Lifting a brick driveway

One More Solo

One More Solo

One More Solo

Soldato
Joined
29 Dec 2004
Posts
17,113
Location
Shepley
Having received a quote of £14k to tarmac our driveway, I'm now looking at alternative options and have settled on gravel grids and gravel. The only challenge will be lifting the existing brick driveway which has been laid in a herringbone type pattern with no obvious mortar. I'm hoping they shouldn't be too painful to remove but are there any nifty tools for levering these up? Guessing some sort of crowbar/pry tool is the way forward?
 
We use shovels and a pick axe.

The hardest part is starting, just get the cuts & border out one side, get a shovel just under the blocks and wobble the shovel up and down, the blocks will pop out.

There is a knack to knowing the best way to get the blocks up, if the blocks are at a 90 degree angle to you, it's easier to lift them if you work across the driveway at a 45 degree angle, this way they are not interlocked as much.
Once you get a few metres out, you can follow the rows, stick corner of shovel at the start of a row and a little twist will free up the whole row.
It's hard to explain but once you start doing it you will understand.
 
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Once you have one block out at the edge, it will be easy to pull the rest, they are usually laid onto sand.

One way to get them up is to drive two screwed into the gap and lift the first block out with two claw hammers. After that they will all just come up by hand.
 
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If it's block paving style usually only the perimeter ones will be fixed down with mortar. The interior ones will be resting on sand so should come up easy. If you don't care about damaging them, then sure just have at it, take one from the middle and then the rest will be easy. Otherwise if you want to preserve them there are specific block paving lifting tools.

Another point, are you sure you want to replace a block paved driveway with gravel? Gravel can be a pain in the arse, and awful for weeds. I know block paving also isn't great for weeds but I'd rather it than gravel. Also noise whenever cars go over gravel (can be a good thing to alert you to intruders).
 
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Easy peasy if laid on sand, take some of the edge ones up then rest will lift out, issue you might have is if they've been concreated in for whatever reason then you'll likely need some tools.

Considering most people go after paved drive instead of tarmac gravel what issues are you having where you want to rip it up?
 
assuming it's monoblock - just pry up a few and the rest should just come up without any hassle.

Monoblock isn't fixed down or anything.
 
@Glanza @GravyMonster it's a fair question - these are literally house bricks which have been laid face up, so there is a divot in them. They're lethal in the winter. It's a large area so paving/tarmacing is beyond our budget and will be for a long time. If this lasts 5 years I'd be happy.
 
One More Solo said:
@Glanza @GravyMonster it's a fair question - these are literally house bricks which have been laid face up, so there is a divot in them. They're lethal in the winter. It's a large area so paving/tarmacing is beyond our budget and will be for a long time. If this lasts 5 years I'd be happy.
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Bricks with the frog facing up? I have never seen that lol.
Should be even easier to get them up as they don't have the little spacers on them like regular block paving, so won't be interlocked as much.

Also if you can op, ring around local aggregate suppliers and try and get angular gravel.
These are not round like normal shingle or gravel and don't rut as much when you drive over them, even if you are using grids.
 
j.col said:
Bricks with the frog facing up? I have never seen that lol.
Should be even easier to get them up as they don't have the little spacers on them like regular block paving, so won't be interlocked as much.

Also if you can op, ring around local aggregate suppliers and try and get angular gravel.
These are not round like normal shingle or gravel and don't rut as much when you drive over them, even if you are using grids.
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Yep. I don't think a driveway specialist was involved last time round! :D You can see why I'm keen to get them up.

We have an aggregates supplier a minute away so will give them a call and see what they have, thanks for the suggestion.
 
Maybe whoever laid them was planning on doing that or similar but never got around to it?

I have laid a couple of footpaths over the years using house bricks, but these were always along a garden and with the frog facing down.
 
We've got all the bricks up and are in the process of putting down some additional sub-base at the moment. Steady progress but will be worth it once it's all done! The bricks will eventually be used with a load of other aggregate under a couple of field shelters to assist with drainage.
 
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