Not fade away - Colour loss in concrete blocks

[Flingel]

Firstly I'd like to say a big thank you to this site. I am an unknowledgable (re building stuff anyway) punter who for the last six months or so has been looking to get his hard standing re-done so had been walking around looking at peoples drives and checking out catalogues etc. I had ended up getting pretty confused but this site has answered virtually all my questions and I understand a heck of a lot more now!

Anyway what I have been shocked at is just how much concrete blocks fade. Opposite me I have 2 neighbours who both had Marshalls Drivesett Tegula - one 5 years ago, the other 1 month ago. I know this for a fact - I have the delivery note for the older one, and I watched the newer blocks being unloaded. The new ones look great, a mixture of blues, reds, yellows, the 5 year old ones look.... well I guess you probably know how they look - all the same drab browny grey colour. In fact for a long time during my research, this was a large part of my confusion - I kept thinking driveways were often different products, now I realise it's often just a matter of time!

I have two questions. 1) I would really like whatever I end up choosing not to fade too much, so I have been looking at clay pavers - but they all seem to be so red! Which unfortunately would be wrong for the overall look of my house. So is that basically the nature of the product or do clay pavers come in any other colours? 2) One quote I had said that concrete blocks can be sealed. Do you think this would help retain the colour or would I just be wasting my money?

Flingel

[lutonlagerlout]

1 you can get many different colours of clay pavers

2 yes you can seal concrete but in the end the weather +the salt they put on the road will get to it

clay pavers all the way for durability
about 15 % more expensive for total job

regards tony

[Flingel]

Thanks for the reply Tony. Would you be able to point me in the right direction to where I find these different colours? e.g. I've checked out Marshalls who appear to be one of the biggest but all their range looks red - Chapelgate, Tegula claypave, Cottage buff (still looks pretty red to me!), Temple red, Manor red, Ashbourne red. I've searched in google on clay paving but all the ones I find seem to be very red based - this is why I'd ended up assuming it was pretty much red or nothing. (although I admit I've occasionally come across a dark blue).

Flingel

[lutonlagerlout]

try here flingel
www.baggeridge.co.uk
regards tony

[Flingel]

Thanks Tony, that's very helpful. Would I be right in thinking that if a product is classed as a paver it's always going to be strong enough for a driveway?

Flingel

[lutonlagerlout]

well dont quote me on this but my understanding is, that it is the sub base that makes a lot of the strength
i would hazard an educated guess, that clay pavers are far more durable than concrete ones (denser material) of the same depth
dont forget before we had tarmc,
all streets were cobbled,
although obviously not to take 40 ton lorries
regards tony

[Flingel]

Thanks very much Tony.

Flingel