I have recently designed a few gardens for new houses all of which have included a new driveway. For each house I have gone through all the available options (below) and on every occasion the home owners have gone for the most expensive and least environmentally friendly option –concrete. I understand that in a lot of situations concrete is a good, if not the only, option but I wanted to give you the various choices I think are good for driveways.
Concrete
Concrete is good if the driveway has to be flexible – that is to go over humps. It can be moulded into many different shapes and into many different sized areas without cracking and comes in a lot of different finishes. The down side is it’s expensive and the process for making the concrete is pretty bad on the environment. I think concrete has a cold, lifeless feel about it - by that I mean it’s smooth, has little texture and therefore little life to it. I’ll contradict myself now and say a smooth concrete driveway can really complement a sleek modernist design! But I guess each house is as different as you and I.
Pavers
Pavers come in various sizes from small brick-sized pavers to large concrete squares. They share many of the properties that concrete does (including the price) but can add a character that concrete can’t provide. Labour for laying a paver driveway really pushes the installation price up but the benefit of pavers over concrete is that if tree roots push the driveway up or water washes away the base, it’s a whole lot easier to replace a few pavers than it is a slab of concrete. I love a recycled brick driveway as it adds a rustic character to a house that can’t be replicated by using a new product. Recycled products are also great for the environment and the irregularity of the colours hide oil spills and stains regularly found on a driveway.
De-co granite
De-co granite is a product that is made of various sizes of aggregates compacted with cement to form a solid base. This is a really cheap option, at about $75.00 a ton, covering approximately 10 square meters. It comes in three different colours - brown, pink and most commonly gold (think beige). It has a rustic feel to it and has a few loose pebbles that float around on top of it that may cause a few problems when walking around bare foot. Its longevity is no way near concrete or pavers but it can always be topped up to give a fresh new look.
Pebbles
Pebbles are used all over England as a driveway and very rarely here in Australia. The main complaints are that pebbles can be kicked around off the driveway which is understandable but I love the crunch of a pebble under foot. Pebbles are good and bad for the environment. They are usually taken from a river bed which is bad, but they are great for water run-off issues. Concrete and pavers redirect water and do not allow it to filter into the ground, whereas pebbles and de-co granite (to an extent) allow water to soak into the ground where it falls which is very good for the environment as it’s a natural process.
With all the available options for driveways it can be difficult to choose the right one for your situation so if you need any help deciding what’s best for you,
ask me a question.
Hi Charlie,
We are nearly finished a reno. and to finish we need to tidy up the driveway. The house is 80 years old so the drive consists of lots of broken concrete (which we are taking up) and bricks down the side. How hard is it to lay the deco granite and is there anything we need to know before we start?
Thanks Lyn