Widening the drive (Part 1)

September 24, 2013 in House & Garden
Tags: driveway, gravel

I have a large drive but it is two cars wide and has a triangular wedge of grass on one side and grass on the other. When winter comes the edge of the grass gets very muddy so either the driver or the passenger has to walk through muddy grass to get in and out of the car,

The choices are

1. Replace the drive and incorporate the wedge of ground into the new drive
2. Get rid of the grass and create a surface for walking on

Well replacing the drive would be very expensive and also not be good for the hedge that runs down one side of the frontage as the water would not get into the ground. So the decision is to create a surface that will not get muddy and also will be able to have a car parked on it. I decided on gravel with a supporting plastic grid (recycled) to support the car and stop the gravel moving. This is doubly important as the wedge is not flat and falls away from the garage and also falls into the drive.

Chose these grids http://www.gridforce.co.uk/product/inovgreen-gf30.html

Each grid is 500mm x 500mm and four make up a square meter. They interlock together and are fairly flexible so can cope with the shape we need for the sloped patch of earth. There are rules about driveway extension and you do require planning permission for non permeable surface but of course the gravel is permeable.

this is what got delivered and the grids themselves are light. I was easily able to carry 4 square metres at a time. I also ordered a ground sheet to suppress weeds and also to stop the gravel from getting pressed into the soil below the grids, the fabric is a little rough which will help to keep everything in place.

I am fitting the grids here to see the shape of the ground and to identify uneven patches as just looking at dirt it is hard to see how level ad even you are. When I have done the whole lot I will take them up and lay the fabric and then place the grids ready for gravel.

You can see the fall towards the drive here and also the hedge which I want to keep healthy. I have dug it out by Mattock and Spade to preserve as much root structure as possible. You might notice the cable on the hedge this is the Virgin broadband and phone cable which was laid in this area and I had to get it out of the ground before I started digging. I will bury it along the hedge line once I am happy with the layout of the grids.