Gravel chip driveway

40701085

What are the pros & cons, in your opinion?

Particularly interested in those that have it already, & their experiences with it. (NB I'm thinking in terms of the glenview gold chip, as opposed to blacktop or 804 etc).
I know it needs periodic weeding & raking, hard to keep clean & there's no proper hardstanding. Have people found other issues with it over time (e.g. discolouration, disintegration?)
Will just be running the car over it - nothing heavier.

Grateful for your thoughts on this,

paddy147

Install a 2 x 1 meter honeycomb gravel farmes with built in weed membrane.

This is then covered over with your gravel (18mm size maximum) and this gives you a stable gravel driveway that can take 30 tons of pressure per square meter.

rje66

honeycomb in my opinion is a more expensive way of doing it, as well as ,if not laid correctly it can start to 'come undone ' and once this happens its hard to get right again. other better option is layer of 804 got to a very good level ,ie no bumps or hollows, then a 2 inch layer of blindingdust, levelled as above and well compacted, then a thin layer of your glenview on top of this. the reason you want a thin layer of pebbles is to avoid 'rutting' where car tyres move and it minimises the pebbles travelling . in time the thin layer will bed into the blinding dust and form a solid settled surface. it will need to be treated for weeds periodically.
Tips: if you dont use the dust larger chips of the 804 will come to the surface over time and mix with your pebbles and make them un sightly.
Using a mypex type weed suppresent material under the pebbles isnt a good idea either as in time it comes undone at joints and corners and will come up through pebbles , again looking unsightly.

40701085

Thanks for that folks, good ideas there that definitely will be kept in mind.

Qwerty?

We used the Glenview Litegold chips about 3 years ago on our drive. (We paved the area around the house) Glenview also sell the same coloured sand which I put down first on top of my well compacted 804. Apart from the odd weeding/raking there has been no hassle with it, except the Kids can't really cycle on it, but on my sloping driveway that's a good thing.

I too would advise against a weed barrier membrane, as it can come to the surface, but mainly because it would have been a waste of money;)

ponddigger

hi any photos of your gravel drive. jack

paddy147

Qwerty? wrote: »

We used the Glenview Litegold chips about 3 years ago on our drive. (We paved the area around the house) Glenview also sell the same coloured sand which I put down first on top of my well compacted 804. Apart from the odd weeding/raking there has been no hassle with it, except the Kids can't really cycle on it, but on my sloping driveway that's a good thing.

I too would advise against a weed barrier membrane, as it can come to the surface, but mainly because it would have been a waste of money;)

How did you install it (weed membrane)??

Qwerty?

I swept up any loose 804 and then levelled out the sand, ran a whacker on this to compact it. Then spread the gravel on top and compacted it aswell. The only weeds that grow in it are in the sand and are easy to pull. If you need a lot of gravel/sand buy it direct from Glenview, as they will deliver several bags to you a lot cheaper then you will get them locally.

The only problem with it three years down the line is a slight greening of the gravel along the edges of the drive. Must give it a shot of Mossgo to clean them up;)