…digging up a double tarmac driveway and replacing it with gravel? Using only brute force and a pick-axe?

Assuming of course that I can get a pick-axe, skip, weed membrane and gravel delivered. Which I bet I can.

Get on facebook marketplace, bound to be loads of folks about wi mini diggers not doing much…

I ordered a load of decking and fencing timber this morning, as you say, you’ll probably be able to get the hardware.

Have you lived with a gravel drive before?

If you have then fine, go break your back but if not then be aware that they are high maintenance or look crap real quick.

Yeah, I’ve been considering the maintenance angle, but having looked at the various gravel drives around our estate it would seem that the gravel type makes all the difference. The ones with sandstone-type stuff look rubbish, the ones with flint-type stuff seem to stay looking pretty good. I assume it’s because it’s much harder so doesn’t break down and thus not giving the blown weeds/seeds stuff to root into.

Do you know how thick the base is and what’s under it?

When we got our drive done the poor folk that took the job on discovered the original 1950s builders had dumped a load of rubble then used enough concrete to resist a nuclear blast.

1 skip turned into 2 and required a jcb.

Can you chip over the tarmac?

You’ll get very very bored, very quickly with a pick axe. No to mention the hideous vibration it sends up your arms. I’d try and hire a big electric breaker. It’ll make mincemeat out of tarmac in no time (a nice 70Joule one would anyway). That or do as Nobeer says and hire a mini digger. Cheap as chips right now & would probably knock the bulk of the job off in a morning.

Next door have a Gravel drive… And a mini digger!

Ours is tarmac and staying tarmac till I can afford to pay someone to pave it nicely. Possibly matey next door…

Do you know how thick the base is and what’s under it?

No, but from the sunkenness of bits of the tarmac I’m guessing not much. 1980’s build

Can you chip over the tarmac?

Nope, the drive is flush with the pavement and nextdoor’s drive so there’d be nothing to retain the gravel around the edges

Digger then. **** using a pick axe.

But think how buff I’ll be! 🙂

Don’t use 10mm pea shingle- aka kitty litter, see gravel grids, they can be used to hold gravel in place, I put terram under mine as a weed stopper, I was told that angular edged stones (as opposed to rounded ) stick together better under car weight/force, ime ones that are laid with a wackier plate seem to last better

The question is… why would you want to?!

The most pleasing job I’ve done on this house is replace the gravel drive for block paving. Gravel drives are bloody horrible (my opinion only obviously) and a pain to keep in order. New house has tarmac and gravel to each side, if it happens thanks to covid, that gravel will be going as quick as possible.

The question is… why would you want to?!

Cos the tarmac one is really, really tired and a quote to redo it was x-thousand quid more than I really want to spend on a driveway. I’m guessing that block-paved would be even more, and even that wouldn’t be maintenance free.

The flint-gravelled ones I’ve seen near me look pretty good.

Presume you can still get a skip delivered to put the tarmac in?

At least you’ll be able to ride a gravel bike on your drive if the lockdown goes further and stops the “once a day exercise”!

We’ve got a gravel drive, it’s absolutely fine. A decent threshold at the front a touch higher than the gravel bed to stop too much migration of stones out, rake flat and top-up probably once a year to spruce it up and pull little weeds out whenever you get out of the car and notice them. It doesn’t have a weed membrane underneath because I think that discourages it from bedding into the base.

25mm gravel, not too deep and the limestone base was whackered before putting the decorative layer on. It’s at least five years since I did it and still looks great. It’s also easy to rectify the odd oil leak stain from my old van, just shovel up a couple of bucket fulls of dirty stones and shuggle the rest round to hide the bald spot. Very little maintenance required.

Aye, mines the same, just enough for one car though, and on the flat so no run off of stones. 25mm angular aggregrate, as above, pea grave is awful.

I spent 6 months or so (over £&@*ing winter) digging up our crappy old driveway, getting rid of 18 tons of rubble, laying 300mm of Type I or whatever it was, then laying gravel.

Did the whole lot by hand as I somehow figured it didn’t make sense to get in a digger. Countless weekends and evenings. Was bloody hard work as I also stripped and returfed the front lawn too.

Finished it 3yrs ago and it’s held up bloody well tbh. No issues with cars. Leaves are a PITA around Nov Dec but that’s it. Loads of decorative pots, planters and borders now in place. Tidy.

How about those concrete blocks with holes in or the plastic grid things that allow grass to grow though? Maintainance is just running a lawn mower over on a low setting. They’ve got them in a local Lidl car park and I’m impressed.

There’s a couple of people with gravel drives round here and it seems to fill the road with bits of gravel. Not great for cycling past.

How about those concrete blocks with holes in or the plastic grid things that allow grass to grow though?

Grass won’t grow, cos it’ll be in permanent shade, under a car, or both.

There’s a couple of people with gravel drives round here and it seems to fill the road with bits of gravel.

That’s generally cos the used the wrong gravel and/or put it down badly.

We’ve a large gravel / shingle drive (buy direct from Moreton C Cullimore), our has been surprisingly weed free & stayed in place. I did put some Type 3 MOT gravel down and Wacker plate it before the shingle went down though. I shifted 40 tons of concrete in my “DIY” session, I used a JCB Beaver, a pick axe & went through a number of wheelbarrows. Don’t underestimate the cost of getting rid of waste, I called in 13t trucks to Hiab it out. K Yateman & Sons might be worth a quote if they’re still working.

Hire a breaker.

You may struggle with skip hire/disposal and getting gravel at the moment

But think how buff I’ll be!

the trouble is it’s only when you get to the end that you’re as buff as you’d want to be at the start. By then digging up someone else’s drive will be a doddle.

Get a mini digger. Or get a breaker and shag your elbows and arms up for the fun of it.

Just get on with it.

I do everything by hand. Pick axe and shovel, never had a mini digger in! 😁

Just whacked out 40 square metres of tarmac drive. Dug out 6 inches of road stone base, and shovelled in a good few tonnes of topsoil, and levelled and seeded to lawn.about 2 weeks and I’ve been working at home full time too.

I do shit like this instead of going to a gym and its loads cheaper.

Longer than usual delivery times on a lot of stuff but we’ve managed to get topsoil delivered at about a week’s notice.

Timber and hardware seem to be the bigger issues ime.

Breaking that drive by hand wouldn’t be my first choice though and make dam sure you can get EVERYTHING before you start.

Definitely skip deliveries on the go round here in the midlands.

I say go for it. I’m currently trying to pull the remaining 3 of 8 massive Leylandii stumps.
Thoroughly exhausting, but significantly cheaper than hiring a digger/stump grinder, and a good workout!
Going to take a loooooong time though…

Use Abar rather than a pick axe. Nicer on the hands. Tarmac breaks up quite easily.

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