Do you love your driveway and what have you got!!

[Appuskidu]

We are looking at replacing our (hideous) driveway and feeling a bit overwhelmed with options at the moment! We like the grey/charcoal colour blocks-but can’t decide beyond that! Big blocks, little blocks, mixed blocks, herringbone, right angle, straight, border-too much to think about!

Has anyone had theirs done recently and love it?? What did you got for?

Don’t like blocked driveways usually. Saw one recently which was a small drive (always helps) with textured blocks as if wood. Dark and unobtrusive and looked ‘natural’.
My dream house has the most hideous and huge driveway - have spent some time in fantasy imagining ripping it all out, replanting much of it (can take around 15 cars) and then replacing the hideous red/yellow expanse. I suppose first it needs to be for sale and I need to be able to afford it !

I like that zing nice mix.

I also think zing's drive very nice - a little rustic and blends nicely with the greenery. Doesn't shout at you!

We had blocks 5 years ago. Grey granite type that looked lovely...only they are shit. DH maintains them but it is a never ending process of weed killing, spraying to stop some bits going green washing and re sanding. Also, where the cars stand they look very bleached compared to the rest of the drive. We are looking to have ripped up and have slabs laid. Never ever again.

Advice.

1. Use a proper landscaper who just does drives and similar.

2 . Shouldn't have to specify the foundations but check this out.

1. If slabs then make sure they are laid on a solid bed of ideally concrete (not dot and dab) to stop water getting in and sinking them
2. Make sure they use proper resin to point up even if you do have block paving so the edges are solid. Resin is rock hard and can be jet washed but expensive.

@HeronLanyon

I like that zing nice mix.

@HeronLanyon

thanks.
we had a big extension (3 levels) and had every room redone so I guess by the time it got to expanding the drive we just wanted it done.
the builders picked up the existing blocks as the foundation had to be redone anyway, and mixed them with new, similar looking ones

@DoubleTweenQueen

thanks as well.

We have herringbone block paved I’ve just spent a month renovating it, burning the weeds, karchering the crap off and out of the gaps, re-weed burning and need to do a final pressure wash off again

I’ve got some very expensive sand with weed repellent in it that seals when you wet it to try and reduce regrowth but it’s never ending

I would never have blocked paving again, at some point it going to be replaced either by resin or tarmac with brick surrounding

Reddish 25 year old block paving in herringbone pattern laid by previous owners. Simple, functional and never think about it but occasionally pick the odd weed out. Have grown lavender etc at the edges to soften the effect. Much prefer the look of gravel, which would go better with our period house and general decor, but have decided it just isn't practical (cats, most of neighbour's gravel ends up on the road...) and it's a very boring thing to have to spend money on. Will only replace if absolutely necessary.

We have gravel which looks just right for our very old house.

I don't like the look of block paving at all. Weeds or no weeds! I have tarmac sprinkled with white, pink and green stones. No maintenance and the colours make me smile.

I’ve had gravel (hates it, weeds were a nightmare) I’ve now got red block paving for the parking and tarmac for the drive.

If money was no object I’d have it all in grey or stone coloured setts to resemble cobbles.

We have shingle, we were all set to change it, to either block or resin, but we have decided to keep it, as we always know when someone is on our property way before they get to our front door, useful when you are waiting for a delivery.

Main drive down to the road is tarmac. No hassle and easy to blow away the many leaves that fall on it in autumn. We also have gravel next to and to the side of the garage, and I hate it. It gets uneven, we’re constantly having to sweep bits of it off the tarmac, and DH has an annoying tendency to send it scattering everywhere when he drives off in a hurry.

We have a gigantic herringbone red brick driveway. Put in by previous owner about 5 years ago. I hate it. It's going to cost a fortune to dispose of all of those bricks!! Wondering if I put them on fb marketplace if someone will take them away to build something. No idea if they're in good condition.

I'm going to put gravel down instead and build up flowers beds.

We have gravel, and I’ve always wanted to replace it with block paving. The gravel needs to be topped up and takes around more often than we actually do that, so we have patches.

That said, a gravel drive is supposed to be a big deterrent to burglars as you can hear people approaching.

I used something close to this. Wasn't quite so antique looking (mine were man made cobbles as opposed to stone ones so were a bit more regular) but the effect was similar. Yes I really liked it, I even liked the moss that grew between them.

I love my friend’s resin drive. We’d need to get our neighbours to agree though as drive links.

We replaced worn out patchy gravel with resin. Had it professionally laid and it looks great, very smart and easy to keep clean. So smooth you can walk on it barefoot. Only downsides are that it was very expensive and I reckon it’s going to be very slippery in the ice.