Driveway Installers

So, you've made a decision to have a driveway installed, but what sort of driveway is likely to be best for your needs? There are many different types of driveway available, as I'm certain you'll be well aware, but these might not all be of interest to you. If you haven't got a lot of cash to spend on such a project, the style and material options might be limited to what you can comfortably afford. Your decision might also be impacted by the configuration and dimensions of your garden.

There are many different designs and types of driveway, as you'll probably have noticed whilst walking around. Subject to the geography and layout of your garden you will be able to choose from stone resin driveways, concrete driveways, patterned concrete driveways, tarmac driveways, natural flagstone driveways, permeable driveways, asphalt driveways, aggregate driveways, pebble driveways, block paved driveways.

What Type of Driveway is Best? Before deciding what type of driveway is right for your property, there are a few things that you will have to take into account. A few details that you would be sensible to think about - 1. Local authority planning permission - is planning permission needed for your driveway? 2. How the land lies - is the area level or sloped? 3. How successfully does your garden drain - does water collect where you're wanting to build your driveway?

You might assume that a driveway wouldn't be of any concern to the local authorities, and would not be subject to planning permission requirements, but that assumption would frequently be wrong. Driveways are in fact governed by a raft of regulations and rules, and these apply on a national scale rather than just being locally binding. Right now these only affect driveways in front gardens. The law that we're talking about here is the SuDS (Sustainable Drainage System), which was brought in by the UK government in 2008.

Driveways being laid in front gardens that have an area in excess of 5m2 are affected by the SuDS legislation. Materials like gravel, permeable concrete, porous tarmac, resin, or grass monoblock are SuDS compliant, and enable the surface water to drain through naturally without any problems. Therefore, if you are building your driveway from one of these, you will not need to fret. If you think that the Sustainable Drainage Systems regulations will affect your new driveway in TOWN, you can see more information here - SuDS

People who enjoy a bit of hard work and are good at do-it-yourself, may perhaps be tempted to lay their own driveway. With so much hard work involved including lugging materials, doing waste removal and digging out, no-one should consider this to be a simple undertaking. When all is said and done, it might be wise to contact an experienced driveway installer, if you're in any doubt tackling it yourself.

Reputable tradesmen are not always that easy to track down in relation to doing this sort of task, so you need to take care and choose the right company or person. You should keep an eye out for rogue traders and cowboys who are renowned for targeting this sort of project, and can can soon catch you by surprise if you're not careful. Even if that means spending a little more on the project, you may as well have it done to a decent standard by a professional. The best option will normally be a driveway and patio company who has been been serving customers in and around your area for a number of years, and has a decent track record locally.

When vetting these installers, you should at least ask to see a portfolio of earlier projects, ask for some references from previous clients, check that they've got adequate insurance, ascertain how long they've been in business, find out what warranties they offer on their workmanship, ask if they are affiliated with a trade association like ANTSCA (the surfacing trade association).

Asking for such pertinent information should give you a sense of the type of person you are planning to work with, but it shouldn't be done in an aggressive way. It is safe to assume they're genuine and honest if they are perfectly happy to discuss all your concerns and answer all of these questions. You can presume that they are hiding something or being less than truthful if they act in a hostile or hesitant way when asked these kinds of questions. If that transpires you'd be wise to avoid them like the plague and try someone else.

Selecting an experienced tradesperson is vital, because if you manage to find yourself a reputable driveway installer, they will not only do a good job, but also give you guidance on the most appropriate materials, location and style for your driveway. Before any actual work starts your driveway expert will make certain that all the required planning, preparation and design work is looked after.

Gravel Driveways

The easiest and most economical of all the available types is the gravel driveway. In a rural location, gravel driveways are particularly favoured and can be extremely attractive despite their simplicity. Given that there's such a wide range of gravel shades and sizes, you should not have any problems finding one that you are happy with. A effective gravel driveway will require a sturdy and clearly-defined edging, and a good solid layer of hardcore. If you apply 3 or 4 separate layers of stones, each individual one tamped and rolled and left to settle down, you will get the best gravel driveway. Gravel driveways are of course SuDS compliant, therefore you will not need to apply for planning permission regardless of how big your driveway is. (Tags: Gravel Driveways, Aggregate Driveways, Shingle Driveways).

