The Brew Cabin

Hi this is my first post and may i start by thanking you on an informative site.
I am about to blockpave the front drive of my brand new house in the next month or 2 and can not decide weather my choice of colour of the blocks is ok i have spent a few hours driving around looking at other peoples drives to get some indication of what it will look like when finished.
I wonder if any one as any photos of their drive with the spec i have below any information would be great and welcome THANK YOU.

My drive is 12m long by 5.4 m wide and is curved slightly from the garage door to the pavement.
I want to put marshalls keykerb ks in red all around the edge with charcoal driveline 50 laid side to side as soliders and drive line 50 red laid at 45 degree heringbone for the main drive area.
I have also want to split the main drive up with a driveline circle pack in charcoal but i am unsure weather this is too dark.
Please help me with you comments and veiws and sussgestions i need all the help and advise i can get.
THANK YOU AGAIN.
MARK.

I think I might have a photo matching your spec, but I'll have to have a rummage, as I can't recall if it's a digipic that's been archived or a 'normal' print that will be in one of the cardboard boxes that try to trip me up every time I come into my study.

The only problem with using a monotone red, and it's the same reason for why Brindle is the most popular colour, is that it shows up the slightest mark. If your car, or a visitor's car drips a bit of oil onto an all-red drive, it will stand out like the proverbial sore thumb, whereas, with a brindle, it's almost impossible to spot minor drips.

Obviously, you can counter this by using a sealant or vetting all traffic using the paving, but it's an important consideration.

The charcoal circle will look good, but there are other tricks to make it look even better, such as using a Marigold soldier to frame the circle, or even using a circle in a different block, like the Drivesett or similar. Wjatever you do, though, will be OK, as, with such a relatively large area, it definitely needs breaking up with some feature of other.

I'll have a look for that piccie in t'morning - I'm too knackered now to be hunched over boxes!

Well, it's not a 45 herringbone, but you get the impression of the overall colour.....

Thanks for the picture do you know of any sites that post pictures of block paved drives.
Also what minimum radius can i get away with, with the marshalls ks keykerb without cutting tapers and also the drive line 50s length and width.
CHEERS.

The manufacturers have a few pictures on their websites, but it's unlikely they'll have one of the actual layout and colour scheme you're considering. This is the biggest impartial paving website in the world, and as far as I know, this is the only site that offers to post images on request. There are a good number of contractors' websites, but you'd have to trawl through hell of a lot of them to find a particular image.

With the Keykerb, there are ready-formed tapered units that allow you to form radii as fast as 500mm. As for how fast a radius you can create using a 200x100 block, that information is given on the Block Detailing page

Strange co-incidence - I'm just about to get my drive block paved after dallying with thoughts of tarmac. It has similar dimensions.

I was considering Brackenwith charcoal or brindle edging and some sort of diamond in the centre to break it up.

One question I had, and you maybe answered it about, is are some colours better at 'aging' than others. I can imagine thatthe paler colours maybe look dirtier sooner whilst the dark do not.

Brindle seems everywhere and whilst my wife is arguing for it - i'm trying to be different! But then maybe it's everywhere for good reason!

Steve
Steve

Bracken - who's colour is that? I had it in my head that Marshalls did a multi-colour they named bracken, but I cvan't see it in my current catalogue and I'm wondering whether I'm confusing it with "Heather"?

Dark colours do appear cleaner for longer than pale colours, but all concrete pavers fade over time, as they all rely on artificial colouring. Clay pavers and exposed aggregate pavers keep their colour, but cost a bit more.

I don't think it's fair to say such-and-such a block fades badly, as dyes and colour blends are being re-formulated all the time. Some blocks from the late 80s have more or less 'bleached' over the years, but the same colour of the same block (supposedly) from the same manufacturer may now last, say 15 years before losing its colouring.

A lot depends on the aggregate that's used. I know of some blocks that are manufactured with a high PFA content, which is a dark grey by-product of the Power-generating industry often used as a cement substitue in civil engineering applications. We find that red dyes have a real battle to overcome the inherent dark grey of the PFA and those blocks darken and 'bleach' to a rather sad dirty red in just a couple or three years, while other blocks, such as the ones one my own driveway, have held their colour for 7 years now and you can still tell they are very definitely red (brindle, ack shirley, but you know what I mean!)

I saw an 'interesting' block-paved drive near my sister's place last night - alternating bands of brown and marigold. :o Next time I'm down there, I'll have a proper nosey and a word with the homeowner (assuming they're not completely bonkers!) as to why they chose that particular scheme.

Yep - definately Marshalls driveline 50.
Colour available are: Bracken, Burnt Ochre, charcoal, brindle, red, grey, buff and marigold! I'm looking at the 2003 marshalls catalogue - with jewson printed on the priont page.
Steve

Got it! My fault, I was looking at the Bumper Fun Book of All Things Paving that Marshalls give out to us so-called 'professionals' and that doesn't feature the Driveline stuff.

My Marshalls 2003 Catalogue is badged with "Travis Bloody Perkins" and a large ring from a mug or tea, but all the pictures are the same....aaah, yes, the Bracken...that's the one that's sort of in-between Burnt Ochre and Brindle.

Marigold or Buff would form a good contrast, but, instead of going for a simple diamond or one of the Driveline Circles, why not switch tack completely and use on of the DriveSETT circles or octants? It'd cost a few bob more, but it would be impressive.

Using Charcoal for the soldiers/detailing is not going to be sufficiently distinctive for anyone on the Nr 37 bus to realise that it's NOT yet another Brindle and Charcoal Masterpiece, unless you have an 'interesting' shape to your layout.

Have you seen these Bracken blocks in real life? I seem to recall that the ones I've seen up here in the civilised part of the country are radically different from the ones they sell in the little towns and villages of Southern Britain, probably because they're made in different factories using different coarse aggregates.

Well I can't see a DriveSETT circles or octants in my catalogue :) Is it similar to a driveline 50 'circle' but in different blocks?

Would there in 15 years time be a risk of having a washed out looking drive with a nice 'DriveSett feature still retaiing it's original colours? Oh - I've jsut found 'Drivesett Argent' and Tegula drivesett - but both of those look very 'natural stone'.

I have a figure of 11.99 per M2 for driveloine 50 from the jewson catalogue - do you have any idea what the clay pavers work out at?

Drivesett is the same as tegula - see page 39.

The Drivesett is a coloured concrete block that's been tumbled. The dDriveline is a coloured concrete block that hasbn't been tumbled. I reckon the dyes will fade at more or less the same rate, but, I'd hope that in 15 years, you'd still have adriveway with more than a hint of its original colouring. I can't see any reason for Driveline to fade faster than Drivesett or vice versa.

12 quid a metre? Too dear for me, that is! I know that it can be bought from independent BMs for around a tenner per square metre, including the <spit> VAT