Spray tar and shingle drive - New drive advice

[rob_walton]

Hi (first timer to the forum so please be gentle)

We currently have a tired block paved drive of about 250sqm. We are changing the entrance to our house and the new driveway will be approximately 750sqm. We are currently trying decide the best and most cost affective way of replacing the current driveway and extending it to the new entrance.

We recently spotted on a local new build a shingle driveway which the builder told us was a spray tar and shingle drive. Unfortunately he wasn't willing to quote us or give us any further details of the drive (muttered something about small domestic jobs).

Anyway had a look around the web and found you guys so can anybody tell me what spray tar/tar spray is ? Is it a reasonably cheap option? Would this be a stable driveway if there was the occasional HGV (delivery vans/trucks and oil deliveries) using it? What would be the best type of base to lay this on?

If spray tar is not really an option is there another way of achieving a driveway which has got the satisfying crunch of a shingle drive when walked and driven on but without the pain and mess that loose grave or shingle causes?

Thanks very much for your help.

[simeonronacrete]

Sounds like a tailor made question for the Ronadeck Fast Grip system which we manufacture.

Ronadeck Fast Grip will do the job.

See pages on this site or go to Ronadeck Fast Grip

We can assist with installers and product.

Regards

Simeon

[simeonronacrete]

Rob

I have received your private message and will contact you tomorrow. generally, the answers are:

yes it sounds crunchy
if you are starting from scratch the ideal sub-base is concrete
yes we can get installers to quote.

Regards

[Tony McC]

To go back top the original query, what you refer to as 'Spray Tar' is what we call "Tar and Chip" in the trade. The builder to whom you spoke is right: Tar & Chip contractors really, *really* hate domestic driveways and prefer to work only for local authorites and larger developers. There are a few smaller contractors dotted around that will take on the occasional driveway, but they are the exception rather than the rule.

Even if Tar & Chip was feasible (and at 750m² it probably is), you'd need to have the extended areas surfaced beforehand and brought up to level with the original. Once that is done, it's possibly cheaper to have the whole 750m² surfaced with a new wearing course (Oops! Sorry Brussels, I mean a new Surface course!!) than to bring in Tar & Chip.

Tar & Chip is a great way of tarting up basically sound but tatty looking footpaths and carriageways. It's quite likely that your local authority has used T&C on many of the local minor roads, estate roads and footpaths, as it offers an extended lifespan to old, tired surfaces at a fraction of the cost of re-surfacing, but as your project involves two-thirds new work, I'd strongly recommend you get prices for new surfacing as well as prices for T&C and for the decorative resin surface that Simeon mentions.

[simeonronacrete]

Tony

Thanks for the endorsement.

Simeon

(p.s. currently in Hong Kong on business, promoting Ronadeck Fast Grip amongst other products)

[Tony McC]

So you won't be at CityScape next week, Sim? I'll have to buy me own tea!!

[simeonronacrete]

No I won't, but Donna and Steve will and they'll be delighted to offer you a drink and have a chat.

You may be interested to know that as well as featuring Ronadeck Fast Grip, Tree Pit and Ronadeck TackTile - preformed slip resistant sheets and nosings - we're introducing "Ease By Gum", a chewing gum repellent impregnant for paving.

We' re inviting trials with (local) interested parties, including specialist chewing gum removal contrators, to prove the best system for varying surfaces.

Paul Bennison ( Technical Manager) is leading the project. You (and any one interested) can reach him on 01279 638700.

Hope you (all) enjoy the show.


With best wishes from a hot and humid Hong Kong.

[Tony McC]

I want to know more about the "Ease by Gum" (who came up with that name, I wonder??) and meant to gather info while at Cityscape, but hobbled away without any, so I'll try to have a chat with Paul some time next week when I've caught up with everything else.

After leaving CityScape, I tried to find a decent (and realistically priced) butty shop in that Islington place. In front of some of the shops there is a section of luvverley Highmoor Yorkstone paving that has been abso-bloody-lutely ruined by filthy, dirty, nasty, inconsiderate, TB-ridden gum spitters. What a disgusting habit, and real blight on our nation's pavements. I advocate clubbing or electrocution for the perpetrators, but not many local authorities agree with me, sadly.