Steep driveway

[artola]

Hi. We have a very steep concrete driveway which is currently full of potholes and is showing its age after 35 years of abuse. Can anyone advise what the best material would be to use to replace the current drive, considering that it is a severe slope which cars need to grip to. It is about 3mtr wide and 40 mtr long. We also plan to put down a new surface in the car parking/turning area at the top which is approx 100m2. Any guidance on suitable surfaces would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[bobhughes]

How steep is steep? My (short) driveway is 1 in 7 and block paved. A year old now and no probs - not even with scouring which I did expect.

Bob

[artola]

Hi Bob,

Very steep! It rises approx 10mtrs over 30mtrs. I would guess such an incline limits the materials that can be used?

Thanks.

[lutonlagerlout]

well with 300 m to covers its going to cost a few euro.
3.3:1 is some fall, i saw some nice irish granite looking block paves at the expo,but i think the guys said they were over £25 per m2,kind of exposed aggregate nice and grippy
anyone else?
LLL

[Tony McC]

Any block paving would work for this project. The textured blocks LLL saw are TerraPave from Acheson-Glover and while there's no doubt they'd offer superb traction, you have to question whether the budget would allow for such a relatively expensive product when you could use a standard block at 7-9 quid per m² or a tumbled block at 12-17 quid/m².

Flags, too, would be viable, but not as 'user-friendly' for a steep area. Concrete, whether plain or decorative, would be hard work to install, and the need to use a sealant on PIC would reduce the Slip Resistance Value (SRV) to a worryingly low level. Mac might work, if you could find a contractor willing to try it on such a slope.

Resin aggs, either bonded or bound, would be great, but how do you create the substrate? Could the existing surface be re-used?

Without seeing the site, my gut instinct would be to look at some form of block paving. There are hundreds of blocks shapes, sizes, colours and textures available; it's very simple to lay to a gradient; it's reliable and proven; and it's probably the best value-for-money paving system currently on the market.

[artola]

Thanks Tony McC. Block paving of some description sounds the most sensible and cost efficient over an area this large.

Final question would be - does the existing driveway need to be fairly level and without potholes before a contractor lays the paving or is this an area which a contractor would be responsible for? ???

Thanks again to all for their comments!