Asphalt Driveways

When you are looking for 'curb appeal' for your home in, an asphalt driveway, with its smooth continuous surface, is the ideal choice. A competent driveway company in will supply you with an asphalt driveway that will give you years of satisfaction, with very little maintenance required. You can even get permeable asphalt driveways whereby rainwater is allowed to soak away into a sub-layer, instead of running off into highway drainage systems, which can be attributed to localised flood risks.

Asphalt can easily withstand the freezing and thawing effects of TOWN winters, and is exceptional value when compared to several other driveway alternatives. Asphalt is easily repaired and maintained, and isn't too difficult to remove if your circumstances change. The fact is, asphalt can be recycled for use elsewhere, and can this be called the most environmentally friendly of the solid driveway products.

Block Paving Driveways

Scores of driveways have appeared in over the last few years, constructed using the block-paved technique, which can be extremely successful when done correctly. Forming a robust and hard wearing driveway, many hundreds of purpose-made block paving bricks are butted together in attractive and sometimes elaborate patterns that can be personalized to your requirements. Once the blocks are laid and tamped down, the gaps are filled up with kiln-dried sand which is rigorously brushed into the exposed joints. To get the best service and longest life out of your block paving driveway, you should get it professionally sealed after five or six months to stop weed growth. There are various designs in which block paving is laid, including stretcher bond, herringbone, fan and basket weave.

SuDS Compliant Block Paving Driveways: It is even possible to build a To comply with SuDS block paving driveway in, if that's what you need. By simply leaving wider spaces between the blocks and packing them with a fine shingle instead of the usual kiln-dried sand, you are able to accomplish a porous paved surface that doesn't call for planning permission. (Tags: Block Paving Driveways, Block Paving, Block Paved Driveway).

Natural Stone Driveways

The attributes of natural stone means it continually improves with age. Looking the business from day 1 to year 50, a driveway built from natural stone will provide you with a whole lifetime of serviceable use for any vehicle. It provides your property with a driveway that, owing to the distinctive colours and tones of the individual stones, is entirely bespoke to you. When professionally installed, a natural stone driveway has that all important WOW factor that will complement any property.

A driveway made from natural stone is also much easier to maintain, and is less susceptible to weather damage than concrete based materials. They are easy to clean, and with smaller gaps between the stones there is significantly less likelihood of seed and weed germination in your driveway. A natural stone driveway properly installed by an experienced company should be seen as a good investment that will increase the value of your property.

Driveway Cleaning

If you have already got a driveway, but it is starting to look a little shabby, you may manage to boost it's appearance by giving it a good clean. Maintaining the cleanliness of a driveway is not generally a priority for a lot of TOWN homeowners. However, for reasons of both appearance and maintenance, cleaning a driveway with some regularity is vital. If roots, weeds and other damaging plant growth are allowed to become established, as time passes they can severely weaken your driveway's structure. If your driveway has existing crevices or cracks, these can easily be widened which may ultimately trigger structural issues.

When you notice that your drive has weeds, stains or dirt, it's advisable to remove them before the situation worsens. It isn't a good option to hold out for the springtime or summer to arrive to jet or pressure wash your driveway, even though that is the time when you most notice weeds and moss. Spills from your car such as oil, brake fluid and petrol can seriously compromise the attractiveness of your drive. Hence it is crucial to immediately remove them to avoid the surface being stained too badly.

You will need a few tools such as a bucket, a scraper, a broom, a wire brush and detergent, in addition to a pressure washer, so as to get your driveway properly clean. You can bring in a specialist driveway cleaning service, if you are not certain about cleaning it yourself, or you don't have the proper gear.

