Replacing or refurbishing a gravel driveway?

I’ve seen imprinted driveways, black ones and red ones, giving that brick work effect in my area where I live. To me, they look extremely artificial.
They seem to have an all year round wet/oily look about them.

Have a section of the garden in gravel for the driveway, have to say, for me, there’s something therapeutic about picking up the weeds especially with clump old soil attached, and disposing the contents of bag of it in the brown bin.

Pure satisfaction.
 
Love gravel. Tarmac is bad for the environment. Also not good when there is frost, snow or ice if you have any slope. I believe it can melt in hot summers and stick to shoes etc. Also hard to recycle if taken up. Moss should die after application of ferrous sulphate. But it can stain the gravel brown so a general weed killer might be best. Weeds are easily pulled. Wouldn’t go near cobbles for reasons already mentioned.
 
I got mine done with permeable tarmac a few years ago. Its what they use in big supermarket carparks these days. Its more environmentally friendly as it allows water to soak through it, rather than run off it. I still get some moss, but as a previous poster said, I just spray some water mixed with bio washing powder and it gets rid of it.

a membrane will be great for getting rid of weeds on the short term, but wont stop moss.
 
Have a stroll through the grounds of Belfield (UCD Campus) and have a look at their honey coloured tarmac that they have on the pathways. Looks great.
 
Silversurfer said:
Yes. It is usually in a green box. It has to be ‘Bio’.
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This actually works albeit I had to give it a good hard brushing after a few days. Sprinkle it lightly, perhaps using a lawn feeder over the impacted areas and don't let it clog into lumps. Makes you wonder what it is doing to your clothes??

One thing to consider is how much your driveway is in shade, I've a south facing driveway and the areas in shade get more moss then the areas out in the open.
 
Firefly said:
I put down 3 layers of weed block membrane (criss-crossed).
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The non-woven membranes are more effective, (the movement of gravel can be enough to open little gaps in the woven stuff) but the edge detailing is key alright.

If you have lots of trees in the area and don't remove fallen leaves, that can build up enough for weeds to grow in the gravel layer, but they're usually very easy to pull out intact.
 
LS400 said:
To me, they look extremely artificial.
They seem to have an all year round wet/oily look about them.
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Have to agree on the artificial especially on anything other than black.

AFAIK there are both matt and gloss finish. Perhaps with allowance for expansion they might not crack i.e. if they are done properly but do see so many of them with large cracks which seem to come about after a few years.
 
Leo said:
If you have lots of trees in the area and don't remove fallen leaves, that can build up enough for weeds to grow in the gravel layer, but they're usually very easy to pull out intact.
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Yip - they come straight out
 
Reactions: Leo
Yes I agree with that ,moss and weeds combined means water is staying there, either its a low point, maybe lower than lawn, or shores need to be put down to let off the water. Even a shallow shore dug with a spade to a drain would do if its not too much work. You put down a porous drainage pipe and fill it with clean pebbles . You need to ensure a gradual fall to outlet drain though.
When water issue is sorted then spray the weeds and moss, when it's all dead remove the debris and cover with new gravel or pebbles
 
I have the exact same issue at home and struggle to stay on top of the maintenance of our gravel drive. We've been in the house for about 8 years and are at the point we need to do something about it.

I have liberally sprayed with roundup but found it made little to no difference. Perhaps I needed a second application.

One other option I've looked at are resin bound drives. Does anyone have experience with these? I think they look good but suspect they would be expensive to install and a case of needing to find a good installer who knows what they are doing to get a good outcome.
 
Sue Ellen said:
Have seen some beautiful resin in decorative areas of car parks but have come to the conclusion that they are very expensive. Asked a few contractors but they didn't do them because of the expense. This article might be worth a read.
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Was looking at resin myself - main drawback for me was that you need a concrete or tarmac based on which a thin'ish layer of that resin bound stuff is applied. (And it won't drain of course).

Also, I had 2 companies over to quote - one didn't even bother to come back with a price, the other did not respond any further even when I contacted them three times telling them that I am ready to go.
Clearly they weren't interested in my arguably small'ish job.

Price wise, I was quoted about 2,500 euro ex VAT for an area of about 6x4 meters ( about 25 sqm). (When do they finally start quoting incl VAT for consumer business as required by law...)
Would have included removal of existing gravel, putting down concrete base, and the final resin layer.
One day to get the concrete base down, and a few days a few hours to finalise.

So still live with the gravel, plus weed killer in some areas to keep things a bit under control. Main issue with the gravel is that it spills out on the footpath and road when driving in and out, so needs the odd clean-up for things to stay tidy at the front of the house.
 
TheLastBeep said:
have liberally sprayed with roundup but found it made little to no difference. Perhaps I needed a second application.
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Round up is really only effective for killing grasses ,very effective at that, you need a broad leaf spray for nettles thistles and other broad leaf weeds, probably better to wait another month when growth is good as they need growth and dry weather to work effectively
 
Tarmac- you don't like.Probably better option than cobble or concrete
Concrete-Agricultural but functional, patterned concrete less so but more Hollywood.It might even devalue your property.
Cobble-looks good when fresh but maintenance issues with cleaning,some weed and algae and moss(somebody,somewhere should do a PhD on increased incidence of moss)
Gravel-Spot treat weed with full strength Roundup or Gallup.Use a strong bleach on moss.
If you use membrane or geotextile you will likely still have weed and moss- they will find a footing above the membrane
My humble advice is to stay with gravel
 
triggs said:
Cobble-looks good when fresh but maintenance issues with cleaning,some weed and algae and moss(somebody,somewhere should do a PhD on increased incidence of moss)
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We should not be too disparaging of mosses because they are some of the oldest forms of life on the planet and are responsible for creating soils. When the moss dies and decays it forms a substrate for other plants to grow. That is effectively what's happening in his drive way. That is the basis of soil formation
 
I use washing powder , from Lidl, bio, on the moss on my driveway. It's very effective but needs to be put on every two years . It is a cheap form of maintenance. I dug up my grass about five years ago and put down stones which cost about 100 euro on top of what I was told was the best weed block , about 100 euros per roll. The weeds have started to appear in the last two years , so much for it been the best. I used roundup this year and it has been effective,,,so far.
 
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