Find a Driveway Installer you can trust in Ballynahinch.

It’s up to you what size gravel you use for your driveway, but there are some guidelines that are worth following. If you go too small, your gravel will get displaced easily. But, if you go too big, you driveway might be quite tricky to walk on. Generally, it’s a good idea to go for a gravel size somewhere between 10-20mm.

There’s no doubt that weeds coming through your block paving can be unsightly and annoying. But, it’s relatively easy to get rid of weeds that are growing in the joints between your block paving. To start, pull out the larger weeds, and then you can use a pressure washer or firm bristled brush to remove the smaller weeds and debris from the joints in your block paving. It’s best to then refill the joints with additional sand to ensure your block paving remains level. Regularly brushing your block paving and treating with weed killer will help to prevent the weeds from reoccurring.

While many professionals will recommend a pressure washer to clean block paving, it’s possible to clean your paving without one – just scrub the affected areas with a firm bristled brush and use plenty of soap. Then, rinse off the area with clean water.

Oil stains on your concrete driveway can look obvious and unsightly. However, there are several different ways to remove them.

If you’ve only just spilled the oil, you can use a mixture of absorbent material, like sawdust, and solvent, like acetone or lacquer. Combine these, place them on the stain, cover and leave for about 24 hours. Then sweep up the mixture and rinse the area with water.

If you’ve got a small, older stain, you can use a detergent like baking soda, vinegar, washing up liquid or laundry detergent. Cover the stain with the detergent and leave for about 30 minutes. Then, add hot water and scrub the area and rinse. You might need to repeat this if necessary.

If it’s a larger, more stubborn stain, you might need to use a special degreaser. You can use this similarly to a detergent but make sure you follow the instruction on the bottle carefully.

Slab paving is a great material to use to create a sturdy shed base.

Start by measuring out the area where your shed is going to be. This needs to be the size of your shed, plus about 10-20cm extra each way. Mark it out with string and pegs, make sure it’s square, and dig it down to about 6cm deep.

Then create a sand and cement mixture and put a layer down, followed by your paving slabs. Make sure you start in one corner and use a rubber mallet and spirit level to make sure they’re as level as possible. Leave this to set and you’re ready to use your shed base.

Do you want to know the level of thickness a driveway concrete slab should be? Well, you are not alone! So many other home owners ask this question on a regular basis and reasonably so. In order to prevent cracks on your concrete over time, it’s crucial to ensure an even thickness across your driveway concrete. To determine the necessary thickness of your driveway concrete, there are some questions that must be answered. These includes:

• What’s the number of vehicles you expect to have on your driveway?

• Do you plan on parking heavy, industrial vehicles on it?

For a standard passenger vehicle driveway, you’d have a driveway spanning 8 to 9 feet in width as well as 15 to 18 feet for double width. The thickness for this type of driveway concrete is usually 4 inches of non-reinforced pavement. Ultimately, this enables you to park everyday family cars on it without having to worry about it cracking due to the car’s weight. Also in order to prevent cracks, it’s expected that the driveway should be sloped towards the street as this would make sure that there’s a run off of water especially for areas that experience lots of flooding. In addition, there’s also the need to install joints to prevent cracking. For the standard 4 inch thick driveway, these joints should be positioned about 10 feet apart.

Finally for parking heavy industrial vehicles, your concrete driveway is expected to be thicker in order to cope with the added weight. Typically, the concrete driveway will require a thickness of about 5 inches. The additional one inch may not sound much, but the fact is this can increase the load carrying capacity of the concrete driveway by up to 50 percent.

Moss growth on tarmac and asphalt is pretty common. This can make your driveway or outside area slippy and untidy, so it’s a good idea to get rid of it.

Start by using a stiff brush to dislodge as much moss as possible and clear it off your driveway. Then use a moss killer to kill any remaining moss. Make sure you follow the product instructions – some moss killers are best used on tarmac or asphalt that’s clean and damp, whilst others are better for dry surfaces.

To prevent further moss growth, it’s a good idea to reduce the amount of shade on your tarmac or asphalt as much as possible. This will help you keep it as warm and dry as possible, and reduce moss growth.

Pitting, also referred to as spalling is the event whereby “pits” or small holes start showing on the surface of your concrete driveway which makes it appear both worn and uneven. Concrete driveway pitting is a common but highly frustrating problem for most homeowners. You’ll see some concrete driveways that’ll only start to pit after a couple of years, but this is not true for all concrete driveways as others will start to show signs only after a couple of months. So how do you tackle this issue? Well, it’s relatively simple to tackle, however if you’re not confident or lack the necessary skills, we’d recommend you get in touch with a reliable professional who can guarantee the best results for help. In this guide, we’ll take you through the concrete driveway pitting repair process.

✓ Prepare the pits by cleaning the area, clearing out all debris and more. The small pits can be cleaned with a stiff brush while a sturdy broom will do a good job for larger pits.

✓ Make use of a hose to spray the concrete pits and flush out all remaining bits of waste.

✓ If you’re tackling series of small pits, simply use a caulking gun filled with pre-mixed epoxy and specially formulated for concrete to fill the pits. Clear off the excess eproxy ensuring that its level with the concrete surface. Once done, simply leave for at least 24 hours before the application of a concrete sealant to prevent the wear and tear of the new concrete.

✓ Chisel out a little concrete and clean with a pressure washer. Once done, apply a concrete resurfacing compound mixture into the holes and use a trowel to level off.

✓ Ensure that the repaired concrete driveway is protected from rain and foot traffic for at least 6 hours (or 24 hours for vehicles).