Find a Driveway Installer you can trust in Newtonmore.

Your contractor should have access to your driveway and a power source. If they have these things, you don’t need to be there while they’re working on your driveway. However, it’s worth being around if you can so you can clarify details and answer any questions.

From gravel and crushed stones to asphalt and tarmac, the choice when it comes to surfacing options for driveways is truly staggering. However, what’s not too clear is the options that best suits a sloping driveway. If you also possess a sloping driveway and wondering the best material to install, you’re definitely not alone. This is a major source of concern for several home and property owners in the UK being fully aware that making the wrong choice here can prove really costly and disastrous. In order to help you make the best informed decision possible, we’ve put together this post which takes a look at the various driveway material options available to you.

• Gravel
  This driveway surfacing option provides a truly enjoyable “crunch sound when driven on, however, the satisfaction will be short lived if installed on a sloped driveway. If installed on a sloped driveway, there’s going to be a continual displacement as instinctively rolls downhill on an incline.

• Concrete
  This can prove to be a great problem if installed on an incline. This is due to the fact that concrete is subject to freeze/thaw phenomenon which makes it steep and slippery lacking the needed traction.

• Tarmac
  This is particularly far from ideal when it comes to a steep driveway surface. This is because it requires continuous maintenance to prevent spillages from spoiling the surface.

• Resin
  The best surface for a steep driveway is simply that made from resin. This is due to the fact that this surfacing option allows water to soak away naturally. They’re perfectly permeable, preventing water from pooling and reducing the risk of falls.

Driveway surfacing materials like concrete, asphalt and clay brick usually crack because they’ve been exposed to extreme temperatures or put under high pressure. It’s important to repair driveway cracks before they get worse and cause damage to vehicles and perhaps others to trip on raised cracks.

Gravel, asphalt, concrete and paving can all be permeable. However, some types of asphalt and concrete are impermeable. This is why it’s important to be precise about what material you want for your driveway. If you want a permeable driveway, you should also make sure that your sub-base is also permeable.

Cleaning block paving is a fairly straightforward task, although you’ll want to be careful to not use any chemicals that may cause damage to the surface. Use a simple household soap, mixed with water, and brush this across the paving with a stiff brush. Then, simply rinse off with clean water. Alternatively, use a pressure washer – but be careful not to use it on a powerful setting, as this may damage the joints and can cause slabs to come loose. Using the pressure washer on a medium setting and at a 45 degree angle is recommended.

If your concrete driveway’s looking grubby, it’s best to try cleaning it with water and a brush, or a mild detergent. However, if this doesn’t work, it can be worth trying bleach.

Dilute your bleach down to 50% bleach and 50% water, and apply it to your driveway. Leave it for 10 minutes, then scrub it using gloves and a stiff brush. Finish by rinsing your driveway off with clean water.

It’s important to remember that bleach can stain certain surfaces and kill plants. So, if you’re concerned about materials and boarders around your driveway, it might be best to use a different type of detergent, like floor cleaner or degreaser.

Being a strong and durable product requiring little maintenance and expected to last over 2 decades, it’s little wonder resin is now a popular material amongst homeowners in the UK to build their driveways. However, there’s always the issue of the driveway fading, cracking or even becoming worn and tired. So is it possible to repair resin driveways? The answer is yes, a resin driveway can be repaired, however the best approach to use largely depends on the issue being faced. As a confident DIYer it’ll be very easy to do, but if you lack the confidence then calling in a professional for help would be a better option. So let’s take a look at how you can repair your resin driveways.

For cracks, the best reparation approach would be to chisel it out. Once done, then you can proceed to breaking the stones to form a rough edge. It’s important to make sure that the matrix of the stone remains unaffected. Make a new mixture of resin bound stone and pack it in tightly to the gap. While doing this, we’ll recommend making use of a plastic trowel to avoid burnishing. This fresh mixture will then create a smooth and perfect surface by interlocking with the edges. You can follow similar procedure for patches but these are larger holes or damages than cracks and as the name suggests are mostly likely to remain noticeable but will prevent further crumbling of your resin driveway.

For homeowners, who aren’t so keen about the patch repairs, you can opt for an overlay especially in the event whereby the majority of the surface has failed. Although many usually shy away from this approach because of the perceived high expenses, but the fact is that the approach is actually cost effective as you won’t have the need to spend more money in the long run.

Tarmac is a material made up of broken stone and tar, used for surfacing roads, driveways and other outdoor areas. It’s actually a registered product trademark, but many people use ‘tarmac’ interchangeably with ‘asphalt’. Asphalt is similar to tarmac, but is now more commonly used, and is made from bitumen instead of tar.