Reducing your motoring costs with a driveway.

2010 was an expensive year for motorists with the average car owner forking out an extra £416 for increased fuel and insurance costs.

Young drivers were even worse off with an estimated extra £1000 to find and 2011 doesn't look like it's going to get any easier.

Believe it or not, one way you can reduce your costs is to have a driveway installed.

In 2010, an average motorist driving 10,000 miles a year in an average family car would have clocked up an extra £206 in fuel costs alone.

Add the average insurance premium increase of £210 and that means motorists spent a whopping £35 a month extra. And that figure doesn't even include depreciation or finance repayments.

And one insurance comparison website reckons 2011 has started just as badly. Petrol has risen 5% during January (already adding £90 to our 2011 petrol bills).

However, there are a number of things you can do to reduce your motoring costs - choosing a more economical car - a 40mpg car over 10,000 miles could save you £480 in fuel costs alone compared with a 30mpg car, choosing a car that with a lower road fund licence cost and of course shopping around for car insurance.

One step you could take to reduce your insurance premium is to have a driveway built so that your car is parked off-road. Again, savings will depend on insurer and the area you live in, but if you don't have a driveway, then it might be worth asking your insurer how much you'd save by parking on one or shopping around for other quotes and including a driveway in the quote details.

Remember though that you should never give false information (including where the car is kept) when actually taking out insurance as to do so could invalidate your insurance policy completely.

Having your own driveway will certainly make life a lot easier for you - imagine never having to trawl the streets looking for a parking space - being able to unload the grocery shopping without watching out for passing cars and of course, it makes washing and carrying out your own servicing a doodle too.

There has probably never been a larger selection of paving types, colours and patterns to choose from either. Nowadays, Impressed Concrete driveways are a lot more durable thanks to concrete additives and the latest crack reduction methods. You can pretty much have any pattern or colour that's available in block paving and then some. Impressed Concrete driveways are ideal for, but not restricted to, land with steep gradients.

If you prefer the look of real block paving, then again, there's a wide choice of blocks, colours and patterns available. You can choose a finish in keeping with your home, the period or the area or go for something completely different. Block paving doesn't suffer from the possibility of surface cracks and a good sealant will usually give many years of protection from oil and other spills.

Finally, tarmac and gravel drives are still very much in demand, although the level of surface preparation prior to laying the final top layer is pretty similar to Impressed concrete and Block pavers.

If you're thinking a new driveway or even a re-surface of an old driveway surface, you'll also be adding considerable value to your property (in the event that you decide to sell and move) and many homeowners choose a new driveway installation to incorporate new steps or pathways to their homes entrance doors.

If you've got a particularly small area available for a driveway, one way to get a better deal on your installation is to consider including rear paths and patio areas within the scheme. This gives installers the flexibility to offer greater discounts as they'll be ordering more blocks and materials etc for the job.

Paving Quoter lets you enter your own measurements so you can specify different areas and get a range of online quotes to compare costs with.

This article was originally published in our weekly homeowner newsletter dated 7th Feb 2011.

*Fuel spends based on 10000 miles per year and average of 30mpg = 333 gallons/year = 1512 litres. Petrol Prices from AA Fuel Price reports; Dec 2009 = 108.3p national average; Dec 2010 = 122.1p. Insurance information from Tiger.co.uk

photo credit: exfordy

Under the snow, what's happening to your driveway?

A layer of snow, a sharp frost, another layer of snow, another frost - it's been a familiar cycle this past week and you've only got to venture out onto the roads to see the effect of such extremes - potholes and broken surfaces everywhere.

Unfortunately, under the snow, the same thing will be happening to your old driveway surface as the weather works its way into and underneath crumbling surfaces and starts eroding and lifting your driveway.

What's happening is moisture gets through cracks, freezes and expands. Ready for the 'science bit'? There's a theory that ice acts like dry soil and attracts moisture from deeper down in the soil, which then joins the frozen moisture, freezes itself and creates even more upheaval and damage.

Worse still, many household insurance policies exclude such frost / weather damage to paving and driveway areas.

If your lucky, only a small patch may be affected but a speedy repair is essential to stop the cycle continuing as Winter progresses.

If a larger or group of several areas is affected, then there is really only one option - a complete re-surface.

Of course, this the opens the possibility of being able to choose a new surface - perhaps block pavers instead of plain concrete or an impressed concrete surface rather than the old tarmac you had previously.

And if you're going to re-surface, then it's the perfect time to incorporate any additional space, pathways or steps where previously you've had to cope with narrow openings, steep slopes or muddy lawns. A new driveway will also enhance the appearance of your home tremendously.

