What Type Of Driveway For Your Home in Dublin?
Here we will try to show you the different types of driveways that you can have built for your home in County Dublin. The options range from standard driveways Dublin to more complicated driveways using Kilsaran paving or Tobermore paving.
We recommend visiting other driveways if you have a particular preference and speak to the owners of the driveway to ensure you know about the maintenance of it, the upkeep and if there was any issues with that particular type of driveway before you go ahead with it.
If you want paving Dublin or would like to read more about paving in Dublin, you can look at https://www.obriendriveways.ie/guides/1496/why-choose-paving-in-dublin/
Finding the right driveway for your home comes down to three factors.
- Type Of House
If it’s a large house, going with concrete will make it look rather bland and boring. Generally you will want to pick a driveway in Dublin that will stand out and bring some character to your home. - Budget
Ah, the dreaded budgetary options. Obviously, the driveway you want will cost money, however, driveways can vary hugely on budget depending if you choose concrete, gravel, tarmac or block paving in Dublin. - Water Flooding
If you have a driveway in Dublin that suffers from being constantly flooded with water or your driveway is located at a low water table area, your options are going to be restricted to a permeable driveway to ensure the water can drain away properly.
Now we know the 3 factors, let’s break down each of them and see if we can narrow down the options a bit more by going through them more thoroughly.
Driveways For Your House in Dublin
Any type of driveway is suitable for a home, however, we recommend choosing gravel, tarmac or block paving for your driveway especially on larger areas.
BLOCK PAVING
Driveway paving is a great option for any driveway. Its available in a range of patterns, colours and styles. It can be blended to suit any home. However, it is more expensive than the other options and on larger driveway paving projects in Dublin, it can become too expensive. For an average driveway size (space for 2 cars), it makes a great option. It is not too expensive, will provide great durability and will make any driveway stand out.
TARMAC
Tarmac driveways in Dublin are one of the oldest options that exist for driveways in Dublin. It is suitable for both larger and smaller driveways. On larger driveways, the tarmac should be laid with a barber green (it keeps the tarmac level) and machine rolled to ensure a solid finish. It is not quite as expensive as block paving but the colour and style is not variable.
GRAVEL
Gravel driveways are a great option for both small and large driveways. Suitable for any type of a house and very affordable. Range of colours and chip finishes are available with it as well. It is not as durable as either paving or tarmac and it will require regular maintenance especially on driveways that will involve cars turning.
Of course none of this matters if you have picked the wrong installer so make sure you get the right driveway company in Dublin to install the new driveway, patio or garden area for you in Dublin.
What Are The Prices in Comparison?
Well, the cheapest driveway option regardless of its size, is gravel. Followed by tar and chip (bitumen tar sprayed on with a gravel chip finish stuck to it), tarmac, asphalt and then block paving. This price difference only goes up on larger and larger areas. On a standard driveway size the price would be around 400 – 600 cheaper. On larger driveways that turns into 1000’s!
My Driveway Suffers From Flooding
Well, your only option is permeable. The two permeable options that currently exist are gravel driveways or permeable block paving. The latter is the same as standard paving but with a larger gap between the joints to allow water to drain faster.
The preparation for both of these is fairly similar. The key is the base to it. It requires significant depth to be dug out and two types of base installed.
The first is a rough porous base and the finishing base being Type 4. This should be at least 12 inches deep to guarantee the water can drain.