Advice on driveway replacement options

The other issue with block paving is ants digging the sand out. I'm told there is a hardener available to prevent it but I've not seen it and don't know anywhere where it has been used.

It should not do that.

Only if a Pikey is offering you stolen stuff.

Genuine York stone is a lot more than that.

With permeable-paving, yes it should. It has quite coarse grit, rather than fine sand like traditional block paving.

Yes. But I'd be boggled if Charles used permeable paving given the bit snipped by Chris: "Some 20 years ago we went for..."

High maintenance though.

To be avoided on slopes One near us has resin. Looked great to start with but has aged over a few years.

Most important thing is getting down a good solid base, don't scrimp on that.

It was certainly planned to drain through.

We bought a house with a pattern imprinted drive which has been painted red. Must be a special paint which appears to last quite well.

In what way? I have quite a lot of block paved areas and I've not noticed that.

There are sealants - first hit:

Theo

They do gradually break up though.

My son in law had this done and the colour came off after a few years.

That's why it's called pea gravel.

Bill

He didn't say it was permeable. If water is running through, that could indicate an upcoming problem. There are differences with permeable paving. I don't know too much about it, but I'm sure Cormaic will if you want to look.

Don't use Gravel as it will all end up on the footway potentially causing pedestrians to slip over and you to get sued. It has happened in this road. Gravel is also not very good if you slip over yourself!. I think myself as there are many down my street, that anything is good if done properly with a good strong base preparation. The usual problem is that if the ground moves under the weight, then the surface cracks or goes wobbly. Brian

Excellent! :-)

I thought we'd moved into a SuDS sub-topic? Maybe not ...

Doesn't matter how good the base is. After a few years moss will invade it, and any vehicles parked on it will grind away at the spots where the tyre contact patches are and you will end up with four patches of loose peashingle.

They usually lay the concrete, level or smooth it, then when it starting to set they spread the cement dye powder over the surface and trowel it into the surface, then they use their pattern blocks to make an imprint over the surface. Next day, depending on the area, use a disk cutter to cut some expansion gaps and fill those with mastic.

Any left over concrete is poured into the nearest road gully :-(, or if you are unlucky (and not watching) into your own surface water gullies.