[Edited on 14/4/13 by tegwin]
The access to the garage at the back of my house is slabs and grass and gets very overgrown and I've had a price for getting it concreted but it was too expensive. I'm now thinking of gravel but I don't want it to turn to weeds and grass in a couple of years. How do you lay a gravel drive that stays weed free?
Just lay the membrane that you get from builders merchants.
And lay the pebbles on top. It allows water/rain to drain away but stops any light getting to the soil so stops anything growing.
http://pavingexpert.com/gravel01.htm
I've got gravel at the front. Its been down about 10 years and has no weeds (see later). It was dug out and filled with a gray hardcore. This was
then covered with 10mm gravel. I've got (think /guess) about 3" gravel and 4" hardcore.
I do occasionally get a weed but they pull out very easily as they're just in the gravel and nothing other than a grass type weed ever grows.
I want to extend the gravel area and for simplicity I'm looking at the plastic stuff you put down and cover with gravel. The council put some
down where there is a post box by the side of the road on a grass verge that people forever pulled cars onto. This was very rutted, since the plastic
its stayed perfect grass for years.
quote:
Originally posted by Wheels244
Just lay the membrane that you get from builders merchants.
And lay the pebbles on top. It allows water/rain to drain away but stops any light getting to the soil so stops anything growing.
quote:
Originally posted by Benzo
quote:
Originally posted by Wheels244
Just lay the membrane that you get from builders merchants.
And lay the pebbles on top. It allows water/rain to drain away but stops any light getting to the soil so stops anything growing.
Membranes are rubbish and waste of money as the gravel will just damage it, best just stock up on Gramoxone and keep it weed killed.
Hi i build motorways and other things dig it out lay a geotextile and put the gravel on top google geotextile and use the one most suitable it will work a treat we use to call it terram but there are lots of different ones now has a double effect will allow you to run on the drive with out sinking as well.
quote:
Originally posted by Wheels244
quote:
Originally posted by Benzo
quote:
Originally posted by Wheels244
Just lay the membrane that you get from builders merchants.
And lay the pebbles on top. It allows water/rain to drain away but stops any light getting to the soil so stops anything growing.
Membranes are rubbish and waste of money as the gravel will just damage it, best just stock up on Gramoxone and keep it weed killed.
You may want to look in my back garden sometime then, it's been down nearly 4 years and I haven't had a single weed.
I don't do gardening.
Thought about using the plastic mouldings, filling with soil/grass seed and then mowing the drive occasionally?
[Edited on 14/4/13 by tegwin]
Prep is the key. chucking some gravel down will just be a nightmare to keep flat and tidy. Diy resin bonded gravel is a good option
The membrane is the most important bit as not only does it help control the weeds and stabilise the soil to prevent rutting it also stops the gravel and soil mixing. I would lay the membrane then at least 4" of scalpings or a similar material and cover with a thin layer of gravel. If the gravel is too thick you tend to bog down in it and tends to move around too much especially on a slope. A crushed stone of about 19mm is better than gravel as it does not move around as much as gravel and is large enough not to stick in the treads of your shoes and get everywhere and carry into the house & car etc.
I've done several gravel paths & driveways. As a few above have said the prep is very important. You need to dig down to remove top soil and
allow sufficient depth for a 3 - 4 inch layer of hardcore (type 1 MOT is ideal). This needs to be flattened and compacted using a wacker plate - you
can hire these quite cheaply. Once this is done simply add 2 inch of chosen gravel and all done. You might get a weed or two but these simply pull up
and you can easily treat with a strong path clear weed killer.
The membranes are rubbish in my opinion - ok for a small path but not a driveway.
Matt
You need a 3 tonne digger.. Dig down a foot, get 4" blue stone from the quarry, have it rolled In with a tandem roller, then put your gravel ontop.
I would say do the concrete.
Get a digger and driver in (you may want that anyway) and organise a grab lorry to remove what you have dug out. A grab lorry is approx 20 t0nnes, 3
times a skip and yet costs less than a single skip.
Then use some hardcore or whatever as a sub base, and if you don't want to mix the concrete yourself, there are plenty of companies who supply
concrete by the barrowful, mixed on site. I paid about £90+vat per m3 in an expensive part of the country. Tamping and levelling the concrete is a
doddle.
BTW for tool hire try Mammoth hire. Online but you pick up locally, I paid £10 for a cement mixer for 2 days, about 1/4 of the price charged by the shop I got it from......
+1 for compacted type 1
mines still doing well a year later and its being driven over daily by cars, vans, tractors, lorries.........
and all I've done is dig out the top soil, fill with type 1 (8" to 18" deep) and a little smaller stuff on the top (1" - 2"
deep) and lots and lots of compacting 
I used my mates old trench wacker, not the ideal tool, but it works quite well
I've got a semi-redundant driveway at my house that I'm planning to use those plastic/concrete planter thingys for - but rather than grass
I'll fill them with thyme and other low growing things that don't mind getting stood on (they shouldn't need cut as often as grass )
I simply dug down a few inches, laid membrane on what was left and poured in the gravel. Didn't have deep enough pockets to do anything else.
The visual result has been very much 'OK'.
The problems are:
1. Moles. These critters are destructive beyond belief. They've undermined just about eveything here, it's not a 'nuisance' -
it's a real issue. They will excavate through the membrane and on up, which causes weed, etc. They've tunnelled under the concrete sections
which have collapsed, hence my reversion to gravel (not having deep pockets). Mixing propane and oxygen isn't legal for the damn critters, but I
wish I could.
2. You simply CANT push a trailer over gravel. The whole driveway is now 'captive'.
quote:
Originally posted by tegwin
Thought about using the plastic mouldings, filling with soil/grass seed and then mowing the drive occasionally?
[Edited on 14/4/13 by tegwin]