Gravel or something else?

[triffle]

Hi everyone,
Great site and lots of info, but I'm still unsure what to do, so I'm hoping for some advice..

I'm looking to get my old driveway redone, it's currently tarmac and looks tatty and has a few cracks.

I've had a guy come round to look at it, and he firstly wanted to do block paving, but this was coming out over budget for me really. His next suggestion was to replace it with a gravel driveway. In with the job, he would remove a wall which is also tatty down one edge of the drive and replace it with a new edge to match, and continue the gravel down the other side of the house past the back gate and down to my garden decking. This seemed also like a good idea to me as the path down the side of the house is currently crazy paved and doesn't look very nice either!

I was concerned about gravel flying everywhere when driving on and off, as the driveway is used by 2 cars every day, but he says it will be well compacted and stuck down at the front edge so that will not happen. For this job, his quote was £1500.

All in all, it sounds like it makes sense to me, but I am a bit concerned, as when I walk around my estate, I see absolutely no one else with a gravel driveway, everyone has either block paving or tarmac. So I'm concerned about looking out of place compared with everyone else.

So I'm now totally undecided, I'm starting to think if I would be better off just having it re-tarmac'd.

If anyone can help me make sense of it all and point me the right way, I'd be most grateful!

Thanks a lot..

[GB_Groundworks]

i know an old boy who says only have a gravel drive if you have a man to rake it everyday

but in all seriousness it needs a threshold on the driveway to retain the gravel like a metre+ wide strip of setts or block to stop the gravel mitigating onto the highway

needs to be laid thin as possible and well compacted in, but you will end up with deep spots and bare patches.

its hard to pull wheelie bins through, prams etc, but is noisy if anyone is walking across it and its cheaper than most other surfaces

without sizes cant comment on price etc is he laying a new subbase or relying on existing subbase?

[triffle]

Hi, thanks for your reply, much appreciated.

He said there would be a new base, and that the base was the main cost of the job, he pointed out that if I wanted to upgrade to block paving later, then the base that he's putting down would be suitable for that too.

It's about 30 sq metres, quite a small driveway I suppose, plus the path down the side of the house which isn't very big.

I hadn't thought about wheelie bins, that could be a real pain up and down the path/drive each week.

[lutonlagerlout]

i have just priced a similar drive (well 150m)and they are having a 1200 path in clay pavers from the door to the foot of the drive to facilitate the bins etc.
the only thing is they want a white or light 20 mm gravel that is round ,I'm not sure but i dont think you are supposed to use rounded gravels on drives?
LLL

[Dave_L]

No you want to be using something flat for driving/walking over, otherwise it'll just act like a bed of marbles!

[simeonronacrete]

Agree that loose aggregate can be an ongoing headache.

Why not consider Ronacrete RonaDeck Resin Bound Aggregate Surfacing.

Please call me if you would like a site survey and quotation.

[WilliamEthen]

Older driveways will often appear tatty in appearance due to wear and tear as cracks regularly appear. Materials used for driveways such as paving will often result in weeds growing through the gaps which can be detrimental to the overall aesthetic appearance.

[lutonlagerlout]

what the most common material in Australia william?
I know an aussie block paver ,so i guess that is fairly common
cheers LLL

[Carberry]

what the most common material in Australia william?
I know an aussie block paver ,so i guess that is fairly common
cheers LLL

I would say concrete and tarmac. I don't remember seeing much block paving there.