driveway

hi all

we are planning to make one side of our front garden into a drive way, just gravel it for now as we cant afford anything expensive.

anyway was just wondering how to go about it,, i know we need some sort of weed proofing and we need to dig it out a little,, any one got any advice???

kimberley x x x x

The first step is to dig out soil and if its a big area-consider hiring a mini digger!

Depending on your ground levels,you should be looking to remove around 10" of soil because you really need to put a 6" base of hardcore down first.Without hardcore,the gravel will sink into the soil under the weight of the car(s) and you will be forever topping it up.Hardcore can be ordered and delivered by builders merchants and once in place-needs to be compacted by using a 'whacker plate'.It looks like a petrol lawn mower,but just vibrates like crazy-compressing everything underneath it.These cost around £20 per day to hire-try phoning companies like HSS/Speedy hire etc for best price.

Once the hardcore is all in,place weed supressing membrane over the hardcore and peg down to stop wind lifting it like a ships sail (very annoying!).This again is for sale in builders merhants which is much cheapert than garden centres.
And then add gravel!

Quick run down on prices (but bear in mind of regional differences):

Gravel (dont use pea gravel-cats will use it as a toilet)=£20 per ton
Hardcore=£20 per ton
Whacker plate=£20 per day
Mini digger=£100 per day
4 cubic yard skip=£75

thanx steve,,
im really glad i asked as we hadnt even thought of hardcore think the mini digger might be a good idea and already have 1 ton of gravel but pretty sure i will need another

Oh said we may be able to rotovate it and then dig the earth out ourselves to save on the mini digger what do you think??

and can i ask,, are you a builder or something because you really seem to know what you are talking about! thanx for the great advice

Rotovating the ground is the next best thing to a mini digger and a bit more user friendly (around £25 per day hire)-especially if you havent operated one of them before.

No,im not a builder and never really wanted to do it for a living because once a hobby becomes your livelyhood-it can sometimes end up being a chore and i dont really want that.I've done a fair bit of landscaping/carpentry/bricklaying etc for friends/relatives and prefer to do it for a bit extra cash in my pocket.My dad was a builder though,so i ended up working with him as a teenager and he taught me most things (apart from carpentry-im self taught!).The nearest i came to working as a builder was high rise roofer (reallyyyy tall buildings!)-i hated the hours and blistering heat in summer/sub zero cold in winter!

If you only want the gravel as a tempory fix and are planning on blockpaving/stenciled concrete etc driveway eventually or selling up-miss out the hardcore.It will sink eventually under the weight of cars,but if its only gonna be down for a year or two-its not worth the outlay or time.