Low maintenance drives

[Bob_A]

I'm looking at having a new drive.
Forgetting concrete,PIC,tarmac, resin based, gravel and similar for a moment.
Am I right in saying that a low maintenance drive is a drive where the blocks/setts or whatever are jointed with mortar/resin.
A drive that uses sanded joints will be higher maintenance as the sand is more likely to attract growths and if power washed it may require resanding?

Sorry if that is a daft question but your answers will lead me to a few other questions and hopefully lead me to the correct decision.

Thanks for reading.

[Carberry]

Given your criteria then yes natural stone setts pointed with mortar / resin would be the lowest maintenance. I say natural stone because concrete products will lose their colour.

If you pressure wash a driveway that has been jointed with kiln dried sand then the sand will need replaced.

[Bob_A]

Cheers and you've already answered my next question which was about concrete products, so I'm going for a natural product.

Which natural products are not too difficult to source and are suitable for a residential drive.
Looking at the mainsite I see granite, basalt & sandstone setts. i suppose I could also use clay blocks.
Have I missed any?
I'm guess the less porous the product is then the least chance of algae and other nasties have over growing.
Would that be true and if so what's the least porous and what's the most.

[lutonlagerlout]

personally bob and from a cost perspective too i think clay blocks are very good
i just resanded a drive that had been pressure washed ,and it only took approx 25kg of KDS per 18m2
total cost for sand £7.50 and 1 hour of my time £40
looks like new
setts are nice but instead of approx £80 per metre you would be looking at roughly 2.5 times that
everyone has a budget
cheers LLL

[DNgroundworks]

£40.00 per hour, for one man??!! realy?

[DNgroundworks]

Or is that just as a one off?

[Bob_A]

Didn't want to go into costs at the moment but.....
reclaimed granite setts around £35 sq/m inc vat
New granite setts £48 inc vat
Basalt setts £66 inc vat
Limestone setts £38 inc vat
Sandstone setts 48 sq/m inc vat

Got about £50 sq/m to do.

Didn't have a long chat but local tradesman said that labour cost for laying setts wasn't much difference then for block paving. Main website says that setts for residential drives don't necessarily need to have a type 1 sub base.



The planned use of the rigid sett pavement will determine the exact structure of the work; light-use areas, such as patios, driveways and pedestrian only areas, may consist simply of the setts laid on a cementitious bedding layer over a prepared sub-grade

Was told that the cost of type1 can be soooo expensive @£35 ton inc vat that it's just as easy and cheap to lay on thick concrete.

He didn't mention the pointing costs so I could've been told a load of cobblers so that he could come round and get his foot in the day :laugh:

Perhaps it will be too expensive but there's no harm in asking.

Anyway I digress.
Getting back to the porous bit.

i know natural materials can vary in themselves so no one can say for certain but what natural materials are generally the least porous and what ones are the most porous?

[Carberry]

I'm with LLL on the clay paviors, for their price they are great.
Type 1 is only that expenisve if you are buying 1T loads or you're in an area nowhere near a quarry.

If your tradesmen can point them with slurry mix then it won't be expensive. If you want to use polymeric stuff then it can get quite expensive especially if you have deep joints and don't half fill them with sand / cement.

From your list of stone least porous to most generally speaking...
Granite
Slate
Limestone
Sandstone

Basalt can vary a lot though for paving I would expect to see it being not very porous, somewhere between granite and slate.

DN - You have to have some sort of minimum charge. generally speaking a 1 hour call out will take a couple of hours when you factor in travel time etc

[Bob_A]

Cheers.
I had a hunch that if I was going to go down this route then the compromise between cost and performance was going to be granite setts and luckily for me I think granite setts look really good.
Just wanted to hear what the pro's had to say.

Whether I'll be able to afford it is another question but as I said before there's no harm in asking.

As regards to type1 the costs in London are ridiculous.
It's not a case of suppliers trying to get you to pay as much possible for something. They'll try to put you off buying it and offer you alternatives.
Reason being (so they say) is type1 is so expensive that they prefer to offer you something else that is cheaper and almost as good rather (their words) rather than lose a sale.

[lutonlagerlout]

£40 is a drink to me
its what it costs me to go for a shandy
so i said i would resand it for a drink
the days of doing things for a fiver or tenner are long gone
LLL

[cookiewales]

hi bob take a look on my website our costs for setts or cobbles ar between 180 to 220m2 clay pavors are good am with you luton 40 pound is a shandy

[DNgroundworks]

Aye i get ya

[Pablo]

Didn't have a long chat but local tradesman said that labour cost for laying setts wasn't much difference then for block paving.

Oh yes there is in fact the difference is huge 50m2 of block would take 2 days max but setts would be a week easily. I wouldn't let someone who comes out with that sort of statement anywhere near a natural stone drive.
Reclaimed granite with basalt detailing is my personal favourite don't worry about porousity it's not going to cause any problems.
Not the best angle but gives you an idea of the contrast.

[cookiewales]

i pablo have had lots of phone calls got someone 20 pound m2 cheaper and more i say fine let them have it .then get the help phone call they laid on sand pointed with morter then first car over them its carnage and some on a small area quailty is king :;):

[lutonlagerlout]

as usual cookie is right
you pays your money ,you take your chances
pay cheap, pay twice
LLL