Understanding the reasons for degrading bitmac dri

[lutonlagerlout]

I fear not forestboy
I can guess what has caused this post and its not rusty nuts !

LLL

[rxbren]

Apparently not a joke or wind up
With literally tr first search got this https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=....rl=http

at best on a properly designed and constructed road sma has a life expectancy of 20 years a driveway would be lucky to get half that
Op save yourself the hassle and cost and face that any resurfacing will be at your cost

[Colin James]

I needed to go to court to force a repair to a common driveway.
I would recommend getting the solicitors to appoint an expert and agree to accept his recommendations (a Man of skill). If you get your own expert, the other side can say he was incorrectly briefed etc.
I only managed to resolve my situation by using solicitors and wish I had done it years before. It is very easy to delay and ignore others when it costs you nothing. Not so easy if you are being forced to the Sherriff Court.

Regards,
Colin

[Dave_L]

at best on a properly designed and constructed road sma has a life expectancy of 20 years a driveway would be lucky to get half that

Really?? Driveways that we constructed 25yrs ago are still looking great and performing as they should do!

[lemoncurd1702]

If Rusty Nuts wins this case it will set up a whole new precedent and I will be contacting Persimmon regarding a number issues with my 20 year old house.

[Rustynuts]

This has been sorted (finally).

The problem has been with my neighbour who is a complete arse, always has been since he moved in, and will continue to be until they throw him under the ground and fill him in. The driveway in question is his, and the damage to it (he claimed) was caused by a tree on my property destroying the drive and pushing roots up through the surface. More accurately his driveway had subsided and the tree roots had appeared through the surface as a result, but he still demanded £5500 from me for a complete new drive and removal of the tree, his solicitors also thought that was a viable claim and proceeded to pursue me for those costs (and no doubt their own fees as well). We replied that we would be prepared to remove the tree at our expense and he could pay for the renewal of his drive.

This legal ping pong continued for some months with him making louder and louder demands for his £5500 to make the case go away (along with the tree in question) and us simply ignoring anything which arrived from his solicitors unless it required a signature. Anything which we had to sign for received a reply with a pertinent question (such as the qualifications of the compiler of the "report" he had done), and the case dragged on and on. The longer it dragged the more it became apparent that he had nothing more than some google maps images, a few grainy photos, and an "opinion" from someone with no qualifications stating that our tree was damaging the drive and we must remove it. He also provided us with 3 estimates for removal and relaying of the complete driveway and removal of the tree. So nothing which the average sensible person would take any notice of really. We decided that if he wanted to go to court for his money then bring it on, and we let things run.

Finally, we received a signed for letter from his solicitors at the eleventh hour stating that they would accept our offer of removal of the tree at our expense as a final and binding closure to the case. We accepted. Then the next letter came back asking for assurances that the roots would be killed, the tree removed within certain time frames etc. so we simply replied that they'd accepted we would remove the tree so the time for negotiating on the terms of said removal had passed.

Our gardener removed the tree earlier this year and found it to be diseased and dying anyway, so it would have had to be removed at some point. Gardener charged us £200 for dropping the tree, and I sold the wood to a mate for logs for £300 and he came and collected it. Job sorted.

Neighbour has since had his drive patched (not a complete replacement as he was asking for), probably down to the fact that his solicitors bill took a good chunk of his pension for that year. Certainly the new cars he and his wife always buy every year haven't appeared this time round.

Overall, this has never been about his driveway at all, but ever since he moved in about 12 years ago he's wanted the tree removing because the leaves blow onto his property. The driveway damage I presume was just a personal stab at me for refusing to budge on the issue (the tree had been there longer than both of us) and I don't take kindly to an ex policeman stopping me on the street and demanding I cut my tree down because he doesn't like it. He spent his working life telling people what to do and having authority, but that doesn't wash with me.

Case closed.

[lutonlagerlout]

he sounds like a "berkshire Hunt" to be honest
I have had neighbours complain about leaves, I then show them oak leaves and ask them to count how many oak trees I have in my garden?
some strange people about
glad its sorted and glad you had an earner
LLL

[Rustynuts]

he sounds like a "berkshire Hunt" to be honest

Yep, unfortunately he is. However, he's not the sort of person I'll lose any sleep over. Situation normal here.

Oh, I did contact a chartered surveyor and asked him if he would consider looking at the situation for us. No response. I also found a structural engineering firm locally and sent them a letter asking the same. No response. Clearly they have plenty of clients paying their wages.

[dig dug dan]

£300 for some logs. Must of been a big tree!
Make sure you plant a replacement tree in its place, carbon footprint and all that :p

[Tony McC]

Oh, I did contact a chartered surveyor and asked him if he would consider looking at the situation for us. No response. I also found a structural engineering firm locally and sent them a letter asking the same. No response. Clearly they have plenty of clients paying their wages.

I hear this quite regularly and I believe the problem is that neither Structural Engineers nor Surveyors have much (if any!) experience with groundworks, paving and surfacing.

All too often, I encounter them when they've mis-assessed a job and are completely out of their depth, spouting bollocks about a subject they know eff all about.

Sadly, the same applies to many a civil engineer who you'd think would know better, but too many seem incapable of scaling down their experience from working with motorways, airports, dams and bridges to consider a residential driveway or patio. Hence the case a few years ago where the civil engineer for a client recommended a 300mm concrete base, reinforced with two layers of A252 mesh, with T12 bars at 600mm centres longitudinally and transversely, and appropriate movement joints......for a 3m X 4m patio which was to use Bradstone Peak Paving (the 99p flags from B&Q!)

There aren't many of us willing and able to provide genuine impartial and independent expertise for residential paving and surfacing projects. When I work out just how much it pays for the amount of time it requires to produce a thoughtful and considered assesment, even I wonder why I bother doing it!