As said above...but we put in drain channels due to high water table..
Driveway Parking For Van
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This may be a daft question but where do the drain channels go if the water table is quite high?
Just beat in mind that you get different thickness bricks for block paving.
The usual BnQ type are quite thin, about 2”, whereas you can by commercial bricks which are about 3” thick.
This makes quite a difference as the support comes from how tightly knit the bricks are packed together and bricks with large sides tend not to sag.
Having said that, a proper foundation is the key thing, plenty of hard core, type 1 and whacked down.
I went down 24” when I did mine and it’s solid.
There’s nowt stopping you lifting and reusing the bricks once you’ve sorted the base out.
The usual BnQ type are quite thin, about 2”, whereas you can by commercial bricks which are about 3” thick.
This makes quite a difference as the support comes from how tightly knit the bricks are packed together and bricks with large sides tend not to sag.
Having said that, a proper foundation is the key thing, plenty of hard core, type 1 and whacked down.
I went down 24” when I did mine and it’s solid.
There’s nowt stopping you lifting and reusing the bricks once you’ve sorted the base out.
They are a requirement before our council will allow a dropped kerb installation
they also slow down rainwater flow into street drainage to assist with flood prevention and the system getting overwhelmed too quickly
Thanks, mine are Marshalls bricks. So it must be the substrate not good enough.
We make a soak away drainage system
Something like this in the garden or at the front of the house.
Ah, done the job properly, especially where there is a lot of clay. The only fear with a high water table, is that it comes up through the soakaway. Strikes me that whoever did your drive had more than an inkling of what they were about. Good on you
Hi Drainage channels ( plastic type ) are designed to take surface water away and are either connected to surface water drains or to a soak away....in my own drive I dug a series of french type drains to take the water away....but it really depends on each individual garden/drive where the water would be drained too....
@Qais2020 ...perfect solution.......mine was deep pit back filled ( old school )
ps forgot to add ...mine being a permeable drive allows the water to drain through it ...slowing the run off
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Mine was too, but I couldn't find it for a while. A skip collection fixed that............the driver put a telescopic stabiliser over it and went to lift the fully loaded skip. (Have you ever seen a skip driver go pale? I have!)Hi Drainage channels ( plastic type ) are designed to take surface water away and are either connected to surface water drains or to a soak away....in my own drive I dug a series of french type drains to take the water away....but it really depends on each individual garden/drive where the water would be drained too....
@Qais2020 ...perfect solution.......mine was deep pit back filled ( old school )
That is the risk! Ask a local, they’ll know what floods! And, it is getting more frequent with the new-build estates that are being whacked up. Remember the floods last year - somewhere called Fishlake or something like that. Jeez, the clue was in the name!!!
Hi ...My carport when first put in was fine but as the water table got higher ..I dug it all out and raised the concrete base higher..buts it’s
a battle with weather extremes
Ouch! A foot of soil, 4 feet of clay and then chalk all the way! Phew!!!
Just reviving this thread as I’ve got tired of looking at my concrete driveway.
It was installed probably 80’s or 90’s and is in fairly good condition, but just looks ugly. It’s north facing so gets green after a bit of rainfall. You can see where rain water pools in a few locations. There’s no drain where it meets the footpath, which is level/flush.
The wife told me to paint it but I’d assume the paint won’t last?
As it’s at the side of the house, there’s no dry steering going on.
It’s roughly 18m by 2.7m
I am liking the idea of the resin bound / bonded driveways - how’s yours holding up @Grim Reaper? What did it cost you?
It was installed probably 80’s or 90’s and is in fairly good condition, but just looks ugly. It’s north facing so gets green after a bit of rainfall. You can see where rain water pools in a few locations. There’s no drain where it meets the footpath, which is level/flush.
The wife told me to paint it but I’d assume the paint won’t last?
As it’s at the side of the house, there’s no dry steering going on.
It’s roughly 18m by 2.7m
I am liking the idea of the resin bound / bonded driveways - how’s yours holding up @Grim Reaper? What did it cost you?
You’d be surprised how long a paint would last. Resin bound would go over that area easily and look lovely forever (especially as it sounds like it is very low traffic) but is expensive for what it is.
Bumps and dips aside, it sounds very much like the slab isn’t moving at all and would be good for many many years. So, it is really a matter of ensuring your water runoff is sufficient, really clean it (pressure washer and good ol’ Jeyes fluid) patching puddle areas and choosing your top dressing. There are lots of levelling compounds that make life easy. You could paint (especially if you introduce a pattern,) light “slab” with natural stone (cheaper than you think thanks to India and China,) light slab it with manufactures slabs (disproportionately expensive for that it is,) patterned concrete (get a man in for speed,) or even grid and pea-shingle it!
If you have the slab up, you’re into “start afresh” territory, for sure!
I know exactly what you mean, but that was the rage back then! A quality garage floor paint will do wonders and some incorporate a good “grip”. If you then introduce “joint lines” or a geometric pattern with another colour, it will break up the expanse of paint!
We had a mix of concrete and macadam patches outside our back door! My argument to SWMBO was that while it was ugly, it wasn’t moving! (I suspect the previous owner had even back-filled and “inspection pit” as he was old school engineer with his engines!) We just top-dressed it with Indian sandstone 10 years ago and no issues! The biggest effort was getting our runoffs right…lots of head scratching and attention needed!
Happy to ping you a couple of pics if you’d like.
By the way, around the same time, we did the garage floor. That was a powdery, crumbly mess! Hoovered it as much as I could, PVA’d it, threw a self-levelling compound over it and painted it a week later! It has had all sorts of bangs and things dropped on it but still looks good years later! (I just can’t find it anymore as I have so much crap in there!!!)
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