Block paving vs. Gravel

[HiHoS]

I have 2 parking spaces (tarmac) surrounded by grass up to the house at the front. The grass is really bad and just gets trampled on daily taking rubbish out etc and has no real purpose as a front garden.

I've been looking at taking it all out and replacing with either gravel to make a more decorative front garden for pots etc or block paving it to potentially give room for 2 extra cars. Obviously there is a price difference but what would be most worthwhile...I just can't decide!

Opinions please

If you can afford it I would go for paving. We have gravel and it’s a nightmare- it gets everywhere and the weeds come up even though we’ve had liner put down etc. We had the gravel because it was so much cheaper but wish we’d had the money to go for paving.

We have the same problem with gravel - I hate it. Forever having to weed it in the summer, and ours was apparently lined as well. Although it was previous owners, so they could have been telling porkies!
I would like ours paved, but with flower beds or gravel beds around the edges for suitable drainage.

Gravel is so much better for the environment though and to help prevent flooding as rainwater sinks through it down into the water table rather than pouring off the hard surface of block paving onto the road.

We have block paving and power hosing between them takes FOREVER. I would prefer gravel.

I'm all confused now. Facelikespairoftits why do you power hose between them?

Blockpaving will need powerhosing plus cleaning in the gaps.
Gravel, properly lined should only need the occasional weed.

I like my gravel driveway, I put nice pots and a bird table on it

Neither! Go for resin instead. We had it done last year and absolutely love it. It looks so smooth and absorbs rainwater well without the need for a drain/ soak away like block pave would need.

I walked past a house that had had their driveway done with resin and was impressed, rang the company whose name was on the board outside their house and the rest is history.

I don’t hose my brick paving as I think it looks better with a bit of moss.

I have no problem with weeds on my gravel but weeding between the paving is a nightmare. It badly needs a powerwash but can't face it.

Plus gravel looks so much nicer.

I'd go for block paving too as we had gravel completely surrounding our old cottage and it was a nightmare. We were also surrounded by trees and if we didn't clear up the leaves every few days they quickly turned to mush and made the gravel muddy and gross. When we kept on top of the leaves, the weeds came through so we had to either pull up the weeds making muddy patches or soak the whole area in nasty chemical weedkillers.
We had the house repainted and the decorators power washed off the old flaking paint which was all over the gravel which we could never get out. (We didn't know they were going to do it that way)

Paving would have been fantastic. And as for power washing, my DH LOVES our power washer! That job is a pleasure. Once he starts, he's offering to do all the neighbour's paths etc too. It's so satisfying

Also we got brick edging around the sides of the driveway which finish it off perfectly.

No weeds or moss whatsoever! The main reason we wanted a new driveway was because our old concrete/ hard standing one looked so messy with all sorts of random weeds growing in the gaps.

Honestly Op google some images of resin driveways - they are great. Lots of colour choices too.

What about grasscrete?

Gravel is also good for security. A lot harder to sneak across gravel without being heard!

I think gravel is awful. The ones I've seen always shed gravel over the pavement and they are popular with cats (I dug up all the gravel from the front garden of a previous house)

Gravel is a nightmare for anyone with mobility problems...especially if they use assist devices like wheelchairs or crutches.

I'm biased towards easy access to buildings so I wouldn't consider an unstable surface as an entry point to my home.

I love grasscrete. Trying to persuade my DH that this is the looks for us!

I have had both, gravel is awful after the first year, weeding is a constant battle and you have to level off and add to the gravel every year. We had ours replaced with tarmac. The block paving is less needy, BUT I also have to spray the cracks with weed killer periodically and jet wash every 3 years or so.

Finally, the tarmac was great for about 8 years but now it is getting mossy every couple of years and has to be treated or jet washed. It has a lot of overhanging trees though.

Of the three gravel was the worst.

You might need to get planning permission to enlarge or change driveways or parking spaces as councils are trying to get households to use more eco friendly materials.

Gravel= the worlds biggest cat-litter tray .

True dat

we have gravel. lots of cats around here and never seen any sign of it as a toilet! BUT its an old gravel drive that didnt have a weedsheet put under= weeds all the time.

gravel with the weed sheet would be fine if you pull out the weeds now and then (our front garden is weed sheet with granite ), weeds come out easy. gravel is better for drainage. but i like paved......

Block paving: god! the weeding!!

That grasscrete looks good

Resin is beautiful but very, very expensive.

Use Scottish pebbles, about 30mm size. A friend has them. They don't spray everywhere like gravel and look very pretty, especially with a nice edging stone around the drive.

We have a both but gravel immediately outside the house and on footpaths.
Pros

• security as it’s difficult to drive or walk over without the dog hearing it.

• environmentally better
• looks smarter
• better drainage
• cheaper for larger areas.

Cons

• needs regular raking
• needs topping up
• needs weeding if there isn’t a liner (although raking mainly sorts that)
• a challenge in heels