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Your next step, if you do elect to forge ahead with installing a driveway will be make a choice about what type of driveway is going to be most suitable for your circumstances. There are many different types of driveway available, as I'm sure you will be aware, but these may not all be right for you. If you're on a tight spending budget you could be to some degree limited in your choices. The configuration and dimensions of your property's garden may also affect your final decision.

You might say "a driveway is just a driveway", however that simply isn't true, given that there are many different designs and types of driveway, and if you were to take a walk around your town, you will see what I mean. You should see shingle driveways, grass driveways, block paved driveways, tarmac driveways, resin bound driveways, asphalt driveways, concrete driveways, cobbled driveways, patterned concrete driveways and natural stone driveways, in various forms, however this will give you a perception of all the potential alternatives.

What Type of Driveway is Best? Before deciding what type of driveway is right for your property, there are a few things that you will have to take into account. A few details that you would be sensible to think about - 1. Local authority planning permission - is planning permission needed for your driveway? 2. How the land lies - is the area level or sloped? 3. How successfully does your garden drain - does water collect where you're wanting to build your driveway?

Although you may think that you can just stick a driveway anywhere you like on your land, this is not automatically true. The legislation that pertain to driveways aren't just laid down by the local authority, but are in reality enforced by government law. However, at this moment in time, these laws only affect driveways being laid in front gardens. This legislation, which is known as the Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) has been in force since October 2008, when it was first brought in.

If you are aiming to build a driveway having an area of more than 5m² and it's in your front garden, you are going to be affected by these SuDS legislation. You won't have to stress about this if you build your driveway from a porous (permeable) substance like shingle, permeable concrete block, porous asphalt, monoblock (grass) or resin, which will allow the water to pass through and naturally drain away. If you believe that the SuDS legislation will affect your planned driveway in the UK, you can see detailed information here - Sustainable Drainage Systems

Naturally it is quite feasible for you to build your own driveway in the UK, if you are fairly good at do-it-yourself and are not fazed by a touch of hard work. However no-one should think of this as an easy process, as there is a great deal of preparation work involved apart from actually laying the driveway, including doing waste removal, lugging materials and excavating. If you've got any concerns about whether you would be able to tackle a project such as this, it might be a good idea to hire an experienced driveway specialist.

With this kind of project, you've got to be wary about exactly who you pick, seeing as you clearly need somebody who knows precisely what they are up to. There are plenty of cowboys and rogue traders out there who will soon pocket your cash and do a lousy job. It's worth shelling out a bit more money to get a proper job done, instead of taking a risk with a substandard worker just to save yourself a couple of quid. Driveway and patio contractors who have been offering their services in and around the UK for a number of years would be the smartest choice.

When assessing these paving contractors, you should at the very least ask for some references from satisfied clientele, ask what warranties they offer on their workmanship, ascertain how long they've been in business, check that they have got insurance protection, ask if they are a member of a trade association such as ANTSCA (the surfacing trade association) and ask to look at a portfolio of past projects.

This doesn't have to be an inquisition, but asking these germane questions should give you an inkling of the sort of individual that you are going to be dealing with. If they are relaxed about answering all of these questions, you can assume that they are fairly genuine. You can deem that they're hiding something or being less than honest if they're confrontational or hesitant when asked such questions. If that occurs you would be wise to avoid them like the plague and try another tradesman.

If you are wary and pick a really good driveway paver, they will help you make all the most important decisions with regards to your project, including the recommended driveway technique, the favoured location and the best materials. And that is not the end of it, because they'll also take care of all the design, preparation and planning that's required for your new driveway installation to go like clockwork.

Gravel Driveways

The cheapest and easiest of all the styles is the ubiquitous gravel driveway. Despite their simplicity gravel driveways can be an extremely attractive solution, particularly in rural locations where they are the most popular. Gravel can be obtained in a wide array of sizes and shades, so you should not have any problem finding one that looks good in your garden. A good robust base layer of hardcore is needed for a gravel drive to be effective, together with a firmly-bedded edging. The best gravel driveways are the result of applying 3 or 4 layers of aggregate, with each and every layer rolled and left to settle before laying the following layer. You won't need to apply for planning permission with a gravel driveway, seeing that it will be SuDS compliant no matter how large it is, or if it's in your back or front garden. (Tags: Shingle Driveways, Gravel Driveways, Aggregate Driveways).

