On 2007-04-13 16:59:32 +0100, "Ian_m" said:

"Eddy Young" wrote in message
...
Hi,

A recent arrival to this country (5 years) and a first-time homeowner, I
let
myself be scammed by the tarmac cowboys (as later told by neighbours!)
Now, one
month after having it laid down, I can see weeds are starting to grow
through.

Should I have it re-tarmac'ed? Or, will I be better off trying to control
the
weeds? There are no stems yet, but I suspect these won't take too long.

The driveway is about 25 sq. metres. If I have it redone, how much should
I
expect to be quoted?

Incidentally, the weeds don't p*** me off as much as the realisation of
having
been had :-(

Watched a neighbour having his drive tarmacced, basically front of house and
drive down side not too sure of size but was £2500 (I think).

Three men dug down about 6-8inches or more, filling a skip to overloading
with excess soil 1st day. Timber posts (?) to verify all the levels adding a
strip drain as drive is on a light slope.

2nd day about 4 inches of scalpings (?), 2 men spent the day spreading and
flattening, lowering and edging with edging stobes the tiny bit of garden
left at front.

3rd day spreading tarmac, possibly two layers, leveling, cleaning up etc.
Didn't see the thicknes but probably 2inches or more.

An inordinate amount of tea (and biscuits) was consumed by the workers,
which clearly matched the amount of work done.

That was 8 years ago and looks fine, no sign of weeds or sink marks where
cars have passed over.

See
http://www.pavingexpert.com/tarmac01.htm

Exactly. The whole thing is dependent on having a good quality,
properly drained and properly compacted sub-base. I had part of
the drive replaced shortly before Christmas - an area of about 120m^2.
It had been tarmac and turned out to have been about 75mm on a
concrete base. The whole lot was ripped out using a mechanical
digger followed by some excavation. This was backfilled with
150-200mm of MOT type 1 or whatever the current name is for it now and
thoroughly compacted. I went for handmade bricks laid on a bed of
sand (didn't want tarmac again and don't like concrete blocks). These
were again laid and compacted. End result very pleasing.
Took over two weeks.

I have seen some people nearby having Paddy O'Tarmac jobs which have
consisted of the tarmac layer being removed and new stuff laid on the
concrete below. After a few months potholes and weeds, so goodness
knows what they did.