The Brew Cabin

Hi

My first post. I'm looking at a installing new drive as the old gravel drive (which was tired any way) has been churned up by some building work we had done.

From reading this site it is obvious that a great number of folks have installed thier own drives successfully. So my questions is, can this be done by any competant DIYer?

My drive is pretty big, approx 140 sq m (14 x 9.8) plus a biggish path. Is this too big a project for a first timer? My biggest worry will be that I do not get ruts and 'sagging' as we will have horse trailers, small lorries and the heating oil lorry (occasionally) using the drive, in addition to a 4X4 and two cars.

I'm quite prepared to be told to leave it to the experts, but on such a large drive, there are significant savings to be made.

It all depends on how confident you are with your own DIY skills. There's a lot of hard graft involved, and it could take you 3 times as long as it would take a professional contractor, but there's nothing technically difficult about block paving.

I'd suggest you get a few prices for the driveway, just so that you know what sort of money is involved, and then work out how much it's going to cost you to buy the materials and the hire in the plant to do the job yourself. Then work out how many hours you reckon it will take you, and see just how much you are really saving in return for so much of your free time.

DIY is fine for those who enjoy the challenge and like to be involved in building work, but if you want a job with minimum fuss and minimum stress, then a contractor may be the answer, as a decent firm will be able to construct a 140m² drive from scratch in about a week, whereas I would guess that it could take you a month, or even longer!

Several DIYers that have done their own driveways have confessed that it took far longer than anticipated, that they found it needed full days of work, rather than a couple of hours each evening, but that, overall, they really enjoyed the experience. :)

Thanks for the reply Tony. Basically you have confirmed my own thoughts! I plan to get some quotes in (see my other post for contactor recommends from folks on the forum :) )

If I were to go the DIY route, I would take a week off to really have a go at it. My brother-in-law is keen to help (the fool) plus my son is very handy. Between us we could manage it in a month I'm sure!! :biggrin:

We are all competant DIYers but its the cost of failure that I'm worried about. Screw up and the cost of fixing my botch will be double the original cost. But it seems that the big thing is to get the sub-base right - after that everything flows.........

Major plus point is that there is a path that I want in same paving that can be done 'as a trial run' as it is on a different level to the drive. If that is a struggle, then it's time for the professionals!

I'll let folks know what I decide.

There really isn't much that you can bollix up. If you get the excavation depth right, and the falls worked out properly, then, once the sub-base is in and compacted, the paving work itself is straightforward, and even if you do lose patience and elect to bring in a contractor at that stage, the costliest part of the work has been done.

The great advantage block paving has over a monolithic surface, such as PIC or tarmac, is that, if you do get it wrong, it can be taken up and relaid without too much fuss. It's a very forgiving medium. :)