Asphalt Driveways

When you're looking for that extra touch of 'curb appeal' for your home in, an asphalt driveway, with its smooth consistent surface, is a good choice. A reputable driveway company in will provide you with an asphalt driveway that will give you many years of good service, with a bare minimum of maintenance involved. It is even possible to get porous asphalt solutions so that rainwater is allowed to soak away into a sub-base, instead of running off into road drainage systems, which are known to lead to localised flood risks.

Asphalt can easily withstand the freezing and thawing effects of British winters, and is excellent value for money in comparison with some other driveway options. Due to how asphalt is produced, it is also easy and cheap to repair, maintain and when necessary, remove. It can be considered the most ecological of solid driveway surfaces since it's even possible for an asphalt drive to be recycled and used in a different location. (Tags: Asphalt Driveway, Asphalt Driveway Recycling, Asphalt Driveways).

Block Paving Driveways

Over the past few years scores of driveways have appeared in built using the block-paved process. Forming attractive and elaborate designs, hundreds of specially designed block paving bricks are butted together to produce a hard-wearing, sturdy driveway. The gaps between the blocks are filled up using kiln-dried sand which is rigorously brushed into the joints, resulting in a tidy finish. It might be a good idea to have your block-paved driveway sealed after several months with Rycal sealant or similar. This is essential to stop weed growth. There are a lot of patterns in which block paving is laid, including fan, herringbone, stretcher bond and basket weave.

SuDS Compliant Block Paving Driveways: Compliant with SuDS block paving driveways are quite feasible by slightly adjusting the normal technique. Wider gaps than normal are left between the blocks and instead of the usual kiln-dried sand, these are packed with a very fine shingle material.

Natural Stone Driveways

Natural stone is a driveway material that never loses its outstanding appearance even as it gets older. The dense and compact material looks amazing on a driveway and will provide a lifetime of use for any cars or vehicles you might park on it. Because of the unique depth of tone and colours of the stone, you'll end up with a driveway that's completely bespoke to your house. When correctly installed, a natural stone driveway has that all important wow factor that complements any home or business premises.

A natural stone driveway is also easy to maintain, and is less at risk of weather damage than concrete based materials. The smooth surface of the stones means they are simple to clean, and weeds find it harder to take root in the narrower gaps of a natural stone driveway. You must think of a professionally prepared and laid stone driveway as an investment towards your home's overall value.

Driveway Cleaning

If your home already has a drive, and you're thinking of replacing it because it is looking shabby - why not clean it instead? The process of keeping a driveway clean, is one of those things that a lot of homeowners postpone, or neglect entirely. However, for reasons of both maintenance and appearance, cleaning a driveway on a fairly regular basis is vital. With time, the structure of your driveway can be weakened by weeds, roots and other pernicious plant growth. If there are existing cracks or fractures, these could be widened which could eventually trigger structural complications.

If dirt, weed growth or stains appear on your drive, eliminating them as quickly as possible is advisable. However, the springtime and summer is when you most notice the growth of weeds and moss, you shouldn't wait till them to power wash your drive. If brake fluid, diesel and oil is spilled from your vehicle, the look of your drive can really be compromised. You must get these removed promptly, so that any a permanent staining of your driveway surface is avoided.

To clean your driveway properly you will need the use of a jet washing device, and additionally you will need some other tools and equipment, such as a bucket, a scraper, a broom, a wire brush and detergent. If you don't have the right equipment, or are not certain about doing it yourself, you can get in touch with a professional driveway cleaning service, or ask your driveway company if they do it.

Tarmac Driveways

Tarmac is an extremely popular driveway surface because of its strength and durability. When laid by an experienced driveway contractor it requires little maintenance, looks fantastic and is weatherproof. Tarmac driveways can handle heavier vehicles, such as carvans and motor-homes, without damage to the surface or dimpling, and will look good for many years to come.

Tarmac is also fantastic value for money and comes in an assortment of colours to complement your property and the surrounding areas. No longer do you need a boring, conventional looking driveway; it is possible to customise your drive to a colour of your choosing. The installation of a tarmac driveway is comparatively straightforward and can be accomplished by an experienced contractor in a day. Tarmac really is a great material for almost any driveway, because of its ease of installation, maintenance free properties and durability.

Resin-Bound Driveways

There's no doubt that recently resin-bound or resin driveways have become one of the most popular kinds of driveway. The added advantage that they're SuDS compliant of course contributes to their attraction. Resin driveways can be installed in a host of designs and patterns that can be customized to your precise requirements. If you have a pre-existing tarmac or concrete driveway, a brand new resin-bound surface can be laid over your existing one. Resin-bound driveways are easy to clean, maintenance free, durable, permeable, and the perfect substitute for gravel, concrete, asphalt or block paving. Generally coming with a long warranty when installed by an authorised professional, a resin-bound driveway should give good service for many years to come. (Tags: Resin-Bound Driveways, Resin Driveways, Resin-Bonded Driveways).

