"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

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.

On 14 Apr 2007 16:03:51 -0700, Eddy Young
wrote:

In article , Huge says...

Yes.

Most of the big name DG firms are the same. Pressure selling, "drop" discounts
(sign now and get another 10%), grotesque over-pricing, useless installers
and a very average product.

Buy your DG from a small, local, privately owned firm recommended by
your neighbours.

Aha!

I also noticed that the classifieds in local papers seem to not be screened at
all, as many of the tradesmen listed in there do not inspire trust. Same in your
areas?

'Screened' by whom?


'Classifieds' are adverts, and are obviously submitted by the trader,
however good or bad (s)he is.

I observed some work being carried out by a local, private tradesman
for my next-door neighbour recently, and was very impressed by the
apparent quality of the work. If I wanted similar sort of work to be
carried out, I would ask my NDN for his opinion of the commercial as
well as the technical standard. In fact, NDN has told me that he seems
very happy with the work carried out.

--
Frank Erskine
Sunderland

In message , Eddy Young
writes
In article , Andy Hall says...

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.

This is exactly what was done to my driveway. The crumbling top layer
tarmac was
removed, weeds cleared (but no weedkiller sprayed, pumped in, or whatever), and
new tarmac spread, rolled on and compacted. The cowboys assured me the existing
sub-base would hold, but failed to add that weeds would keep growing through.

Strikes me that if the sub base is still sound (no cracks etc.) and if
it properly cleared and prepared then it ought to be possible just to
re-tarmac over it, but that is a couple of big ifs.

A good place for advice on this and other paving aspects is:

http://www.pavingexpert.com/

Run by Cormaic, who used to a be uk.d-i-y regular. Much as I dislike
web forums in general, the ones there are a good place for specific
paving etc. advice.
--
Chris French