Anyone have a concrete driveway? The type with the colours and embossing. What has been you experiences?

Brother in law had one done last year in dark grey,
i was expecting it to look and be horrible, and was very surprised it looks fine and far less faf than my block paved horror of driveway
That said i think the guys who put it down know what they were doin
as the finish was fine.

Make sure it has some texture to it – ive seen concrete driveways which are death traps when icy!

They can look very good, but there are pitfalls: Slipperness as above, and if you have services running underneath (Water, drains, gas, electric, cable TV) and you need to work on them, the surface isn’t repairable like block paving. You’ll probably have to rip the whole lot up and start again….

don’t they all fade badly over time? I’m not talking from experience, just what I’ve heard.

You could finish it off with resin bonded gravel. Looks very nice (any colour you want almost) and gives good grip. Not cheap though.

Sorry, not following this. You want patterns in your drive?

Molgrips, yeah, it’s called printpave or a few other trade names IIRC.

Mostly they mimic block paving or fancy slabs of some sort. The concrete has dye in it (Whatever colour you like) so it’s not grey. I quite like it personally, and it’s bloody solid. But it does have drawbacks…..

I see, so like having astro-turf instead of a lawn? 🙂

It isn’t that bad molgrips. Nothing like as bad as astroturf! I’d rather have imprinted concrete than a blocked paved driveway that has sunk under the wheels of your car and has weeds growing through it!

http://www.google.co.uk/images?q=imprinted+concrete+drive&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1280&bih=709

I wouldn’t have block paving, I’d have tarmac, but properly done so it didn’t sink under your car.

Have you seen how good modern astroturf is?

Printcrete is really good – there is quite a lot of fake cobbles in printcrete around here and its hard to distinguish from the real thing

There,s no problem with block paving if its done properly. Easy to lift areas if needed, just look at your local filling station, it wont be concrete so just ask yourself why ?

You see loads of concrete filling station forecourts! What you don’t see is tarmac.

my dad did mine at last house, if you do concrete it you can stripe it when you lay it (lines across) to give winter grip. Note point about things underneath it.

Check local planning regs – I believe there are certain areas where non permeable surfaces are not allowed.

Don’t rate tarmac atall, not actually that damage proof.

You see loads of concrete filling station forecourts! What you don’t see is tarmac.

Isn’t that because diesel, petrol and engine oils damage tarmac, makes it all soft and gooey or something but I could be talking bollocks.

Isn’t that because diesel, petrol and engine oils damage tarmac, makes it all soft and gooey or something but I could be talking bollocks.

Yes, basically. Diesel especially dissolves the bitumen that binds the ashphalt. There is a way round this – DTS – Dense Tar Surfacing, which diesel doesn’t affect. I’ve seen it laid in a bus stop, for instance

Check local planning regs – I believe there are certain areas where non permeable surfaces are not allowed.

Permeable asphalt is readily available. Have you ever driven down a road in heavy rain and suddenly the surface changes and there’s virtually no spray from the road at all? Porus Asphalt! The watyer soaks throught the top layer (The wearing course) then runs off lower down. It’s also quieter to drive on, and for local residents. But it’s expensive. Molgrips – The centre section of the A331 in Farnborough is surfaced in it, from North Camp down to Farnham. I guess all asphalt companies will have their own brand of it now. Hanson (Who I work for) certainly do, but for the life of me I can’t remember the brand name…. 😳

There,s no problem with block paving if its done properly. Easy to lift areas if needed

Very true. And it’s not hard to DIY either, as long as you do it properly it’s mainly just hard lifting and carring work etc. I’ve laid a bit at our last house. It never moved.

I wouldn’t have block paving, I’d have tarmac, but properly done so it didn’t sink under your car.

To be fair, I might surface ours in asphalt (Tarmac *spit* is a company. Our competitor *spit* 😉 ) because I can get it at trade +10% delivered…. It looks nice IMO. 6mm wearing course.

Printcrete is really good – there is quite a lot of fake cobbles in printcrete around here and its hard to distinguish from the real thing

That’s like telling Antiques Roadshow a photocopy is indistinguishable from a genuine Picasso in my case, TJ. 😉

I said hard to distinguish. I bet most folk don’t notice it. Fake flagstones as well. Its suprisingly good but clearly is only a “photocopy”

Oooh, I love a nice bit of smooth asphalt… I find it strangely tactile and I like the smell too. I love driving it (check out the new section of M4 near Cardiff) and I really love riding over it on a road bike 🙂 Sssssssshwoosh!

Calm down Molgrips! 😯

I love the smell of fresh laid tarmac.

On the opposite end of the spectrum – concrete road surfacing. Argh!

Popular in the USA because of the high summer temperatures… There was a bit near Mrs Grips’ folks that was like crazy paving at 70mph. They finally resurfaced it now tho.

The centre section of the A331 in Farnborough is surfaced in it, from North Camp down to Farnham

Thank **** as my house is 150m away from that section 🙂

All the printcrete drives round our way have cracked in some way despite having expansion strips in them. Tends to be much more expensive than block paving as well, in a won’t quote sir because your wife isn’t home.

My mum had printcrete laid approx. 2 years ago. They lay it and then cut expansion gaps into it after to allow for expansion (funily enough) and a bit of movement.

My mums now needs relaying as the top layer that they pattern is very thin and falling apart. I think you also have to be careful about using salt/grit in winter. Thats what did my mums drive in but as no warnings about using it were given they’ll stand on to it. I have seen that some give warnings on their website/quotes.