Concrete Driveways

Suitable for driveways, and a very popular material for many years, concrete has the advantage of being hard wearing, strong and relatively maintenance-free. An easy choice for many folks, concrete is considerably cheaper than resin or block paving, but if laid properly is stronger and more durable. If you find concrete driveways to be somewhat drab and uninspiring, it's quite possible to administer a patterned or stamped finish to make them look more attractive. (Tags: Imprinted Concrete Driveway, Concrete Driveways, Concreted Driveway).

Driveway Tasks

If you pick your driveway company carefully they will have the skills necessary to help with painted driveways, tar driveways, the maintenance of gravel driveways, coloured tarmac driveways, monoblock driveway installations in the UK, the design of asphalt driveways, permeable driveway installations, the repair of aggregate driveways, bonded gravel driveways, resin driveway installations, driveways with pavers, paving a driveway, cheap driveway ideas, commercial driveway installation, driveway resurfacing, asphalt driveway recycling, driveway cleaning, driveway installation estimates, driveway drainage, driveway replacement, grass driveway installation, driveway culverts, the construction of flagstone driveways, the repair of concrete driveways, driveway markers, gated driveways, granite block driveways, pebble driveways, domestic driveway installations, stone resin driveways and any one of innumerable additional driveway related services in the UK. Listed are just a handful of the duties that are conducted by people specialising in driveways. Driveway providers will be happy to inform you of their whole range of services

More Advice and Guidance

By taking a look at YouTube videos you are able to discover how to put in a resin bound driveway. Social media is clearly the place where the majority of homeowners in the UK head these days when they are searching for ideas and images for products and services. If that is what you love to do and you're presently searching for information on driveway installation check this out. You should pay a visit to Rated People or the government backed Trustmark website, if you want to conduct a search for licensed local driveway contractors in the UK. The dedicated Wikipedia "driveways" page is the place to head over to for details of the purposes of driveways, the different sorts of driveways, the local legislation regarding driveways and the materials used for driveways. To read a useful article about how to choose a driveway check this out.

Driveway Questions

Over the last few weeks I have been looking through the questions homeowners in the UK ask regarding driveways. A number of our visitors have submitted justifiable questions that are relevant to this article. The ones I picked out were, "Where can I buy driveway gravel?" "When should you seal your driveway?" "Should a concrete driveway have rebar?" "How do driveway drains work?" "What happens if driveway sealer freezes?" "How much does the average driveway cost?" I hope nearly all of those questions have been dealt with on this page, and if some remain unanswered a driveway "Q&A" feature will be introduced in the near future. My gratitude goes out to the following homeowners in the UK for making the effort to pose their excellent questions; Kaiden Clarkson, Sarah Crawford, Tony Mcdonald and Jane Mcgrady. It was also fantastic to get offerings from Noah Weston in Newlands, Aaliyah Cowell in Hadleigh and Isaac Friend in Fobbing.

Skip Hire for Driveways

When you're carrying out a driveway installation project in the UK, or any other kind of home or garden revamp, it's likely that a certain volume of rubbish and waste will be generated that can't be disposed of in your regular household wheelie bins. Actually, in most regions, construction or garden materials must be disposed of in a controlled and eco-friendly way, in accordance with local authority legislation. Consequently if you are to stay safely within the law, you'll have to transport your waste materials to a recognised disposal and recycling site, generally a council tip. If you do not want to be carting waste materials back and forth to your nearby Domestic Recycling Centre, it may be better to look for skip hire in your area.

By using an established skip hire contractor, you'll be given assurances that all of your waste will be driven to an authorised site, and will be disposed of correctly and safely. Even so, it's crucial to establish the form of waste materials that will be generated by the driveway project, and you can go through this with your chosen contractor and the skip hire provider concerned. If there's a chance that asbestos containing materials might be involved, the skip hire company will need to divide the dangerous waste into a totally separate disposal system for health and safety reasons. Hazardous waste is best left to the professionals, and strict regulations cover it's safe disposal. To make sure all guidelines and regulations are addressed appropriately, both your driveway installer and the skip hire firm will work together.

The perfect solution is if you happen to have a space when a skip can be sited on your garden or drive. On the reverse side of the coin, if you do not have a suitable area, and you park your vehicle on the main road, you might need to seek the help of your neighbours, and see whether they can leave a space for your skip someplace close to the work area. A skip which is placed on a driveway or private land doesn't need a permit, but if it has to go on a public highway in the UK it will definitely need a temporary local authority skip permit, get hold of them to see whether you need one. This will guarantee there are no problems with regards to siting your skip.

