Block paved driveways
Unfashionable in some quarters and still the most sensible choice for a lot of houses. It is repairable, it takes a beating, and it does not care what the weather is doing on laying day.
The surface you can take apart
Every other driveway surface is permanent. Block paving is not, and that turns out to matter. A service that needs digging up, a settled patch, a new gate post — all of it can be lifted, sorted and relaid with no visible repair.
It is also the most forgiving surface to lay in a British winter, which is why we can programme it when resin would be sitting under a tarpaulin waiting for a dry week.
The trade-off is joints. Joints take sand, sand takes seeds, and a block drive that is never touched will look tired sooner than a resin one. Jointing sand and an annual brush over deals with it.
Everything below is included in a block paved driveway
Hard wearing, endlessly repairable and available in more colours and textures than you will want to choose from. We will bring the samples to you.
- A free design so you can see it before you commit
- A home visit with real samples, at a time that suits you
- Your old surface taken up and taken away
- Rock, concrete and old bases broken out at no extra charge
- One price, agreed up front, with nothing added afterwards
- A tidy site every evening and no skip left on your road
- A five year guarantee, in writing, that transfers if you sell
Where cheap block paving shows
Block paving is the easiest driveway surface to lay adequately and one of the hardest to lay well. The failures are always the same handful of things and none of them are visible on the day it is finished.
- Edge restraints bedded on sand instead of haunched in concrete — the edges spread and the field drops
- Laying course used to make up levels instead of screeded to a constant depth
- Cuts made with a hammer and bolster rather than a saw
- Blocks taken from one pack instead of mixed from three, so shade banding shows up
- Never vibrated and sanded twice, so the joints stay open
What you will need to decide
Block type
Standard concrete blocks, tumbled or aged blocks for older houses, or permeable blocks where drainage is an issue. We will bring samples to the visit.
Bond
Herringbone at 45 or 90 degrees for a drive because it interlocks under load. Stretcher bond is for paths and borders, not for anything a car turns on.
Border
A contrasting single or double course frames the drive and hides the cuts. It costs very little and it is the difference between tidy and finished.
Colour
Buff and brindle sit well against stone and older brick; charcoal and silver suit modern render and grey windows. Bear in mind it will lighten as it weathers.
Manholes
Recessed trays let the paving run across the cover so it almost disappears. Worth doing where a manhole sits in the middle of the drive.
Permeable option
Permeable blocks with open-graded stone below let the whole drive soak away, which solves a lot of drainage arguments before they start.
Things people ask us
How long will block paving last?
Can you clean and re-sand an existing drive?
Will it sink where I park?
Can I have block paving and resin together?
Free design, free visit, free samples
We measure up, talk it through and send a written proposal with the build-up, the programme and one whole price. No pressure and no follow-up sales calls.