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Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 11:13 am
by Bobbyboy
Hi, first let me say what a great site this is for diy'ers.
I live in a 30's semi detached house with a mixture of old and newer concrete paths and driveway around the house.
My initial idea was to dig up the old cracked concrete path at the front around the bay window and flag it with some 2x2's or 3x2's.
Then, a more important job has come up and that involves digging up part of my front lawn next to the concrete driveway, as I now need to park my car on some of that presently lawned area. The area I am contemplating digging up is approximately 120 sq.ft. The existing driveway is bordered by those concrete edgings??
My problem is that I don't know what to use in place of the grass to drive on. I have thought about paving flags, gravel, but my wife is against that. and we don't really want yet another section of concrete. Whatever I put down, I either want it to match the paving flags I am going to lay, OR be totally out of place with anything else I have in the front garden, but I do need to drive on it.
Any ideas or links please?
Thanks
Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 5:08 pm
by 84-1094545549
You can't beat some form of block paving when it comes to residential driveways. There's hundreds from which to choose, not just the same ones you see on every other drive, so have a read of the Block Paving pages on the main website, and get hold of a few catalogues to see what's available.
Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 5:14 pm
by Bobbyboy
Ok, the missus has now said the she would like gravel in that place where I dig up the lawn. So now all I need to know is: what is the best size and what depth of gravel to use.
We do have some 'Cumbrian Red' in a border around some trees we have planted at the front. so could that be used ?
Thanks
Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 6:00 pm
by Bobbyboy
Oops Tony, your post/reply must have just got in before my own.
I'll have a look at the block paving link.
Thanks
Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 8:51 pm
by Bobbyboy
No, I think gravel is going to be my simplest option now the missus has agreed to it.
So just out of interest, could I use 'Cumbrian Red' gravel/stones? They are about 10/12 mm with slanted edges. Oh and what sort of price per ton would I expect to pay for a sub base material dtp1. I reckon I'll need about 6 tons of it.
Thanks
Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 8:52 pm
by Bobbyboy
No, I think gravel is going to be my simplest option now the missus has agreed to it.
So just out of interest, could I use 'Cumbrian Red' gravel/stones? They are about 10/12 mm with slanted edges. Oh and what sort of price per ton would I expect to pay for a sub base material dtp1. I reckon I'll need about 6 tons of it.
Thanks
Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 8:38 pm
by 84-1094545549
You can use Cumbrian Red if that's what she wants. It's usually a 'clean' gravel, so there's no fines to bind it together and the result is a very crunchy, gravelly effect. It's not the easiest surface to walk across, so don't lay it too deep.
Up here in t'North, we get sub-base at a much more realistic price than those poor sods in Lower Britain, but 6 tonnes is only a part load. If you buy it in Big Bags, expect to pay around 25 quid per tonne. If you can get hold of a part load, then it's nearer 15 quid per tonne, plus an excess for the part load. There's a lot of crushed concrete Type 1 equivalent material doing the rounds just now, and that's going for 10-15 quid per tonne, depending on where you are.
Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2004 8:11 pm
by Bobbyboy
Well the only reason I said about using Cumbrian Red is because we already have that around about 12 trees in the front garden, and I thought it would be better to match in with that. Ok on it not been easyish to walk on, so how deep is not too deep? I was thinking along the guides on here of about 30/40 mm.
We live in t'north as well Tony, Leeds to be right.
Again, I was thinking of a sub base 80mm deep in an area of approx 35m squared x 1.9, which would give me just under 6 tons.
So would crushed concrete be ok as a sub base then for driving/parking a car on?
Thanks
Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2004 8:50 pm
by 84-1094545549
40mm of gravel is as deep as I like it to be - any deeper and you sink into it.
80mm of sub-base would be ok for a pedestrian area, but if you;re thinking of running cars over it at any point, then you really need 100mm as a minimum, 150mm preferably. The crushed concrete is fine as a sub-base material for residential driveways. I'm a bit concerned about it when used on larger schemes, as I've seen some batches that are all fines and turn to mush when wetted, but for driveways, it's generally satisfactory.
Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 10:37 pm
by Bobbyboy
Ok Tony thanks for that. I'll go for a minimum of 100mm deep for the sub base then and about 30mm ish for the gravel.
One last question if I may, what is ballast like as a use for or with a sub base. ie, can I use it anywhere with a sub base and gravel?
I only ask because I can get about a ton for free!
Thanks
Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 11:10 pm
by 84-1094545549
Ballast is another of those 'non-specific' terms I don't particularly like.
It's usually applied to a mix of sand and gravel, but there's no way of knowing how much sand to how much gravel, or whether it'll be mostly sand, mostly gravel or somewhere in between.
It's like the term 'hardcore': no matter what is supplied, you can't really argue that it's not hardcore, or ballast, as the case may be, regardless of what owld shite they serve up!
Anyway, as long as it's cleanish sand and gravel mixed, it shouldn't do any harm if it's distributed through the sub-base material. What you don't want is pockets of pure sand or pure "ballast" within the completed sub-base.