Tarmac Driveways

Due to its strength and durability, tarmac is an extremely good choice for surfacing a driveway. When laid by a professional driveway contractor it requires very little maintenance, offers excellent weatherproof properties and looks amazing. A tarmac driveway will be able to cope with heavier vehicles, like camper vans and trucks, without dimpling or damage to the surface, and should look pristine for many years.

It offers excellent value for money, and tarmac can be coloured to match the surroundings or your requirements. Tarmac allows you to move away from a dull black coloured surface and colour it to match your home. A tarmac drive is also one of the simplest to lay, and many driveway projects are completed in a day. Many folks choose tarmac over other driveway materials due to its strength, low maintenance qualities, finish and simple installation.

Resin-Bound Driveways

One of the most frequently seen sorts of driveway nowadays, resin driveways are permeable (porous) and compliant with SuDS. Resin-bound driveways can be tailor-made to your exact requirements and can be installed in an array of different designs and colours. For much less mess and hassle a new resin driveway can easily be laid on top of an existing concrete or tarmac surface. Resin-bound driveways are easy to clean, maintenance free, durable, permeable, and an outstanding alternative to block paving, asphalt, gravel or concrete. A resin driveway should give many years of excellent service, and when laid by an experienced installer, come with an extended warranty.

Concrete Driveways

Well suited for driveways, and a very popular material for a long time, concrete has got the advantage of being hard wearing, strong and relatively maintenance-free. Being more costly that gravel or asphalt, but considerably cheaper than some of the other alternatives (i.e. resin or block paving), concrete is a straightforward choice for many folks. If you find concrete driveways to be rather uninspiring and drab, it's possible to add a stamped or patterned finish to make them look like pebbles or cobblestones.

Driveway Tasks

Local driveway installers will likely help with the maintenance of concrete driveways, stone resin driveway installation, the repair of gravel driveways, cheap driveway ideas, grass driveway installation, driveway repair, driveway ideas, driveway replacement, garden patio installations, the building of flagstone driveways, Indian stone driveways, the building of brick driveways, bonded gravel driveways, driveway removal, coloured tarmac driveways, concrete driveway repairs, tar driveways, driveway sealing, shingle driveways, driveway lights, driveway bollards, gated driveways, the laying of aggregate driveways, gravel driveway laying, the maintenance of block paving driveways, driveway maintenance, the laying of concrete driveways, cobbled driveways, stone driveway installation, driveway resurfacing. Driveway providers will be happy to inform you of their whole range of services

Driveway Questions

In the past week or so I've been having a close look at the popular questions folks ask in relation to driveways in Gillingham. Quite a few of our visitors posted some noteworthy enquiries which are relevant to this discussion. The ones I picked out were, "How much weight can driveway hold?" "Does driveway sealer go bad?" "Where can I buy driveway gravel?" "What are driveway markers used for?" "How much does a driveway cost?" "What are the benefits of a concrete driveway?" The majority of these questions will have hopefully been answered on this page, if there are any left to be answered we'll be including a driveway "Q&A" section before long. Our gratitude goes out to Nolan Macdonald, Caroline Welsh, Oliver Beattie and Sheila Southern from Gillingham, for taking time out to send in these questions. It was also awesome to get offerings from Sawyer Tucker in Wouldham, April Exley in Rainham and Reginald Dwyer in Frindsbury.

Increasing Your Havens Landscape Attraction

Have you heard of the term curb appeal before? This is talking about how your home looks from the sidewalk. To make your home look better, especially if it is something you are trying to sell, you should do external home improvement work to enhance its appeal. Even if you are not going to move, by improving the curb appeal of your home, you will be more proud of where you live and visitors will appreciate it too. To help you improve your home's curb appeal, we have written this article with some suggestions.

People that have a home with a front lawn can improve the curb appeal of their home with the green grass. If you have a lawn that is rather large, it may take quite a bit of effort to keep it up. Consistency is the key in regard to curb appeal with a lawn - people need to see it taken care of each and every week. This includes watering it regularly and making sure that the weeds do not overrun the grass. Your lawn needs to look uniform all the way across without barren spots (if there are any, add sod quickly so it can grow!). If your lawn has problem areas, and you do not have time to fix them, it is essential that a lawn maintenance company or landscaper comes in to fix this. If you do have a few trees, they need to be properly pruned to keep them in tip top shape.

