Gravel driveway

[MJH]

Hello All,
I have at present an ugly concrete driveway which the missus would like turned into a gravel one. I have enough depth to edge the drive all round with blocks or edging stone and then back fill with gravel.The drive has a good slope off at present for drainage of about 6 inches. Would it be okay if I just have some releif holes at the front of the drive through the edging blocks for drainage or is there another way to do this. Cheers

[Tony McC]

Have you read the Gravel over a base FAQ? Drainage is the least of your worries!

[MJH]

Cheers Tony understand the problems. My next question then is would it be okay to bed flag stones on a bed of cement on top of the existing base then. Can I use 38mm flags that are normally used for patios if I bed on cement. If okay is there anything I should use to key the new bed of cement to the existing base I have. Cheers

[simeonronacrete]

To give you a good bond use 1:1 Ronafix:cement as a brush on bonding primer slurry.

Apply one coat to the cleaned and prepped base - remove loose material, moss, algae, dirst etc - and one coat to the back of the slab - then put your mortar down, then the slab on top. All wet on wet.

It'll stick!

Regards
Simeon

Simeon

[Tony McC]

Bed the flagstones onto mortar not cement! Cement is the powder added to sand to make mortar - mis-use of the term cement is one of the things that drives me mad!

I'd be wary of the 38mm flags as many of them are manufactured using a relatively soft concrete and as such are extremely prone to wear and abrasion, espeically if you have power steering. There are some good 38mm flags, but they are the exception rather than the rule.

Sim's tip for bonding is spot on - as ever!