Front garden gravel - can I park on it

[BettaSplenden]

My front garden consists of a single drive made of broken concrete strips and a large expanse of gravel that used to have plants etc in but I cut down ( big bushes etc that hadn't been maintained that were in danger of collapse - new plants added along the sides and front for wildlife).

The gravel is quite thick but has no membrane etc. (Ground is clay).

Could I park on the gravel or would it sink? Thinking about getting a second car in the future and want to park on the drive so we leave the on street parking as is for the benefit of the neighbours ( the dropped kerb we have would be sufficient for getting two cars on and off without the need to extend it) or do I need to do anything first? Dread the idea of getting stuck on it

Are you trying to spend as little as possible or is there a limit on spend?

Spend as little as possible for now. Eventually my plan is to have the whole thing done properly but that will take a bit of time to save.

You could rake off the gravel and put one of those plastic grid things under it to spread the load, then recover with gravel .
Also worth trying to crate some sort of lip at the front to stop all your gravel ending up on pavement

My parents had gravel to the side of their drive that we parked on and it was always fine

Gravel is hideous for other road users. It gets dragged off the drive and onto the pavement and road. It makes the pavement slippery and walkers skid on it, as do children on scooters. It rolls into the gutters, gets washed into the street drainage and blocks it.

Unless you're going to maintain it and sweep it up from the street very frequently, gravel is an antisocial choice.

It's also potentially unpleasant for the homeowner as gravel gets tracked into the house, especially stuck into the grooves of your shoes, and then scratches your hard floors.

Can you tell I don't like gravel drives?

My gravel stays where it's wanted, thank you very much. If you choose the right gravel - neither too fine so it sticks to your feet nor too rounded so it rolls about everywhere - then it works just fine.

It's also about the least environmentally damaging option going: there's no cement involved, so a massive saving in carbon emissions there, and it's an inherently porous surface so allows water to be absorbed so you aren't contributing to surface water flooding.

DS1 bought a house with the entire front garden gravelled. It's neceassary as there is little street parking but it does all those awful things @Dilbertian says. It's not even attractive, it's like bits of grey breeze block. There is a lip to contain it but it doesn't. DS sweeps the pavement frequently.
Not sure what could be done to improve it.

Do you already have a dropped kerb?

I’ve just finished building my own OP

Was quoted £6k - will have spent £800 by the time it’s finished. It’s taken me three weeks.

I think if there’s already a proper gravel on hard standing, then it’s probably fine to drive on.

Dig down. See what you find. If you hit a layer of stone beneath the membrane then you’re good to go.

If you hit mud, you’ll need to dig it out and replace rubble/stone (c. £80/ton) and then compact it down to make the surface level.
You can drive over it repeatedly but I hired a compactor for a week ( £50) and did it myself - worth doing IMO

Good luck!

I'll have a dig down but when I was digging bushes up etc there was no hardcore etc and no membrane but that was sort of round the edge so I'll dig a random hole in the middle and see how I get on. Not planning on getting a second car for a while I just like to be prepared for when/if that happens.

Yes I already have the dropped kerb etc it's not just a front patio

I was going to suggest getting a quote from a resin drive company to turn the gravelled area into a resin’d area.

But your budget update knocks that on the head.

Interesting fact: the larger the gravel pieces the more resistant to movement under pressure is is.

The grid recommended by @BruceAndNosh seems a sensible cost effective solution.

My parents had one when they moved to their bungalow.
I hated the look of it and twice I got a piece in my brakes

I was going to suggest getting a quote from a resin drive company to turn the gravelled area into a resin’d area. I've not seen these, does it stop drainage?

@Mosky

Here’s the url of a company who’s done a few drives in my area over summer.

resindrivesnorthwales.co.uk/resin-driveways-north-wales/

I assumed they were waterproof but it says they’re ‘permeable to prevent puddling’ - going to be interesting to see how the local ones stand up to freezing over the winter.

Most drives here are gravel. I had no idea anyone did anything special to the gravel drives. Just seems like clear & gravel down to me.