Driveway design, driveway materials, patio design ideas, patio materials, fence design and materials

Here are some driveway and patio design ideas and materials tips. The best products aren't always the most expensive. Look at your neighbour's drives. Get some catalogues and walk around your local builders merchants for ideas. Let contractors give you prices for different materials so you can compare them.

Driveway design and driveway materials:

The popular options for driveway materials are block paving, tarmac/asphalt, pattern imprinted concrete, and standard pressed paving. The average driveway is approx. 50-60sq.M. and at this size block paving and concrete are the most expensive, then tarmac, closely followed by pressed paving. Tarmac can be cheaper from a company specialising in it, but usually its only cheaper for bigger driveways.

Block paving comes in a wide variety of colours, the most popular driveway design is standard (e.g. Driveline Brindle) blocks laid in a herringbone pattern (approx. £15 per sq.M. more than tarmac or pressed paving), or cobble style concrete blocks (e.g. Drivesett Tegula) laid in rows (approx. £25 more than tarmac or paving). Here are some block paved driveway design tips: these blocks are an attractive surface and suit most properties, but a very modern house might look best with the standard style, and most others will look best with cobble style. Bear in mid that there is a lot of cutting around the edges, sometimes blocks can be laid in a different pattern to lessen the cutting costs as pictured right. (For readers in the US, $1 is approximately equal to £0.65)

Tarmac is a very simple plain surface, it looks best on a driveway design with a row of block paving as a border. However it can be expensive for smaller driveways. Tarmac is good value on large drives, especially with a very attractive house and garden as it doesn't detract from the other features of the property. Driveway tips: Most companies will use hard stone tarmac as standard now, this is made with granite stone and keeps its colour, whereas the cheaper limestone based tarmac is the type that fades to grey very quickly. If you would like red tarmac get assurances about its quality as there are issues with it's strength, a long term written guarantee is absolutely a must with red tarmac!

Standard pressed paving is basic grey flags often laid with a scatter of pink/red ones too. It is a very simple surface but cheap and just as strong as any other option. The main problem is efflorescence, this effects all concrete products and is salts inside the concrete coming out. This happens in very small amounts on most other paving products, but is very common and ugly on standard pressed paving. It is thought this maybe due to the manufacturing process being rushed or the fact that these flags are pressed so are more dense. This varies from batch to batch so you maybe lucky and have a nice smooth coloured surface but you may also have very strong discolouration on these flags, it will eventually disappear leaving a smooth colour but this can take a year or more.

Other driveway design and driveway materials options include:

Imprinted concrete: This isn't as popular because of its relatively high price and fake looks, it is an excellent option though as it is easiest to clean and lasts just as long as any other surface. However a bad job will be very bad as any mistakes are very hard to fix, also if some needs to be dug up in the future (e.g. for fixing underground pipes) its can also be hard to repair.

Concrete patio paving isn't as strong as pressed paving but can be used on drives with an extra strong concrete foundation- this is a very expensive option and heavy use of cars on these flags will deteriorate their surface in time.

Natural stone paving is recommended on driveways- reclaimed yorkstone flags are very thick and provide an attractive surface but are very expensive and often slippery when wet. Cobbles are a very attractive option but the grout will always crack so its not the most practical option as they are very expensive too. Indian Stone is a very reasonably priced alternative (although it will still be on a par with cobble type block paving like Tegula), these cheap thin flags will need a very good concrete foundation, they look great but will need sealing to avoid tire marks. Indian Stone is the best choice from these other options.

Gravel is the cheapest surface and is excellent for a big driveway design, just bear in mind that its often hard to walk on especially in high heels, wheelie bins and prams are difficult to push over most types of gravel too (chippings will bind better than pea gravel but its still far from a solid surface). Even with a good weed control sheet under the gravel like the plantex weed control sheeting you will eventually have a weed problem with gravel.

Patio Design Ideas and Patio Materials:

Indian Stone is the best product for a patio. It is great value natural stone and very attractive, it is therefore hard wearing so power washing it is not going to ruin the surface or a sealant can be applied to protect it from dirt. This product is too expensive to buy from Marshalls as they need to keep it more expensive than their concrete products for them to prosper, and their stone is ethically mined. However it is still possible to buy ethical Indian Stone from other suppliers (e.g. Bradstone) for a fraction more than the standard prices. Only a third of Indian Stone imported to the UK is ethically mined but it's worth asking your paving contractor if he uses ethical stone or can provide a separate price for ethical stone if you care about such issues. This makes great patio design ideas.

Concrete paving is attractive and comes in lots of different styles and colours. If you have a particular colour scheme in mind then this is a good option, however it is often as expensive or more expensive than Indian Stone and will never last as long as a natural product.

Block paving collects moss in the joints, which isn't such a bother on a driveway but not great on a patio, it can also be very expensive as machinery usually can't be used for the required deeper excavation and patios are smaller areas so the labour intensive edges will bump the price up, as its the edges that take time to do with blocking.

Gravel and tarmac are ridiculous options for a patio. If you have an existing solid surface like plain conrete then decking is an option over the top of it. Its a cheap attractive option but I can't comment on how well it lasts and I have noticed it can be slippery too.

Fence design and fence materials:

Many companies combine fencing and surfacing, hence its inclusion on this site. Its worth avoiding designer panels- they cost too much to be worth it most of the time. Most people will go for wanelap or vertical board fencing- its basic and cheap. What most people don't know is that you can get these cheap panels treated just as well as the designer panels for approx. £1 a panel (although u may pay more due to them being special orders). Just ask your potential contractor for pressure treated or tanalised panels. These standard panels are dipped in rubbish to be honest- the colour will fade immediatley, having them treated properly will make them last much longer- 20 years+, and they will also keep their colour.

If you do want to go for the designer panels check out your local merchant such as Travis Perkins or Builder Centre as they often have special offers, or get a catalogue from a company like Forest Fencing. Don't buy wanelap or vertical board style panels from these types as they are rubbish- they just do good designer panels. I always stick to the basic panels from local suppliers- easy to get, solid and cheap and most contractors use these as standard. Vertical board looks best with modern houses and costs £10-£15 more per panel then wanelap which is more of a rustic look, wood posts look best but concrete will always last longer and of course be stronger.    

Some people assume walls will be cheap for boundaries- wrong! Don't even consider a wall except possibly across front of house, they cost 3-5 times the price of a fence, much more for a 6ft high one. Instead try adding trellis or having bow topped panels (only advisable with vertical board) for a more attractive fence. Don't worry too much about fencing- you can always plant a shrub in front of it or nail some trellis to a panel and grow a plant on it. Checklist for driveway design is here.