Driveway laying is an all year round activity with only the most serious of downpours halting work - usually at the point where impressed concrete is about to be laid. And with many paving companies offering some very good deals at the moment, now is definitely the time to consider replacing your old cracked driveway surface with something a little more sure under foot.

Paving Quoter lets you enter your own driveway dimensions, select from Block paving, Impresses concrete or tarmac, add additional features like raised flower beds or edging before calculating the price you could expect to pay for your driveway. You can try it as many times as you like - adjusting the size to incorporate paths or changing the surface used and of course, our instant online quoting service is completely free.

photo credit: mathieu plourde

Paving Savings - Small Driveways, Big Discounts

How you can get big discounts from paving companies, even when you only have a small driveway.

For paving companies, big jobs mean bigger discounts when buying raw materials – discounts that can be passed on to you, the customer.

From a paving company’s perspective, when it comes to the cost of a paving or driveway job, the larger the area, the more materials it’s going to need, hence a bigger discount when purchasing the raw materials and the saving that can be passed onto you the customer. The labour’s relatively fixed – x amount for x man hours the job requires.

Other factors may include the distance the installation team have to drive from their premises to carry out the installation and special accessibility issues on site.

If you only have a small area you want block paving or covering with impressed concrete or tarmac, you’ll have a harder time getting discounts from a paving installation company that doesn't have a lot of leeway with which to negotiate discounts or savings on raw materials unless buying large amounts.

One way around this is to offer the paving additional work on the property.

In the long run, whilst initially paying a little more, you’ll save money because of the higher costs of having paving work done in small chunks - assuming can get a paving company to come out and quote at all for paths and patios separately at all.

What about including the pathway up the side of your house in the paving project? You’ll also benefit from the closest possible match of materials and levels and avoid the possibility of disturbing previously laid projects, if you come back to increase them later on.

If you’ve got an existing patio or seating area - or you’d like one installed - then why not consider including that too? If your driveway is for one car only, then there’s a potential to add an area the size of a medium family car to the job, by getting a quote for paving the rear area as well.

Consider also, when having a larger area paved, that the installation company may be able to draw upon additional fitting teams so you may find you get the whole job done within the same time frame as a smaller job, which may have previously precluded a large workforce.

Other areas you may be able to negotiate a better overall job discount on include asking the paving company about landscaping of the area around the driveway, and building boundary walls or fences.

Finally – if you’re considering having your driveway re-laid, what about your neighbours? They may be thinking along similar lines. It can’t hurt to make a polite enquiry with them – if only to warn them in advance of the work you’re thinking of having done. If they’re in agreement, then perhaps the two households can negotiate a larger discount based on the collective size of the area that will want re-surfacing. This is especially effective where two properties share a central driveway area or access road.

The first stage in any home improvement project is to get an idea of cost. That’s where PavingQuoter can help. Enter a few simple measurements (don’t worry if they’re not exact) and our sophisticated quoting system will calculate a price, based on UK average prices, there and then for you.

Reduce Flood Damage With Permeable Driveways

Climate change and storm damage.

The Environment Agency has calculated that funding for better flood defences along our rivers and sea shores needs to be doubled to £1bn a year by 2035 if we are to avoid widespread flood damage to houses in Britain – a figure that has been difficult to get Governments and agencies to admit to in the past.

1 in 6 homes in England are already at risk from flooding, they say, whilst also warning that the effects of climate change could cause that that number to rise unless we invest heavily in improving our sea defences.

The normal cost of economic damage could be as much as £4bn a year if more is not done.

The warning came as climate impact projections predict every part of the UK was likely to receive up to 20% more rainfall in the Winter by 2080.

What Can You Do?

It can be difficult to figure out what you can do to help negate the effects of climate change, but we’re going to concentrate on one thing which will definitely help reduce the levels of flooding, and the damage caused, if these predictions turn out to be accurate: make sure your driveway and patio has proper drainage.

As more homes have replaced lawns with low-maintanance patios, our towns have become less able to deal with sudden downpours due to a lack of natural drainage. When this effect is added to rainfall increases, it isn’t hard to see that this could present problems.

In recent years, increasing awareness of surface water problems is leading to more and more ways to tackle the problem including using porous bricks and membranes which will still allow rain water to ‘soak through’ and drain away naturally.

Local planning authorities have brought in new regulations regarding surface water drainage in new driveways, but if your patio is more than just a couple of years old, it is quite likely to have been built before the new regulations came into force, and possibly to be part of the problem.

