to think block paving would be better than tarmac for a driveway

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We need to replace the driveway. My DP suggests tarmac may be easiest to maintain. I think block paving looks better, but wonder if you get lots of weeds. And am unsure whether it's worth going for resin, as that seems to be the gold standard

Any advice most welcome, thanks

@Movinghouseatlast I've been thinking about resin as I love the look of it. Is it really astronomical?

This.m

Resin!!!

Do it. You won’t ever regret it. We had it put down 18 months ago and it’s the best thing we ever did.

so neat, so tidy, no weeds, ever, permeable, so ticks all the environmental boxes and goes ontop of tarmac.

You can give it an occasional sweep if you need to or wash it with some water from the hose - all the dust and dirt just disappears into the ground and it comes up looking new again. So easy to maintain - or not - it really doesn’t need much.

Yes it is expensive but once it’s done you’ll never have to revisit it again and it keeps looking nice all year round.

I nearly didn’t have it done as so pricey but I’m really glad we did now. We have (I think) the nicest front garden along our street and I think it’s adds to the cachet of the house. Love that word 😆😆

Resin all the way.

Also permeable is forward thinking. It’s not happened yet but we may at some point he charged for run off by water companies.

At the moment the Netherlands are running a national competition to get towns and villages to rip up patios and impermeable surfaces up and down the country

I think done well tarmac is a good option. But you see lots that's done really badly.

There are things you can do to seal block paving to try and reduce weeds, but you're never going to stop them IME.

Resin would be my favourite, but much more expensive

All need to be done well with a good depth of hard-core. My block paved driveway still looks new after 15 years, my neighbours has sunk badly and is very uneven. I keep the weeds under contrrol with kettles of boiling water, which is a faff but not too bad if you keep on top of it.

This is to meet climate change needs and targets. It hasn’t happened here but it’s prob only a matter of time…

https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/04/we-need-to-accept-the-weeds-dutch-towns-compete-to-remove-the-most-garden-paving

We are charged for run off by water companies in England.

We currently have block paving, which is in a dreadful condition with weeds and even bushes trying to grow in the cracks. It was there when we moved in 15 years ago and nothing we've done to stop the weeds has made much difference. We looked at getting a resin replacement, but it had to go on top of a stable surface and block paving doesn't count, so we would have to put tarmac down and then resin on top, which makes no sense. So currently looking into tarmac 😂 I'd never get block paving again.

We had block paving laid about 20 years ago. It is still in very good condition, but the faces of the bricks currently have black lichen on them, and there was a bit of moss in the joints. The has been some minor movement over the years, as in its no longer billiard board level, there are some very slight indents in places, but a blind man would like to see them. This week, for the first time in a month of Sundays, I raked out all the moss in the joints and thoroughly swept the area in preparation for a treatment of Wet 'n Forget, which I will spray on a dry but overcast day if ever we get one; it needs to soak in a bit and not be washed away/evaporate off too quickly to work properly. I used it before ages ago. It will clean the faces of the bricks ( not straight away, it will work over the course of a few weeks) and it will inhibit moss growth. Two treatments in 20 years is work I can put up with, and if I'd kept the drive swept better, then the moss might not have taken hold, though it is all gone now. I daresay the very wet weather we have had hasn't helped any. I have treated the odd weed with weed killer or the weed wand thing over the years, but weeds are certainly not a problem.
My son's neighbour is perhaps not so eco friendly as me. She uses bleach all over her drive, which is very clean and weed and moss free.

We considered it but if there's any oil spillage on it then it can't be cleaned easily.

Seems to say it can be washed away?

https://yorkshirepaving.co.uk/resin-driveway-faq-cleaning-after-care-guide/

I just cleaned my block paving cheap bleach solution. Killed everything off and then for £8 got the wire brush, took 5hrs to go through all the joints and pull out all the moss. Threw down sand. Job done for cheap and it'll be a while before any weeds appear now. I use spray down weedkiller twice a year to keep then from even getting established.

To be honest if I had to do the above once a year I'd say thats pretty much low maintenance.

My son's neighbour is perhaps not so eco friendly as me. She uses bleach all over her drive, which is very clean and weed and moss free.

I bet the flower beds beside her drive are sanitised and plant & wildlife free as well.

I doubt she is using it neat I diluted mine and no it didn't kill my plants.

My block paving was laid over 25 years ago (sand not cement). Every spring DH “waters” it with weed killer. About 10 years ago we brushed a new load of kiln dried sand over it. We occasionally pull a weed that sneaks in. IMHO it’s better than tarmac because it drains (there’s a soakaway underneath the drive)

Our main drive is already tarmac. We had a patch of grass outside the front door which I parked on and decided to add that to the drive (it is part of our land!)

Toyed with resin but for time/money constraints we went for tarmac. Not long after we had a water leak and UU had to dig it up to replace a pipe and the meter. They only replace with tarmac and this is standard for all utilities.

Something to consider if you go for anything other than tarmac. Cost of upkeep, and cost of repairing if you ever have to have work done x

Once you've bought the blocks, they can be refused if any work needs doing though, so it can be less expensive to dig up for underground repair works.

We have old stone paving, came with the house. I don't know why but there is no weed maintenance needed at all, though it can get a kind of slippery surface if it's warm and rainy. Most of my neighbours have bricked drives, they look fab and fit the look of the houses. One of them is a newer drive and i do see them maintaining it. One neighbour has resin, that was a fascinating process to watch as it has many layers to the build. The look is v bland though. One has tarmac and that's just as pretty as a parking lot. If i was redoing ours i would go for brick.

This is true, hadn't thought of that! As we were considering resin, I suppose I was mostly thinking of that comparison

You can get porous tarmac these days.

We have a large drive and it’s hardcore with pea gravel on top, it looks lovely as it’s creamy coloured but the gravel does get stuck in shoe treads and I find it in the foot well of the cars.

tarmac is aesthetically not very nice, but cheap and does the job, block paving is aesthetically better but needs to be laid properly and maintained,

if I had the budget id would not consider tarmac, if I didn’t then needs must.

Tarmac is horrible.

I’m another gravel fan here. It’s pretty, natural. Allows water to soak away. Gives beasties a place to hide out. Maintenance is me pulling weeds out once a year. Easy to top up if you think it needs it.

I’m just about to have my drive done. We’re going for crushed Cotswold type stone over a grid base - to hold the stone in place. & so your feet don’t sink into the gravel. The installer is putting white membrane down first. Apparently this is better than the black stuff.

i don’t mind picking the odd weed out.

Bleaching, boiling, spraying your drives? Have none of you any respect for the environment/insect life at all? Do you have plastic grass as well?