Selecting a new driveway finish.

[GCarnegi]

We have just finished building an extension to the side of our house, and with all the heavy machinery which has been onsite in the last six months, our slabbed driveway has turned into crazy paving with at least half of the 2ftx2ft slabs cracked and now about as level as a scottish hillside!

So I am in the market for laying a new driveway.

Over the past few winters, we have had a lot of trouble with frost heave on the slabs, so I'm looking to find out what the best type of driveway is to continue looking good for years to come.

My wife particularly likes the finish of a tarred driveway (area would be about 10m wide by 7m deep), but I have experience of things like axle stands etc sinking into tarmac on a hot summers day. (I do a lot of work on trolley jacks and axle stands on the driveway so I'm not sure if this is suitable).

My dad's tarred driveway has already started deteriorating (potholes etc) after only about three years (I guess that's what he gets for taking a load of tar off a cold-caller). I want to make sure we don't end up with the same situation.

So the things I want to consider when selecting a driveway material are:

1: Nice looking when new.
2. Nice looking in 5-10 years
3. Susceptibility to frost heave, and "returnability" after heave without cracking or going out of level.
4. Safety in Snow / Ice (slippery?)
5. Durability for axle stands, trolley jacks etc. (eg. in hot weather)
6. Clearability (with a snow shovel - eg not easy to shovel snow off gravel)

any thoughts would be appreciated.

thanks
Guy

 

[Norcon]

Air entrained brush finish concrete. 35 newton with fibers laid 125mm deep. Laid with a reasonable slump it will last forever.
Ticks all the boxes except maybe 4 if you are on steep ground.
My lane is at least 30 ° buts its just OK.
The frost heave on the slabs will be mainly because water is seeping through and maybe no decent base below anyway.

Now's not a good time to be concreting with the frost but an area that size could be easily covered with polystyrene sheets.

 

[r896neo]

Whilst concrete is very practical both in terms of maintenence and especially so if you are working on cars etc on the drive, It is not the most beautiful of materials.

The heave as norcon says is more likely due to poor laying than anything else. I would forward concrete block paving as an option as it looks significantly better than plain concrete but realistically needs a little more maintenence depending on the block. Concrete or aspahlt might require a brush and spray of jeyes fluid once a year tarmac maybe 2/3 whereas block paving would need done maybe 3/4 times a year, maybe more if its shady. So be honest with yourself if you can sacrifice the extra work to have the benefit of the nicer look.

If you are tempted by the balck stuff i would strongly advise going for asphalt rather than tarmac. It is a bit dearer but for an area than size not massively so and it is a much superior finish in durability and useability.

 

[GCarnegi]

Asphalt / Tarmac - I didn't realise there was a difference? I will look into it.

I'm not sure the wife would be happy with a huge concrete slab

thanksfor the advice.
Guy

 

[jeds]

Air entrained brush finish concrete. 35 newton with fibers laid 125mm deep. Laid with a reasonable slump it will last forever.
Ticks all the boxes except maybe 4 if you are on steep ground.
My lane is at least 30 ° buts its just OK.
The frost heave on the slabs will be mainly because water is seeping through and maybe no decent base below anyway.

Now's not a good time to be concreting with the frost but an area that size could be easily covered with polystyrene sheets.

Ticks all the boxes except doesn't comply with current planning regs for permeability. Any new hard standing surface over 5m² must be permeable.

 

[Norcon]

Does that apply to existing dwellings or just new build? And does it cover all the UK?
Do you have a link?

 

[r896neo]

apllies to existing houses too but doesn't apply at all over here yet as far as i know.

 

[Norcon]

I think if its over 5sq/m you need planning permission and then make it suds complaint after that and doesn't rule out impermeable surfaces such as concrete and tarmacadam, asphalt etc.
You just re-engineer it to suit the new regs.
Sweeping statements like jeds are not helpful in the slightest.
In any case the surface is irellevant in many situations as its whats below which will determine the drainage.