The Brew Cabin

Our drive is 3 metres wide by 10 metres long and pretty flat. It is paved but several flags have cracked and most are uneven. A car is parked on it daily, usually in exactly the same place due to the narrow drive. I was going to have it block paved but have been told that ruts will develop. Is there any truth in this and how long do these drives last? Would I be better having it re paved? Many thanks to anyone who can advise.

I have done drives with just enough room to get 1 car on and jobs in my area that we have doneyears ago that have cars parked on them all the time are still billiard table flat no rutting at all but we do the installation by the book just as this site advises it is done and we have never had rutting in any of our drives although we have seen rutting in drives that other companys have done and can only suggest these drives have not been installed correctly. Get it done right and check out there work before giving them the job and u should be ok. one last thing knock the doors of the customer to make sure the job was done by the company you are checking out, we have had a few companys where we work claiming they have done jobs we have done although i do document as many of our jobs as possible for our portfolio we cannot stop others claiming they did our work.

Suki is right. Properly laid block pavements should not develop ruts or 'channelisation' as it is known. Any block pavement exhibiting channelisation is either subject to exceptional traffic loads, which can't be the case on a private driveway, or has been laid without a proper sub-base, which is the most usual cause.

If a block paved driveway is laid following the principles outlined on my site, then it should give you at least 10 years of trouble-free service. We have areas of block paving we laid back in the early 1980s, back when block paving was still a novelty in the UK, and it's still being trafficked, day in and day out, and, although it's looking its age and could do with a good cleaning, it's still fully functional and hasn't settled, except for the patches where the cable tv gangs have ploughed through.

Get yourself a few quotes for block paving and follow the advice given on the 'Getting a Contractor' page. :)