I need a sustainable driveway material to ....

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Location
Gatley
avoid falling into a stream!

We're buying a new house which has a drive around 100ft long which has a steep gradient down to a stream, over a bridge and up to the road. Its currently tarmac-ed but in very poor shape.

Block paving looks very nice but is pricey and generally made from concrete, cobbles would be nice looking but pretty much lethal when wet. I have looked at various matting style solutions that are then infilled with gravel or turf but I'm very concerned about cycling over them on 700x23 road tyres.

Did look at various sustainable sites, but none of the options look much fun to cycle over on road tyres.

Any ideas?

P. S. didn't know if this went in commuting or know how, so gave up and went with cafe...
 

4F

Active member of Helmets Are Sh*t Lobby
Location
Suffolk.
Yes, walk to the road first
 

Globalti

Legendary Member
100 foot drive? Stream? Is it a stately home? Will you be building your own MTB test track in the grounds?

Why not nip over and ask on DIYnot.com? You'll get more sense out of them.
 

andyhunter

New Member
Location
northern ireland
what ever material you put down will be slippy when wet. the best solution is what you could do is have a full anti-slip drive way or part using a special material that is designed for footpaths at certain traffic lights or pedestrian crossings or on certain roads with steep ascends or descends.
You can get it as a paint, sheet or material(mixture of stuff that you lay down like concrete or tarmac). i have no idea what the material is but im sure google or a few local companies could sort you out. also you should consider a galvanized highways barrier to stop you from going into the stream ;).
 

dellzeqq

pre-talced and mighty
Location
SW2
if you think about sustainability in the widest sense then the top priority is to prevent water run-off in to the stream.

The second priority is to do as little as possible - in the sense that whatever you do will swallow huge amounts of energy embodied in the material, and expended while making the driveway.

I don't share your pessimism about 700x23 tyres. I ride off-road with 700x23 Conti GP4000 or 4seasons a lot, and I don't think I'm all that clever at it (as in crap), yet I stay upright. If the manufacturers of the mesh can direct you to a path that uses their product, why not give it a go before spending thousands on a less sustainable alternative?
 
OP
OP
amasidlover
Location
Gatley
OK - I feel a bit silly now, not actually having thought of just walking to the road... :bicycle:

Its not a stately home, a fairly modest 3 bed 1920s detached house in need of plenty of TLC. But I have to admit the sweeping drive and bridge over the stream is a fairly unusual feature!

I'm leaning towards the idea of permeable membrane/plastic matting/gravel in-fill as, like dellzeqq says, 700x23 tyres aren't _that_ bad off road - or I could just walk.

The next challenge is to find a supplier of bridges!!! But that's almost certainly a question for another forum...
 

rich p

ridiculous old lush
Location
Brighton
amasidlover said:
OK - I feel a bit silly now, not actually having thought of just walking to the road... :bicycle:

Its not a stately home, a fairly modest 3 bed 1920s detached house in need of plenty of TLC. But I have to admit the sweeping drive and bridge over the stream is a fairly unusual feature!

I'm leaning towards the idea of permeable membrane/plastic matting/gravel in-fill as, like dellzeqq says, 700x23 tyres aren't _that_ bad off road - or I could just walk.

The next challenge is to find a supplier of bridges!!! But that's almost certainly a question for another forum...

Obviously a bridge too far in Cafe, as John Terry may have said
 
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