Skip hire providers offer skips of all shapes and sizes, and you can rent anything from skip bags and mini-skips right up to builders skips and gigantic roll-on roll-off monstrosities. To hire a skip for your project in the UK, CLICK HERE for a quote.

Easy Ways To Enhance Your Home's Curb Appeal

As you mediate on how you could amplify the appeal your curb has, you will realize there are endless avenues to do so. Several abode owners mistakenly believe that the above isn't a big deal, since it is regarding issues that are frivolous. Though, assuming you want to put your house on the market, or at the very least desire to create a more alluring and appealing home, what might feel inconsequential can in truth be very meaningful. When the outside of your home looks attractive, it conveys that you are an owner who is diligent and attentive.

Among the many projects you could take on for a new look to make your home have a more attractive curb appeal, would be painting. This is often a good idea, but it may not be necessary. Examine the paint for things like signs of aging or flaking; then if the color is reasonable, you might just need to give it a power wash. By taking this route, you will be saving money, it will be simple and you will be pleasantly surprised how great it will look. You hardly realize the collection of dirt and residue that encrusts your home overtime. There are many places that will rent the power washers, in a wide range of prices, or you may decide to find a person to do it for you. If you leave out any of the structures, they will look even worse than before; so make sure to pressure wash everything that can be.

Making some amendments that you weren't even sure were needed could improve the appeal of your homes curb. Every now and then as you stare at a thing for years every day, you have no knowledge of how it appears to other people. For instance, look intently at your garage door. This is something most people don't think of replacing unless it's broken. And yet, replacing a worn-out old one with a newer model would produce an absolute change. One other thing that can again and again be overlooked, is the mailbox. Replacing your mailbox will make you feel a whole lot better if the current one is rusty and aging, and a new one isn't too expensive.

A very easy improvement that you can make to the front of your home is to make the walkway look more inviting, right up to your front door, so people can knock without fear. You might change your walkway a little bit by paving it replacing perhaps the cement that was there - it is totally up to you. Similarly, a new driveway will impress everyone who drive up to your home. Aside from being appealing, the driveway should people a sense of security and spaciousness. So if your driveway is full of potholes, clutter that belongs in your garage or even things like leaves or branches, do everything you can to clean it up and make it more welcoming. And when visitors come, just make them feel at home especially when they arrive in the driveway.

It's amazingly satisfying to strive to advance the landscape of your residence. Each wee action from the neat as a pin lawn, deck painting or driveway improvements will cause your home to increase in price as well as make it look nicer. Individuals could put the spotlight on easy to do actions that don't cost a lot of money or greater home modifications, still every course you take will make your curb more appealing.

Doing a Search Online

It is considerably simpler to look for a tradesman or service right now than it was in the past, given that we've got the advantage of technology and can just do a search on the web. Immediate and pertinent results are the reward of searching with Bing, Google or Yahoo, which were created for this exact role. One drawback can be that the first page results displayed by the major search engines might not be exactly the ones you were after. Typing in "UK driveways", "driveways in the UK", "driveway installers near me" or "driveways" will normally be the process to use when looking for a driveway specialist in the UK. You need to know that the 4 top results are often PPC advertisements (which may or may not be on-topic), and lots of the remaining page one listings will likely be from large trade portals like Checkatrade, My Hammer, Rated People, My Builder, TrustaTrader or Bark or web directories such as Gumtree, Yelp, Scoot or Yell. Odd job men usually don't have substantial budgets to push their websites to the uppermost rankings, so you're liable to find these out-of-the-way lower down the listings perhaps on the second or third pages. Approved tradesmen websites like Rated People or Checkatrade are still handy though, and you will be able to make full use of their informative services to examine customers appraisals, obtain free quotes and read through reviews, since there are local driveway pavers on there who do not even have a website.

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More Tradespeople: Whilst you may just be looking for someone who can do driveway installation in the UK, you can also find garden clearance in the UK, a builder in the UK, a landscape gardener in the UK, a bricklayer in the UK, SKIP HIRE in the UK, a decking specialist in the UK, a garden designer in the UK, pressure washing in the UK, a fencing contractor in the UK, a gardener in the UK, an electrician in the UK, a carpenter in the UK, driveway cleaning in the UK, a tiler in the UK, a lawn care specialist in the UK, patio laying in the UK, waste removal in the UK, property extension in the UK.

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