That’s why, if you’re thinking of having a new driveway laid, extending an existing driveway for additional family parking or just replacing an old surface, you should talk to your paving or driveway company about drainage and what your options are.

What’s more, the regulations only apply to newly built driveways, not to replacements, so if you're having a driveway replaced you need to be extra careful to ensure your supplier knows you want a permeable driveway.

By ensuring your driveway meets drainage standards, you could be helping to reduce the problems that climate change may bring in the future.

To get competitive quotes from up to 3 local approved paving companies to where you live, use Paving Quoter – get an instant online quote that we can back up (at your request) with a UK wide directory of approved installers.

Driveway legislation and surface drainage - don't get caught out

With the more recent developments in Driveway legislation - particularly regarding drainage of any new driveways etc, our previous article has proved very popular and we hope useful to those home owners thinking of having a new driveway or patio laid.

So in case you missed it, here's a link to the previous article that's generated so much interest.

http://www.home-improvement-blog.co.uk/2008/08/new-driveway-legislation-being.html

If your thinking of having a new driveway or replacing an old driveway surface, it's still important to get a range of quotes to enable you to compare finishes and prices.

PavingQuoter lets you type in your own measurements, select your preferred finish - block paving, impressed concrete or tarmac - and then calculates a price guide for you there and then.

If you like, you can then follow up that online quote by getting it confirmed by up to three local companies to you that offer that finish. They're all vetted and approved by us so you know we've removed the cowboy element before you start. They'll give you a written firm quotation that's valid for 6 months.

Best bit is it's all completely free for you to use! No catches, no strings attached.

Get your online driveway, path or patio quote now by visiting PavingQuoter. It only takes a few minutes but it could save you pounds.

New Driveway Legislation being introduced

New Driveway Legislation - How to… replace your driveway according to new legislation

With the average household in Britain currently owning two or more cars, it’s no surprise that we are constantly striving for that elusive extra parking space – in the garage, on the driveway, we even concrete over our front lawns to give us an extra space! Keeping the car off the road also significantly lowers insurance premiums, so most families make sure their driveway is as usable as possible. Homeowners in larger cities with unused off-road parking are even renting spaces out! This benefits both the homeowner – spaces can be rented for as much as £3500 per year – and the car-owner, who has the advantage of a guaranteed, safe parking space and cheaper car insurance!

Remember, you can get an instant online quote for your paving and driveway projects at PavingQuoter - click here.

Adapting your driveway at the moment is relatively easy – you don’t need planning permission, you can use whichever materials you like and you can concrete over the front lawn without any trouble. However that’s all about to change.

As of autumn this year, homeowners will require planning permission to replace their driveway or pave over the garden unless porous materials are used. This is all to combat the high flood risks which hit Britain last year – 55,000 homes flooded and, according to government figures, impermeable materials, such as concrete and tarmac, prevented the rain from soaking into the ground and exacerbated the problem. According to the London Assembly, London has already lost the equivalent of 22 Hyde Parks in “green space” as a result of people paving over their gardens. However if the necessity of extra parking really does outweigh your need for green, here are five top tips to replacing your driveway according to the new rules:

1) Gravel
Gravel is by far the cheapest porous material to use on your driveway or garden, and it’s also the one that best keeps your garden looking like a garden. Gravel costs as little as £2 per square metre and comes in many different colours depending on the quarry it’s from. Choose whichever colour you like best and lay the stones onto a permeable membrane to stop weeds going through. If you still want some planting in your garden, work out where your car will go and add “planting pockets” in the membrane. In these you can place hardy plants that will survive if you accidentally drive over them! Try things like bugle, creeping jenny and thyme. You could also try planting berry trees around the edge of your garden where hopefully you won’t crash into them! These are especially hardy and able to cope with the fumes and heat from your car, and will add instant colour. If you are feeling exceptionally green, you can even buy recycled gravel, which is a by-product of the ceramics industry.

2) Bricks
Brick-paving is still an option under the new driveway regulations, as long as you use permeable bricks. These are fitted in an interlocking style that allows rainwater to penetrate through the gaps in the brickwork and soak into the ground. Permeable bricks need to be laid by professionals and cost upwards of £15 per square metre. Brick paving arguably takes away the feel of a garden from your home, but you can add colour by placing pot plants around where your car will go. For pots, it’s easy to add colour all year round – plant things like petunias during the summer months and replace these with hardier plants such as pansies throughout the winter.

