Bioverseâ„¢ paving system - Anybody seen this/used it/had it?

[Natajane]

Hello!

Ok, so I have a 64sqm crumbling tarmac drive which we've inherited from the previous owners.

I'm meant to be having a block paving drive - plaspave sorrento blocks. Quotes come to around £5k for two good pavers in my area with good reviews e.t.c

I just don't love the sorrento paving though. I went to Jewsons to look at the brick itself, and it looks so concretey!

I want my house to look nice and cottage like so having so much concrete around isn't ideal in my womanly mind!

I spotted this Bioverse paving system online though - looks like pebble cobble type thing (from the pictures).

I love the idea of being able to 'break up' the expanse of driveway with gravel or grass inbetween these cobble things.

SO are they a pain in the ass to put in? Will they last long? Do they look good in real life?

AND are they more expensive that Plaspave sorrento range - how much more per sqm?

Many thanks Super Paving Boys (and ladies, if there is any)

Natalie

[lutonlagerlout]

hmm looks similar to grass crete modules
i think you are overcomplicating things natajane
if you dont like the look of concrete pavers then maybe use clay pavers, baggeridge do some lovely colours
or even go for a border with shingle inlay
LLL

[Pablo]

I certainly wouldn't do the whole driveway with them and there are several reasons regarding maintenance as to why I would never use them. Firstly you're going to have to play musical cars every 5-7 days so you can cut the grass secondly given how little soil the grass has to grow in you're going to have to fertilise often and water a lot in dry weather. If you've got a hosepipe ban then your drive will die and re seeding it will be a total nightmare. These things are fine for out of the way overrun parking but look very out of place close to the house or in the wrong place. If you don't like concrete try asphalt with a reclaimed sett border that sort of finish looks great on just about every kind of house in the UK and shouldn't be any dearer given that the main body of the drive will be cheaper than block.

[local patios and driveway]

You are in the correct price range. Thats a good realistic start. Shiw us a pic of your house aund i bet you get loads of ideas

[Natajane]

Hello,

Thanks you guys for answering and your ideas! This pebble stuff is £50 pqm so rather expensive to say its not real cobbles!

I keep seeing block paving that has sunk/just looks crap when I drive around so it's putting me off of that material even more.

I like the idea of clay pavers hmmm. Bet they're super expensive though? I do like some gravels, like slate chippings e.t.c. We did consider that to begin with but worried it'd be a pain and spread everywhere. And I'm becoming a bit more open minded to Tarmac, I've seen drives done really well and they look better than some block paving. I guess if we did a great job of the path/ steps using really nice materials and had a good border as suggested, then it would detract from any Tarmac anyhow?

I will save up a little more if I can't find anything in budget though. No point in spending £5k on something I just think is ok when we could get something we really like for £6k.

I'm pretty open minded about materials now, other than really concrete looking things, so as suggested here is a picture of the house so you can run your ideas past me!

Please bare in mind that we're renovating it so it'll look different by the time we have the drive done. We will be replacing the door with a heavy wooden painted one (more cottage like) and we're putting a white wooden canopy/porch up. The gates will be taller and wooden and painted. The top of the house will be repaired. We've removed sky dishes and unnecessary wiring already. The garden will be box hedged and returned.

The path and steps are being torn out and done too as well.

[Natajane]

Oh, please note the driveway goes all the way back past the green fence so it will be a part of the garden. There's actually another 30sqm on top of the 64sqm that we could have paved over, its concrete right now, but we're going to have it pulled out and turfed to save on cost.

This is another reason why i'm thinking so hard about materials - i suppose i'm trying to landscape it properly so it all works together. As you can see we've got some big trees. It's quite a nice established garden. If we use all synthetic cement type stuff everywhere it will look odd against the garden. And the house is an ex council house which was a bit unloved when we bought it, so I'm trying to add a bit of value by making it look less so. A good garden and some tweaks to the exterior will make it look totally different.

Ta,

Natalie xxx