On 2007-07-18 21:30:13 +0100, "ARWadsworth"
said:


"Andy Hall" wrote in message ...
On 2007-07-18 18:33:43 +0100, "Sam Farrell" said:

My concrete driveway is still sound but looking its age . I was thinking of
getting someone to put a few inches of tarmac on it.

Is this acceptable or do I have to dig it all out etc ??

Sam

Yes you can

I had this situation for my drive from when the house was new - a
substantial concrete base of around 100-125mm on top of MOT type 1 and
then about 75mm of tarmac on top of that.

During its 20 year lifetime there was one small crack across part of
the width - probably settlement - and some indents where skip lorries
dropped their hydraulic rams directly on the surface rather than onto
timber as they had been asked to do in writing. That mistake cost
them several thousands of £s.

Other than that, it was certainly durable.

The problem for me is that it is a large drive and I just don't feel
that a large amount of tarmac is visually appealing at all. My
solution was to have the whole lot ripped up including the concrete and
replaced with handmade clay pavers.

If you are starting from sound concrete that looks tired and the area
is not too large, then I think that properly done tarmac is a good
proposition - as long as you can soften its visual impact with plants
and other features. It should be mechanically good for 15 years plus
as long as you don't run heavy lorries on it.

One option to visually break up a large tarmac driveway is a block
paving circle or square within it. It will depend upon the size and
shape of the drive.

Adam

The problem is then how to drain it. I looked at that kind of thing
and asked around quite a bit. With concrete underneath, when it
rains the sand effectively liquifies. So this would probably need
to be a rigid arrangement.