Choosing gravel for your driveway may be considered, by some at least, as a brave move. But while there are many problems associated with gravel, an innovative landscaping solution means those are now easily solved and homeowners can enjoy the significant benefits of laying a gravel driveway.
Here we explore the pros and cons of choosing gravel for your driveway.
The benefits of choosing a gravel driveway
The exterior of a property impacts significantly on its value, as well as the way in which it is perceived by those who have made it their home or are visiting it. It takes just ten seconds for potential buyers to decide whether they like a property, with a third basing their decision purely on a home’s exterior and refusing to venture inside if they are unimpressed. On the flip side, over half would buy a property based on a good-looking exterior, even if the interior required a lot of work, a survey by Barclays mortgages found.
Next to the exterior of the property itself, the driveway is the major feature dominating the outside space. The choice of surface finish is therefore crucial.
Gravel’s long association with historic and prestigious homes makes it the natural driveway surface finish for anyone owning such a property or wanting to create a grand entrance.
Gravel’s versatility makes it the ideal choice, complementing any and all property styles, from the country cottage to the modern development and everything in between. The many and varied sizes and colours provide a huge number of options to achieve the vision that homeowners and developers have for their properties.
Gravel also ticks many boxes on the less artistic level. As a permeable material, gravel allows the free flow of rainwater and run-off into the soil below, helping to fulfil SUDs regulations. Gravel’s eco-friendly credentials also beat concrete and asphalt, which both come with a CO2 cost that is damaging to the environment.
Common concerns about gravel driveways
While there are many benefits to a gravel driveway, many are put off this driveway surface finish for the problems that have long been associated with it. The most common criticism of gravel is its habit of migrating from where it was first installed to places where it is not wanted, such as into flower beds and borders, on to lawns and roads, and into homes themselves.
Its tendency to move around can cause bare patches to appear on driveways, as well as rutting and pitting, creating a messy and unkempt appearance, and the need to top up gravel in order to maintain a neat and tidy driveway.
The difficulties of pushing buggies and wheelchairs or riding bikes over gravel can be another drawback associated with this driveway surface finish.
The solution to gravel’s drawbacks
Overcoming the drawbacks of gravel to reap its many benefits is now possible by installing a specialist gravel grid retention system.
Gravelrings is a system of interlocking gravel grid tiles that provides a simple and effective way of creating a permeable gravel driveway that retains a long-lasting, consistent and stable surface. Created by Beauxfort, a company that develops distinctive landscape systems to enhance prestigious properties, Gravelrings gravel mats are designed to be laid onto a sub-base and overfilled with gravel, preventing the shifting and sinking of the aggregate, which is what causes the rutting and pitting associated with gravel.
Their integral mesh base prevents gravel from getting beneath the grids and also prevents silt build-up, making it difficult for weeds to grow. The circular cell design adds to the overall strength of the system to provide hidden stability to the surface of the driveway. All these factors together contribute to keeping the gravel on the driveway and providing a strong and stable surface that is easily walked and ridden over.
Installing the Gravelrings gravel retention system gives you all the benefits of a gravel driveway while tackling all of the problems commonly associated with this surface finish.
Achieve the perfect gravel driveway with the Beauxfort Gravelrings system. Check out our website www.beauxfort.com for more information about the Beauxfort landscape systems, design inspiration and to request a free sample, or talk to our friendly team about your project by contacting us on 0330 055 2599 or info@beauxfort.com.