It is important to make the outside of your home look very welcoming and inviting for those that pass by. Changing the exterior look and feel of your house in this manner should not cost very much money and should cater to your personal tastes. Your house should call out to people visually, which means you ought to have plants, flowers, and a few ferns to improve its external visual appeal. You can also hang these plants from convenient hooks, or just place them on the railing for all to see. As for furniture, you should put some on the lawn - you might want to add wicker furniture which is very friendly. People that add lawn decorations typically overdo it, so keep that in mind as you plan your front lawn.

Rather than painting the exterior of your home, you may want to consider putting new siding on it. Choices abound for the above mentioned, and it has the possibility of giving your dwelling a fresh look. An improvement in your insulation is possible and additionally the improvement of your homes worth. Other choices could be stucco or stone veneer, these could convey the look of a conventional stucco or stone dwelling but not burden you with the same expense that actual materials would cost. Assuming you would desire to put stone veneer on the exterior of your residence or new siding, you should examine the myriad of choices out there and make a determination regarding what you are drawn to.

Curb appeal can involve many factors, so it's a good idea to consider your home from every angle. Make an account of anything that requires your consideration if there are a lot, then put them in the order of importance. Next, design a calendar for working on these dilemmas, even if you are going to commission someone to do the work or do it yourself. The above suggestions for giving your home more curb appeal can get you started in the right direction, and perhaps help you come up with more ideas of your own.

Searching Online For a Driveway Installer

When looking for any kind of tradesmen these days, the vast majority of householders are inclined to head straight online to simply "Google it". Logic would say that you're seeing this webpage at this moment after you pinpointed it by typing a search phrase into Google, Yahoo or Bing and it appeared on the first page. From time to time the page 1 listings provided aren't exactly what you'd expected when making use of these particular search engines. The majority of householders, when trying to find a driveway expert will visit Google or bing and type "driveways", "Gillingham driveways", "driveway pavers near me" or "driveways". Nevertheless, most of the resulting page one listings on these search engines, as you will shortly discover, are either going to be "pay per click" results or listings for major lead creation sites like TrustaTrader, My Hammer, Checkatrade, Rated People, My Builder or Bark or directories such as Yell, Gumtree, Yelp or Hotfrog. You'll very likely discover the sites of bona fide driveway pavers hidden on page 2 or 3 of the results, outsmarted by the wealthier corporations who can more easily afford SEO. When you are endeavouring to find the most effective person to complete your driveway installation work, it's sensible to explore every technique open to you, so everything supplied by the search process should be reviewed so that you will be able to uncover the ideal driveway installer.

Driveway Installer Services

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• Driveway Services
• Gravel Driveways
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• Driveway Estimates
• Concrete Driveways
• Tarmac Driveways
• Commercial Driveway Installation
• Driveways
• Asphalt Driveways
• Brick Driveways
• Driveway Installation
• Stone Driveways
• Block Paving Driveways
• Resin Driveways

More Tradespeople: Whilst you may just be looking for someone who can do driveway installation in the UK, you can also find garden clearance in the UK, a builder in the UK, a landscape gardener in the UK, a bricklayer in the UK, SKIP HIRE in the UK, a decking specialist in the UK, a garden designer in the UK, pressure washing in the UK, a fencing contractor in the UK, a gardener in the UK, an electrician in the UK, a carpenter in the UK, driveway cleaning in the UK, a tiler in the UK, a lawn care specialist in the UK, patio laying in the UK, waste removal in the UK, property extension in the UK.

Resin Driveways - Gravel Driveways - Residential Driveway Installation - Cheap Driveways - Concrete Driveways - Commercial Driveway Installation - Driveway Pavers - Driveway Services - Tarmac Driveways