3) Recycled driveways
As well as recycled gravel, there are other “green” ways to replace your driveway. Cellular paving is made from hexagonal cells of recycled plastic which you fill with an aggregate, such as resin-bonded gravel or any other aggregate of your choice. The cells usually come in green, but there are other colours available at an extra cost. You can lay cellular paving yourself from £60 per square metre or getting it laid professionally will set you back £100 per square metre.

4) Keep the grass!
If you really do love your garden, but need that extra parking space, you can simply keep your front lawn and park on that. However if you don’t reinforce the grass first, you could end up with a quagmire in front of your house! There are solutions available to reinforce your lawn so that your car can drive on it with ease, without sinking and without ruining the grass. Grass reinforcement is made from plastic and is easy to lay, though you do have to take the grass up first! Then lay the reinforced plastic sheet underneath the lawn and you’ll be ready to park over it in a few hours. There are also concrete underlay options available, but these will obviously take longer to dry before they can be used! Plastic grass underlay costs from £17 per square metre.
If you do want to keep your existing grass and garden pretty much as it is, but still need the extra space for the car, you can lay paving slabs in strips where the wheels of your car will go. This makes a track in your lawn so that your car can be parked on it without leaving tyre marks! However you have to make sure you park precisely and that your wheels don’t leave the paving slabs.

5) Finishing touches
Even though you may think you have turned the front garden into a car park, there are still ways to keep it looking like a garden. As well as “planting pockets” in gravel and pot plants around the car, you can also add other touches to make sure you still have some plants and greenery. Try leaving “holes” in the paving, by leaving circular shapes unpaved. Fill the circles with soil and plant decorative trees or topiary in them – obviously making sure that they will not grow so big that they block the driveway or their roots will damage the paving! Choose small evergreens or topiary bushes that will remain miniature.

You could also build a pergola over the car so that it will stay hidden and your garden will still look pretty. To climb over the pergola, plant variegated ivy or beautiful florals such as honeysuckle, hydrangea, clematis or passion flower. If you don’t want to build a pergola, you could also consider putting a trellis up the front of the house and planting a climbing plant to grow up that. This way you are not missing out on some green in your garden!

If you are still not convinced by using a porous material on you driveway, consider that non-porous materials increase rainwater run-off by 50 per cent, which then has to flow into drains, which could overflow and flood. Non-porous materials also stop rain from soaking into the ground, which makes the ground dry and can cause subsidence. But don’t let this put you off having a driveway – off-street parking can add thousands to the value of your property and is a useful, safe space for your car. Just make sure you are sticking to the new laws and using porous driveway materials!

Don't forget, you can get an instant online quote for your paving and driveway projects at PavingQuoter - click here.

Patio Perfection

Patio Perfection.

With spring well and truly here, thoughts inevitably turn to preparing the garden for summer. Whether you dream of lazy days on a sun lounger, or having fun with friends around the barbeque, a patio can act as a transition area between house and garden, creating an area to entertain, dine and relax. A patio can provide you with an attractive outdoor space, and with some well chosen accessories, it’s also an extra 'room' that can be enjoyed all year round.

In these times of uncertainty in the housing market, it is worth considering that a stylish patio can increase a home's value above and beyond the price of the patio itself, and unlike many home improvement projects, there is usually no need for planning permission. Here are the five essential stages to getting the most out of your investment:

Remember our new quoter website Pavingquoter can help you find local quotes and paving companies.

And if you're just looking for a Patio awning, our new Awningquoter can give you an instant online quote, without a salesman having to call.

Stage One – Time to call in the professionals?
The first thing to consider is whether to employ the services of a professional. You have a number of options here. Many landscape contractors will design, project manage and install your new patio, making it a relatively stress-free process. However, if you have very strong ideas on the look you would like to create, you may want to design and manage the patio yourself and then get the professionals in to do all the hard work! Of course, if you are competent at DIY you may decide to complete it all yourself, from design through to completion. However, remember that patios can be tricky to get right and are often very hard work, so this is not a decision to take lightly.

If you do decide to use a landscape contractor, it's best to rely on recommendations from family and friends, or to identify local companies that have been approved by The British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI) or The Association of Professional Landscapers (APL) by using the search facilities on their websites. Try to get more than one quote (ideally three) for the work you want doing.

Stage Two – Making the best use of space
The obvious location for a patio is immediately outside the patio doors or the back door of the house. This way you have quick access to the kitchen when entertaining, and can easily keep an eye on children playing on the patio from the house. However, there are other considerations when deciding on the placement of your patio. Even if you're not a sun worshipper, it's a good idea to pick a sunny spot – after all, you can create shade, but you can't create sun. You could also consider using a spot that's sheltered from the wind, though it is always possible to create protection using shrubs, fencing, or perhaps a trellis screen.

