New Front Driveway - So many options....

[#Chri5#]

why not loose gravel ?
you can put those plastic grids down first to hold it in place as well.

pros
cheap
quick

cons
probably going to end up with gravel everywhere, I suppose this can be combatted by using slightly larger 20 - 40mm gravel ?

We've got "un-gridded" loose gravel / stones for the majority of our drive.

One downside is retrieving a good chunk of the drive from the lane once Mrs Chri5's mother's has visited us. Can be a pain for weeds but I find a good application of weedkiller from a watering can helps control that. Weeds are also quite easy to remove by hand if a few sneak up.

We've also got a pedestrian path up the drive which is block paved (plus more at the top of the garden). Removing the weeds from that is much more fiddly than the loose gravel.

I'd probably look at the resin bonded stuff if we want to replace the gravel.

 

[GSXRMovistar]

Resin bound gravel would be my choice if cost was not a factor but its VERY expensive compared to the alternatives. When we redone our drive way/front of house a couple of years back we ended up going with block paving.

Has worn well but does need a little bit of maintenance (i.e. getting my daughter to pick the weeds out of it once/twice a year).

 

[Firestar_3x]

Block paving and the same weed problem, currently debating if sealing the drive is a good idea or not.

 

[WillyNelson]

Just been granted permission by the council to do ours. It will be block paved with Marshalls Drivesett Tegula. Probably won't be done for another couple of months as the landscaper is pretty busy, which gives us time to work out whether we can keep the gatepost or not.

 

[Duke]

Block paving looks the best when new but you get tyre marks and weeds coming through, going by what I've seen at various neighbours drive ways. The resin one would be my choice depending on cost. My parents have the concrete pattern and its held up well.

 

[Deep]

Resin bound gravel would be my choice if cost was not a factor but its VERY expensive compared to the alternatives. When we redone our drive way/front of house a couple of years back we ended up going with block paving.

Has worn well but does need a little bit of maintenance (i.e. getting my daughter to pick the weeds out of it once/twice a year).

All the quotes I've seen have been a lot cheaper than other types of driveway


Got a few actual quotes coming on Thursday so we'll see

 

[chanjy]

Interested in the cost of the options as well, thinking about doing ours in a couple of years and very worried about how much it would cost to redo a driveway!?

 

[R.O.S.S.I]

All the quotes I've seen have been a lot cheaper than other types of driveway


Got a few actual quotes coming on Thursday so we'll see

Would be great if you don't mind sharing these quotes when you get them? Ive not had chance to investigate which companies are reputable and do it locally to me yet.

 

[kaptainmarc]

concrete wont crack if you get the right mix and lay it correctly, with joints where needed and leaving a slight border.

The problem is, most people employ the cheapest concrete labourers to do it, who will just chuck concrete in ,roll it and walk away with the cash

 

[Deep]

Interested in the cost of the options as well, thinking about doing ours in a couple of years and very worried about how much it would cost to redo a driveway!?

Would be great if you don't mind sharing these quotes when you get them? Ive not had chance to investigate which companies are reputable and do it locally to me yet.

I've had two quotes this morning.

Spoiler

This is my drive, it's around 42msq

One was £7,500 and the other was £4,300. Both were from Checkatrade and both seemed highly rated.

My whole drive will need to be dug up and levelled with concrete and then the resin put on top.
I'm happy with the £4,300 quote tbh

Will get some more closer to when I actually start work, I've got an extension happening first and then the driveway can follow

 

[R.O.S.S.I]

Your driveway probably isn't too much different to mine in total sqm'age.

Will see about getting some quotes in in a few weeks. I'm going to see if I can get them to give two quotes. One for the entire job including clearing out the area, digging it out and prepping sub base and one just for everything after the sub base prep. Work out if its worth my time or not doing it!

 

[chanjy]

I've had two quotes this morning.

Spoiler

This is my drive, it's around 42msq

One was £7,500 and the other was £4,300. Both were from Checkatrade and both seemed highly rated.

My whole drive will need to be dug up and levelled with concrete and then the resin put on top.
I'm happy with the £4,300 quote tbh

Will get some more closer to when I actually start work, I've got an extension happening first and then the driveway can follow

Cheers, that's interesting. Also shows how important it is to get multiple quotes - that's a huge difference between the two!

I think I'm leaning towards block paving for ours

 

[R3X]

I've had two quotes this morning.

Spoiler

This is my drive, it's around 42msq

One was £7,500 and the other was £4,300. Both were from Checkatrade and both seemed highly rated.

My whole drive will need to be dug up and levelled with concrete and then the resin put on top.
I'm happy with the £4,300 quote tbh

Will get some more closer to when I actually start work, I've got an extension happening first and then the driveway can follow

keep getting quotes and keep dropping the prices in-between quotes, takes time but you can get them figures down !

 

[Deep]

keep getting quotes and keep dropping the prices in-between quotes, takes time but you can get them figures down !

I will do

Hopefully the extension will start at the end of the month and be done by Xmas.

The shell should only take a max of 6 weeks, and then it's all internals that need sorting.

I'd like the driveway done in February hopefully.
Going to get a bunch of quotes from Checkatrade

 

[Kimi]

My drive way was 35sqm. Came out at about 1,700 to do it my self with the permeable paving. I'll add some pics later, the grass is coming through nicely now

 

[Kimi]

These are the pics of the permeable paving. Parking is quite tight around here so once the grass has established it will have 3 cars on it. I like front gardens but also wanted a drive. Hopefully this is the best of both but we will see what happens when its got a few tonnes on it!

 

[Hedge]

Looks good! I want a new driveway so this thread is handy.

 

[fonzee]

can't say a driveway having a grass appearance appeals to me. quite odd.

if you have gone to that effort you may as well have finished it properly IMO.

 

[Kimi]

I want a front garden but i also need a drive way. Drainage is also important so this is the best solution for me. Plus in the summer ill use it to practice my putting

 

[valve90210]

Looks good, I've done the same on my front lawn to give me space for 2 more cars when I have visitors.

Make sure to get yourself a good sprinkler, you'll need it to keep the lawn looking nice in the summer, being such a shallow layer of soil it dries out really quickly and without a good bit of tlc you'll end up with it dried up definitely not lush and green.