Advice on driveway replacement options

Gravel

Gravel or various stone chippings. My next door neighbour used slate chippings, which look good and, unlike most other stones, does not get caught up in tyre treads.

A couple of my neighbours have had imprinted concrete drives and they look just like slightly shiny coloured concrete with a pattern pressed into it.

For best appearance, go for block paving. If the area gets lots of sunshine, then clay paving blocks (similar to brick but made for paving) look best, but they are prone to get slippery if moss can grow on them. For shaded or damp areas, concrete paving blocks are better.

For best security, lay a wide strip of 20mm grid stone chippings around the house, over a weed suppression fabric. That makes it impossible to approach the house silently. However, even with the fabric underneath, wind-blown soil builds up in the chippings and eventually gives wees a place to grow. Don't use pea gravel, as cats like to use that as a litter tray.

Personal preference of course, but I've always thought it looked relatively tacky.

House near me being filmed by C4 Grand Designs, has 'block paved' the hard standing area all around the house with concrete building blocks laid on their side, herringbone-fashion. They spent ages with a static, water-cooled diamond disk cutter, cutting the awkward bits.

Now there is a red double-decker bus parked on it. Looks like it is being converted to a motor-home.

And it soon gets transferred onto the road. 20-30mm cobbles are better.

From what the OP says, I get the impression this area is some way away from the road - just the bit between the main drive and the house.

They don't make the same crunching noise, unless very deep (as on beaches), so are not much use for security. They are also very difficult to walk on and thus better suited to designating areas where you don't want people to walk.

we inherited this house with a gravel drive. Wonderful as an early warning system, but gravel gets into the house on ones shoes. Some 20 years ago we went for block paving and have not regretted it. Water drains through the sand between the blocks, so no puddles after rain,

The drive distance from road access to the area near the house is about

Thanks, some good points there.

What do you do about weeds, or do you not get them? I'd have thought having drainage holes would be a good opportunity for them to take root?

Theo

I thought I'd mention the possible need for planning permission and SUDS requirements - if only so others can be tell you ignore them :)

Thanks for raising this but, from what I've read, replacing an existing hard surface does not require planning. In our case the area near the house is about 250m2 and drains, along with half the roof run-off, into a small stream that runs through the garden.

I like block paving but had a small area of block at my previous house and weeds were a problem, as was the sand "splashing up" in heavy rain. I suppose weed killer would be the answer to weeds, but I'd need to do it when SWMBO was out and then hide the empty tins!

Your drainage makes the regulations irrelevant. But I'm surprised by the position on replacing a hard surface. I spoke to a Suffolk Council about that some years ago. We agreed the 2008 regulations on hard surfaces[1] seemed pretty clear. They explicitly allowed replacement of a hard surface as permitted development. But then made that - like new work - subject to the requirements for drainage. I can only suppose something must have changed.

Permitted development

F. Development consisting of?

(a)the provision within the curtilage of a dwellinghouse of a hard surface for any purpose incidental to the enjoyment of the dwellinghouse as such; or

(b)the replacement in whole or in part of such a surface.

Conditions

F.1. Development is permitted by Class F subject to the condition that where?

(a)the hard surface would be situated on land between a wall forming the principal elevation of the dwellinghouse and a highway, and

(b)the area of ground covered by the hard surface, or the area of hard surface replaced, would exceed 5 square metres,

either the hard surface shall be made of porous materials, or provision shall be made to direct run-off water from the hard surface to a permeable or porous area or surface within the curtilage of the dwellinghouse.

We have pattern imprinted concrete. We've had the house 25 years, and it was pretty old then. It has stood up very, very well to use.

There's a small spring in the front garden, and the water flows across the drive, without a problem.

The drive was probably coloured when laid, but it's all sort of weathered into a brownish, greyish colour. The pattern looks like cobbles, and the colour it has weathered to goes with that. I rather like it, and I'll post a picture if you're interested.

A guy offered to power-wash it, but I think that would remove the patina that has taken decades to build up through studied neglect. :)

Neighbours have resin, which I think looks all wrong, particularly in pale colours. Plus, it shows every fallen leaf or speck of dirt.

By far the best is York stone, but it costs a bomb.

Maybe a lot depends upon how well the job is done. I have seen some locally where the regular passage of a parked car has worn the surface away quite noticeably, and another where, despite movement slits having been cut, there is visible cracking across the sections.

Chris

Never had it stick to my shoes either. Chief problems are that on a slope it migrates down, and eventually cars run over it will drop dirt into it and seeds and weeds will propagate. But its fearfully cheap.

There are no holes. The voids between the blocks are filled with sand.

The stone alone is about £25/sq m.