You also need to think carefully about the size of your patio. What will you use the space for? If you're a fan of alfresco dining, think about how many people you want to be able to seat. As a minimum, a space of three metres square will allow enough space for a table and four chairs, while a bigger family or a couple who like to entertain will require a bigger space. However, be careful that your patio takes up no more than a quarter of your garden or it will dominate the space and make it appear smaller.

Stage Three – Choosing your materials
There are many materials to choose from when designing your patio, and there are several things to bear in mind. While gravel can be cheaper and easier to lay, furniture tends to sink into it and sit unevenly. While materials like brick, sandstone and slate are very attractive, they are also rather pricey, and non-porous materials can become very slippery when wet. Paving slabs are generally the most practical and affordable choice, and are now available in a whole range of colours and textures. It is a good idea to choose a colour that contrasts or complements the colour of the house, so if your house has light brickwork, choose dark materials for your patio and vice versa. However, when using light materials, do be mindful of glare. Also, darker slabs retain and radiate the heat of the day, creating a warm feeling well into the evening.

At this stage it is a good idea to consider which accessories will enhance the usability of this new space, so that you can work these into your budget. Your first purchase will inevitably be patio furniture, which is available in many different sizes, styles, shapes and materials.

There is also a wide range of patio heaters available, making your patio usable all year round. Fans of alfresco dining might like to invest in a state-of-the-art barbeque, while those who see their patio as a place to relax might like a water feature to be central to their design.

Stage Four – Preparing the ground
If you have decided to install the patio yourself, this part of the process is both the most important and the most difficult to get right. Many a patio has been ruined by uneven foundations! The first step is to mark out the area and remove turf, soil and stones to a depth of 15cm below the intended final height of the patio. Be aware that the level of the patio at the house wall must be at least 150mm below the damp proof course. This is usually visible as an extra wide line of mortar in the brickwork. Then put a layer of hardcore roughly seven centimetres deep, rake the entire area to ensure the material is evenly spread and use a wacker plate (these can be hired) to flatten out the area.

Next, use wooden pegs to mark the final height of the patio. Position several all over the patio site, using a spirit level to ensure they are all even. If you have chosen to build your patio next to the house, you must remember to include a slight gradient away from the building, so that rainwater runs off.

Stage Five – Installation and finishing off
Once the foundations are prepared you can lay your patio. Make a mortar mix of five parts building sand to one part cement. You could do the mixing in a wheelbarrow, but it's probably a good idea to hire a small cement mixer. Trowel five generous dabs of mortar on to the base and lay the first slab in place. If you have chosen to lay your patio up against the house, start against the wall. Tap the surface of the slab with a rubber mallet and check with a spirit level in both directions remembering to allow for the fall, using the string as a guide.

Continue to lay the remaining slabs in the same way, checking each slab with a spirit level as you go. Once you have laid several square metres, spread some mix on top and brush it into the joints. You may have to do this several times as the mix settles in. Laying a patio will take you several days, so with this in mind, at the end of each day wash down the slabs you've laid, making sure you remove any splattered mortar before it can harden and stain the paving. When the work is complete, you can sit back and admire a job well done!

Price Engines' new quoter website Pavingquoter can help you find local quotes and paving companies. And if you're just looking for a Patio awning, our new Awningquoter can give you an instant online awning quote, without a salesman having to call.

Impressed concrete driveways - why choose impressed concrete over block paving

Impressed concrete driveways – why choose impressed concrete over block paving

When you're considering getting your driveway, path or patio re-surfaced, many think of block paving – intricate designs of small blocks from cobblestone replica's to smoother natural stones in a variety of shades and textures.

However, before you go ahead, have you considered impresses concrete? Impressed concrete is a uniform layer of concrete laid over the area to be 'paved'. This concrete is then imprinted using a variety of different mould's to re-create the same patterns as found in traditional block paving.

After the pattern has been impressed, a coloured powder is added and smoothed in to give the finished colour.

One of the advantages of impressed concrete over block paving is its ability to take in awkward areas and slopes without the need for intricate cutting and steps, however, it should be noted that usually if a step is required for general foot traffic, then a step should still be considered.

You can still specify different colours – one for the edging, one for the middle etc and recognised companies will pay the same attention to the groundwork preparation as they would for block paving.

Costs are not to dissimilar and impressed concrete, like its block paving counterpart can be laid usually throughout the year with only the frostiest of nights slowing down installation.

So, before making your mind up, why not explore the possibility of Impressed Concrete? You can get a free, instant online quote for both at PavingQuoter.co.uk.