Gone are the days when we downplayed the design of the driveways while beautifying our property.More elegantly designed driveways with matching materials make an amazing transformation to your property.
You will be spending some money on maintenance of your driveway. So this time, invest wisely by using the right material, color, and design to make your home radiate with brilliance and beauty.
Check Out the Options That Are Now Available To Make a Great Driveway
- Grave: Gravel is 2 to 3 cm sized rock pieces, and is one of the cheapest alternatives. You can get gravel of different colors depending on the rocks available near your locality. They are usually available in ash color but some are even off whites. These are used to pave driveways of oversized lawns or properties. The job is easily done by having the driveway borders reinforced with concrete, bricks or any other material that suits the landscape. Since gravel would sink into the ground after some months of vehicular traffic over it, you need to either harden the earth by bedding with a layer of mortar or go for a cement concrete base. This will prevent the gravel from sinking into the ground. Gravel is used in places where you have long driveways and time taken to construct a driveway with other materials is more. Gravel has the drawback of being soiled by tree leaves if the driveway has many trees near it. It also tends to pile up to the sides as the car tires makes way through the gravel, which you are restored by leveling them with a plank once in two weeks or so. One point to note is to allow the side bolsters made of materials that allow rain water to flow out, to prevent water logging the drive way. You must also ensure that the landscaping is done such that water does not seep into the drive way from other areas during rain. Gravel is not suitable in places where there is heavy snowfall.
- Concrete: Concrete is the next most cheapest material for making drive ways, tried and tested also. This is because concrete is the most durable and almost maintenance free. Fortunately, we now have a variety of value additions that can be done to concrete. It can be laid in many designs using templates, numerous designs of which are available with professionals who undertake laying concrete driveways. These designs, different texture materials, colors provide a wide range of choices before you. The latest trend is to use decorative concrete surfacing and sealing. In this technique, concrete surface is designed with custom designs and a final coat of resin sealant is applied. The sealant ensure the finish of the decorated coating remains restored and intact for a few years and all you need is re-coat with sealants after a few years. Pervious concrete on the other hand is a special type of concrete that has high porosity and allows water to pass directly through them reducing runoff helping recharge ground water. Multiple colors can be used to create great designs on driveways with Pervious concrete.
- Paver: Pavers are mostly small slabs of stones or tiles that are laid on a bedding. These can be done in various designs with the same material and color or with two contrasting colors as in a wide variety of designs. Other materials that can be used to pave are flagstone, cobblestone, and bricks. Each material has its own beauty and appeal. They give a rustic look to your property. These are used for average sized driveways and do not suit small or very large ones. The cost per square feet is higher, but will last for 30 to 40 years. Interlocked pavers are another very strong and durable option. These pavers come in various colors. You can either use a single color or two contrasting colors to improve the aesthetics of your driveway. These are also permeable and do not allow water logging.
- Basalt Tiles: Basalt is an igneous rock that can be shaped into small slabs or tiles. They mostly come in dark shades like gray or black. These can be laid with enough gap between the slabs which can be filled with different materials including grass or white cement to transform the looks of your drive way.
- Crushed Shell: Natural crushed shells are eco-friendly and are byproducts, usually filtered out of construction sand. We mostly get shells of oysters, scallop, and clam. These come in a variety of colors. You can either separate the mix and use any specific color or make a design that uses all colors to make the most of the shells. These can be laid with white cement to get a brighter and stronger driveway. The looks can also be changed by thickly or thinly distributing the crushed shells.
- Asphalt: Asphalt is one of the most versatile and durable options. Asphalt withstands heat as well as cold climates better than concrete. It is easier to lay asphalt and need a re-seal once in five years.
- Grass: Grass can be laid in geometric designs. There are many companies that offer “grid” technologies that allows traffic over the grass yet protect the roots from being crushed. There is nothing that is as eco-friendly and permeable as grass. Grass can be used to fill space between pavers. You can also use different shades of grass to make designs on your driveway too.
- Recycled: This is one of the cheapest materials. You can use discarded or excess construction materials like bricks, marble, granite, tiles, stones, and other pavement materials to make some pattern or design in such a way that the final picture looks every appealing. These drive ways have a very earthy feel to it and is very low on maintenance. These can be fixed in place using white cement or other types of colored concrete to improve its looks.
This is also suitable for long drive ways where you want to retain greenery as well do not want any water logging. In this method, you lay any of the above materials in two tracks which is wide enough to accommodate the width of most cars. The gap between can be layered with grass. This saves you a lot on material, though you may not save much on labor. As with pavers, these tracks also need a good bedding before laying the driveway material.
April 27, 2017