Morning all,

I'm going to have the drive surface relaid and would like views on what solutions to avoid, with our motors being the best part of 3t and I can park the car within an inch or two of being in the exact same spot each time, I want to avoid 'tram lines' and depressions where the wheels will be constantly sitting.

I'd avoid a gravel as they get messy but the porous composite materials look good or should I still with old fashioned asphalt?

Does anyone have any experience of these (good or bad) or any other solutions?

Thanks

Arch First time FFRR owner

theres a couple around the corner from me that had coloured tarmac laid for a cost of £7k....unfortunately trams lines appeared shortly after because as in your case they parked in the same place ..

sorry that this is no help to you but it might help you to make a decision.. ... - .- -.




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I had my worn out tarmac replaced with Cotswold stone (20mm chipping) and it is proving to be a good choice after 2 years. It looks beautiful, porous for rain discharge, doesn’t spread like gravel as it is angular and ‘locks in’. Really pleased with it.

However, I would not have used that if I did not have my garage where I can jack etc on a solid concrete floor as would want to be jacking on the Cotswold chippings.

Price wise it is just over £100 per tonne. You will need a tonne per 4SqM at 150mm depth.

Porous composites are good but don’t go cheap on this or you will regret it. Some firms offering a cheaper option and they save costs by not doing the prep work to the correct standard on the substrate and a cheaper grade material for the resin. You really want commercial grade if you want it to last, as you say we are not parking a cinquecento on there!

stan wrote:

theres a couple around the corner from me that had coloured tarmac laid for a cost of £7k....unfortunately trams lines appeared shortly after because as in your case they parked in the same place ..

sorry that this is no help to you but it might help you to make a decision..

Alex1976 wrote:

I had my worn out tarmac replaced with Cotswold stone (20mm chipping) and it is proving to be a good choice after 2 years. It looks beautiful, porous for rain discharge, doesn’t spread like gravel as it is angular and ‘locks in’. Really pleased with it.

However, I would not have used that if I did not have my garage where I can jack etc on a solid concrete floor as would want to be jacking on the Cotswold chippings.

Price wise it is just over £100 per tonne. You will need a tonne per 4SqM at 150mm depth.

Porous composites are good but don’t go cheap on this or you will regret it. Some firms offering a cheaper option and they save costs by not doing the prep work to the correct standard on the substrate and a cheaper grade material for the resin. You really want commercial grade if you want it to last, as you say we are not parking a cinquecento on there!

i dont know the type of stuff they put down but it did look very nice when new and not like regular tarmac. ... - .- -.




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I wouldn’t touch any form of tarmac. Unless it’s machine laid it’s never truly even so that every time it rains you get puddles. I have shingle which always looks the same whatever you do to it. I do however miss an area of hard standing for car maintenance etc.

maybe a slab of coloured concrete [if thats a thing] ... - .- -.




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My brother had a 'red tarmac' laid on his driveway a few years back and it still looks good with no tramlines.
For a living he inspects every stage of building / construction, from high rise buildings to extending runways for aircraft and he was very particular with his specifications for construction, the sub-base he had laid down was quite deep and very well compacted, which helped stop the tramlines.

it appears that you could park a tank, let alone a RR on it without damage as for cost, it was not cheap

Last edited by Merchy on 11th Aug 2024 10:21am. Edited 1 time in total

If you are looking at resin bound you may want to consider Addagrip.

They have approved contractors and have warranties to 10-15 years. However it is expensive, currently the ball park is £40-70 for drives. It does meet SuDS (drainage) requirement for planning.

The substrate you have may need upgrading to suit.

It is availbe for footways, drives and commercial car park surfacing and I have used it for a large area in front of a building but that was very much foot traffic. Did use a 95GVW crane on it for a few days albeit with boarding without damage. Cheers
Richard

(there are no such things as an ordinary FullFat, an ordinary cat or too many tools)
2011 TDV8 Vogue Santorini Black
Gap IIDBT

Yep - it's all about the preparation & base layers, not what's on top.....

I have small pebbles / gravel, it's the cheapest option but it does tramline so I rake it regularly, takes about 5 mins and it's good as new. Anything else will sag and crack over time, it's inevitable, however, some can easily be relevelled and drain naturally, asphalt & concrete cannot be invisibly repaired and do not drain well.

Downside,you do get crap in the carpets if you're in and out on a rainy day and it's a pain for my HD trolley jack to move round on being as it's so heavy so as a jack base I have 2 x 6 ft scafolding boards for the base and I move the trolley jack on a roller board. The good news is if you spill oil or have a leak you just need to rake it over and it's all gone.

Whatever surface, it's all about the foundation, you'll need at least 1 foot deep compacted 3" aggregate and another 4 to 6 inches compacted 1" aggregate on top of that, then your finishing surface needs to be no less than 2".

Even then it will sag eventually. Concrete will sag or tilt under it's own weight, eventually cracking at the edges, so will asphalt and any repairs will stand out like a dogs boll***s at a wedding. With resin, choose a light mixed colour, you'll notice any sag less. My last house was block paving, about 6" light grey cubes, that sagged after a year or so, but you can lift it, sprinkle a little sand and re lay it again very easily, 2nd year a little sag, 3rd year no sag.

I'd go for big block paving over a good agregate base of at least a foot. It will last the longest and still look good plus it's easy to re level and after a couple of years of natural settlement should stay pretty level and drain well.

A. Fuji White / Jet 2012 4.4 TDV8 Westminster

We have a significant area of 20mm Basalt chippings which I've put in the plastic honeycombe structure you may have come across. They hold the gravel in place (despite slopes) and it doesn't tram line as long a you only go a few mm deep on top of the plastic grid. Only maint I've needed to do in a couple of years or so is add a little more gravel where it had settled and you could start to see the grid edges - looks better when they're properly buried, but go too deep and you get tram lines.

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Is that a cheaky M100 poking it's bum out there ? Very nice toy.

A. Fuji White / Jet 2012 4.4 TDV8 Westminster

Oh yes! Been a Lotus fan boy for more years than I care to remember. Doesn't usually live there - normally tucked up in the barn...

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