The Brew Cabin

Posted: **Tue Feb 15, 2011 11:26 am**

I am planning on putting in a gravel drive.

I have dug up my front lawn and down about 6 inches.

I am aware of the new legislation regarding not having hard paving without planning permission and this along with the cost has steered me towards gravel.

The drive area is 15 x 15 feet

My questions are basically these -

i) how thick a layer of sub base should I put down?

ii) As i need the drive to be permeable to water what sort of
sub base should I use? ( I am also thinking here about if the local council come along and ask me / check)

I have some bricks that are from the wall I took down to make the drive, I was hoping to smash these up pretty small to add into the sub base to make up the volume.

iii)I would like to use 20mm stafford pink gravel - what thickness should I use?

The drive will be used for cars only.

Any suggestions really are very much appreciated.

I have done some research and spoken to different people but seem to get different answers as to what is needed.

My local council follows the communities.gov.uk website which says to use 4/20 or type 3 sub base (open graded) as this is permeable where as type 1 is not.

They also say that the depth should be 200mm or nearly 8 inches deep. This seems a bit extreme to me.

They then say to put 50mm or approx 2 inches of gravel on top. That seems reasonable.
Many thanks

macgrl

Posted: **Tue Feb 15, 2011 2:49 pm**

Read the main site it's all there in lots of glorious detail, mot type 1 will be permeable enough for gravel driveway. There are sections on gravel and on sub bases.

Posted: **Tue Feb 15, 2011 3:17 pm**

thank you very much for your reply. I have read the main site and it is very helpful. What has confused me is the local planning office has told me specifically not to use type 1.

Posted: **Tue Feb 15, 2011 8:10 pm**

that's because they are idiots and don't know any better, put type 1 down and tell them it was 40mm to dust if they ask and or point them in the direction of this website

Posted: **Tue Feb 15, 2011 9:39 pm**

that's because they are idiots and don't know any better

couldn't have put it better myself!

Posted: **Tue Feb 15, 2011 9:55 pm**

Type 3 is the stuff specified for permeable paving it has no fines so allows the water to flow through the sub base and/or be stored in the voids so I can see where the council are coming from, thickness normally depends on ground permeability.

Posted: **Wed Feb 16, 2011 3:57 pm**

Thank you very much for your comments guys. What do you suggest for thickness of sub base? The soil is quite hard and compact at the level I have dug down too. 200mm seeks a bit excessive to me. What do you think?

Posted: **Wed Feb 16, 2011 7:26 pm**

100mm compacted thickness should be fine unless you've got a 4x4 or van using it regularly in which case go for 150mm compacted thickness, Ideally you want 25mm - 40mm of gravel otherwise it will be a pain to walk on and when you drive into the driveway you will just come to a complete stop if its too deep.

Posted: **Fri Mar 04, 2011 7:11 pm**

Hi, thank you so much for your help.

What is 100mm compacted crusher run before it is compacted?

I am trying to workout the volume that I need, I have the width and length just need to know how deep it needs to be before compacting.

Many thanks

I am hopefully going to get the materials ordered monday and have it down later in the week.

Posted: **Fri Mar 04, 2011 7:20 pm**

Compacted crusher run is old concrete/stone etc crushed and used as a sub base. Basically recycled type 1 (depending on spec given/purchased).

Posted: **Fri Mar 04, 2011 7:22 pm**

There Calculators on the main site. :p

Posted: **Sun Mar 13, 2011 3:54 pm**

so basically I have treated crusher run as type 1 and used the calculator for that.

I need 100mm compacted for 23.5 square m so that works out at 4.7 tonnes

Posted: **Sun Mar 13, 2011 5:36 pm**

correct. if you are ordering by "jumbo", "ton", very large, crane off bags, you need to presume 850kg each, may pay to order 5 ton if you order loose

Posted: **Tue Mar 15, 2011 11:32 am**

thanks much appreciated

Posted: **Thu Mar 17, 2011 2:25 pm**

with the sub base coming and being put down this weekend I now need to decide on the top layer. Any thoughts as to size and shape of gravel to go for?

I have seen some 20mm Stafford Pink that I was thinking of getting.

The Brew Cabin

I am planning on putting in a new gravel drive