages, which have already been mentioned.  Possibly the main one is that it's permeable, so you don't get any problems planning-wise (assuming you'll be allowed to extend the drive in the first place, extend your dropped kerb etc.).  It's also pretty easy to replace individual bricks if they get damaged or stained with oil that won't wash out.  You can sometimes just turn individual bricks over, depending on the design, or else swap the damaged brick for one in a concealed area.  It might even be worth buying a few extra and keeping them somewhere - then you'll have matching bricks if you ever need to completely replace a couple at some point in the future.

Maintenance is not too much of a hassle.  I've got quite a big drive, I just give it a good jet-wash and re-sand once a year, that does the job.  OK, it's the best part of a day's work, but I don't mind doing it once a year.

You can get various sealants to cover it with.  I've no direct experience of this, but I suspect it'll work well for a few months until it starts to crack - I don't see how it can't crack if you're driving cars over it every day, causing minute movements in the stones.  I may be wrong, but personally I'm happy just blasting it clean once a year.

Gravel is the other option, of course.  Quite a bit cheaper, but I suspect you'll be forever sweeping errant handfuls of gravel off the road and back onto your driveway

twopenny

Ha ha postik, I was disposing of Milton fluid and it left a white trail down the tarmac. So anyone wanting to clean up paving thats your stuff.
Got to say my oil stains went of their own accord. Sorry.