Choosing the correct driveway specification
The framework we use before we quote a single m².
Specifying a driveway well is a sequence of engineering decisions, made in the right order. Surface last. Loading, drainage, ground conditions and detail design first. This is the framework we walk every customer through at the site assessment.
1. Loading
Two cars a day is a very different problem to a tradesman with a 3.5 t van and an annual skip delivery. Loading dictates sub-base depth, wearing surface choice, edge restraint and drainage capacity.
2. Ground conditions
Clay, made ground, high water table, tree roots, existing services, each of these changes the specification. On sensitive ground we specify deeper sub-bases, heavier geotextiles and sometimes cellular sub-base reinforcement.
3. Drainage strategy
Permeable, impermeable-to-soakaway, or impermeable-to-permeable-landscape. This is decided before levels are set. Everything else, falls, gullies, channels, flows from this decision.
4. Surface choice
Now, and only now, the surface is chosen. Resin bound, block paving, tarmac, natural stone. Each has an ideal use case, and each depends on the three decisions above being correct.
5. Detail design
- Threshold detailing at doors and garages
- Edge restraint against lawns, borders and paths
- Gully positioning and channel drainage
- Kerb lines and mowing strips
- Transitions between surfaces (e.g. block border to resin field)