40m2 block paving.

Gravel. Not pebbles. I've just done one 35 sq metres and it's fine. I put 8" of stone down, whacked it, and then 2" of gravel. Very cheap. Gravel size is 15 - 20mm. It's crushed gravel, very angular, so it it doesn't move much under foot or wheel. Pebbles are dreadful though for moving; wheels just sort of plough through. Slate is no good because it breaks under a wheel and eventually it's just a lot of little bits.

Don't forget to put ducting in for lights, CCTV, etc.

Bill

You could DIY the paving (its a fairly easy job), but material costs will still come more than 1k I would have thought.

If the area is grass at the moment there are green plastic grids that you can use. I don't know about wear.

DIY?

Except that it is quite hard to do well, and dodgy paviours look awful. Good old Type 1 MOT is probably the cheapest, but look for someone local with a decent reputation. I trust the OP has looked at Paving Expert?

Type 1 MOT will eventually grass over* if left for years, but will support a car very well as it is free draining.

Definately don't use limestone chippings.

Better quality blocks will be £25/sq metre alone, plus edging, drainage, sub-base, sharp sand, kiln-dried sand.

Some councils now frown on loose materials where they may wash onto the carriageway.

With pavers there can also be planning issues with drainage provision.

Chris

You'd need 7 cu m of crushed stone. Weight is 11 tons. Can you tell us more about how you did this job, please? Where you got the materials? Delivered in bulk bags or a tipper truck? How did you move the material?

If your drive slopes towards the highway, you are supposed to install a proper soakaawy or drainage to stop rainwater ending up in the LA's drainage systems.

If you go for "better quality", something like a bog standard bradstone "brindle" 50mm deep block, then its about £15/m

Unless you particularly want a raised edge, then just bed on normal blocks.

Yup. Aggregates are much cheaper if you buy them loose.

You don't need much of that for 40 m^2

TBH I did not find it that difficult. So long as you do proper edgings, and compact things well.

Road scalpings are probably cheaper if you want *really* basic.

I've been surprised how well my stable yard has remained virtually weed free. That doesn't see all that much vehicular traffic, and the equines don't eat most weeds. Roundup of course cures everything.

Took a four wheel tipper trailer to AP Paving (near the job) for both the stone base and the gravel. Made umpteen trips. Luckily no steep hills on the way back! Used a mini-digger on site to unload and partially spread. Petrol-engined wacker. Final spreading manually using a big asphalt rake.

In general it seems to be much cheaper to go to the quarry or sandpit and get them to drop it into the trailer than buy in bags from a builders' merchant.

Only real problem was that the battery on the tipper wasn't getting charged for some reason so I had to charge it with a battery charger.

Bill

I did a small area of these. Got it from a place in Chesterfield on Broombank Rd I think. Very good. Did a nice job.

Bill

This is a DIY site so DIY. I put down about 100m2 a few years back. Quite cheap as a DIY project.

There are various block thicknesses.