How steep can a driveway be?

[Surfr101]

My house is raised around 1.8m to door level from the road and I would like to knock down the garage (at road level) and slope a drive up to and along the side of the house which is level.

I have worked out that the drive would need to slope up 1.8m in around 6m. The only other option would be to lower the ground at the side to create a less steep gradient. Has anyone got any advice and the max steepness recommended, plus the type of materials to use and an rough costing (although im sure it will be very rough without seeing it).

[Surfr101]

.a

[lutonlagerlout]

nice pier caps there,are you in Blackpool by any chance?
as for the gradient,generally the shallower the better, obviously you can go as much as 45 deg with a 4 wheel drive but its going to get awkward in the winter and dangerous
8:1 is really steep so for 1.8 m you would have to take the slope back around 14 m or so
i note with interest you have a soil stack pipe on the side you wish to excavate ,you need to check the levels of your drains before you start any major digging

rough price around 10k but could be slightly lower or loads higher,need a site visit really

TBH it doesn't seem like an economically viable project and it would look a bit odd, better to spruce up the garage IMHO

regards LLL

[Pablo]

Thats close to 1:3 which is too steep for comfort. Problems I see if you lower the driveway are that the founds and the drains might not let you go down far enough and you'll need all sorts of fancy retaining walls and steps to get to your front door. Any retaining wall is going to be bearing the loading of your house so bear that in mind to. There's probably not a lot of difference in price between a new larger garage flat roofed and a driveway. Personal opinion and I'm only going by the photo but I'd go for a garage. Get some contractors round and ask them for some ideas and pricing but both will probably require surveying and plans. Nice house though it's got character and potential can't be a recent photo it's not raining.
Good luck.

[Surfr101]

Thanks for the replies. We are quite keen to remove the garage as we have two cars and parking is a nightmare, so we want to have both cars on the drive.

We are also looking to build a side 1m x 9m extension to the Kitchen diner, once we knock down the existing lean-to and conservatory. If the builder will be digging the foundations for the extension, it could be used as a retaining wall on one side. I guess it would make sense to get both jobs done at the same time as this would save money?? I plan to keep the steps and walls, just take down the garage.

One thing im concerned with is the foundations you mentioned. How deep are the drains and foundations normally as I wouldn't want to start digging the foundations up.

Whats the highest recommended gradient for a saloon car?

Thanks

[lutonlagerlout]

surf ,what you are talking about doing ,need a structural engineers eye over it
once he has given you an idea then you need 3 quotes from local recommended builders
its definitely NOT a diy and hope for the best job

maybe look laterally at why you need 2 cars
could 1 of you not walk/bus/cycle/train to work


not trying to put you off completely but it can be liberating not driving everywhere,
IMHO it will cost 10k+ to do the ramp retaining walls alone
regards
LLL

[Mikey_C]

what about two separate drives using a larger central entrance and the width of the property to reduce the slope and therfore the dig out, parking the cars parallel with the road, you might just have to reverse in??

just a thought

[Suggers]

Also sorry to be neg - have to agree with Pab & LLL - looks like a lovely Edwardian house that's been mullered -what's happened to the windows?
Side extension idea could be a goer, 2 storey, shift the lovely dog-leg pillars to straight-up to front door, and incorporate underneath parking? How are your local planners?
Anybody done something similar along the street?

[Suggers]

ps - could well be worth it if you love the house, the area, schools, friends etc.
Best.
pps - decent garden at the back?

[Surfr101]

The garden is a very good size. Dont know about the schools because I dont have kids so not a priority. I guess with the drive I will have to get someone professional out to look over the job. Thanks for the advice.

Your right Suggers about the windows being mullered. I did a lot of searching on the internet about how to replace the window mullions to replace the traditional character, but cant find anybody that does it. With all the houses being affected, surely someone must have caught on and offered the service in concrete or other material that you can paint... My best options so far are to replace the windows with a 3 pane double glazed window with the partitions in the same place as the mullions. Not a preferred option, but the best I can come up with at the minute.

[lutonlagerlout]

theres joinery firms that will make you proper windows but it will cost you 3 times as much as plastic
the thing that we find all the time is that wooden load bearing windows have been ripped out then the donut window fitters install upvcrap without putting any lintels in
a couple of years down the line ,we get the call because the brickwork is sagging
regards LLL