Well mine actually. Going to get rid of some pesky lawn and tarmac an extra parking spot at our new house and would like some advice on

a) Any recommendations of who to use local to me (Darlington)

Check-a-trade pulls up this list. Any [cloud9] used any of them or anyone else that was good?

b) What questions to ask when getting a quote

How deep do they go?
What do they use for the base underneath?
How thick will the tarmac be?
Does their horse need a tether providing? etc

FWIW it's about 18 square metres and looks like this.

How deep do they go? Depends on the undelying ground but say around 225mm

What do they use for the base underneath? ~150mm of well compacted hardcore, preferably MoT type 1.

How thick will the tarmac be? around 75mm in 2 layers with a thinner coat of finer tarmac on top of a thicker binder layer.

Does their horse need a tether providing? Yes probably. Some polos too if you have them

Cheers that looks like b covered.

I didn't realise hosses liked polos. I'll get some in, haven't had one for years.

Have you thought of alternatives. I am going for a gravel retention system, there are a few I am pricing. They are interlocking rubber or plastic matts you lay over weed control fabric then spread gravel within.

They are stable, cheap and drainage is not an issue.

Also you may well find you need to get planning permission, you can't just tarmac over your grass as it affects drainage.

The main reason for the tarmac is that it would match the rest of it.

Hadn't really thought about planning permission, there's a couple of other houses the same style as ours on the estate who've already done similar. It's not going to hurt me to check with the council though.

Only if the driveway doesnt drain to a permeable surface to allow natural drainage.

however you may need consent from the council if you are changing your access across a pavement (not clear from the pictures if this applies or not)

No, the existing drop kerb would be used for the existing and the new bit.

should be fine then, just make sure the new drive section drains to the lawn and your good to go.

Nicked from cowboy builders on Five

[report][news]Thursday 5th February 2009quotequote all
I knew of some builders who may have been from the travelling fraternity that that installed a new tarmac drive with marble flecks embedded in it. The marble flecks melted in the rain (they turned out to be crushed up polo mints)

Beware

The problem with that logic is that the reduced area of lawn has to cope with the entire rainfall that previously fell on the larger grass area.

Great if you want a bog or a localised flood under your bay window.

Or create a soak away

Depending entirely on the what the lawn is like drainage wise to start with but yes that may be an issue. As Rob suggests you can put in a soakaway if this is an issue which just be a channel with gravel or something more involved depending on the ground conditions. Either way as long as it is allowed to drain naturally planning permission is not needed which was the point.

Block paving is a good option which is permeable and should be accepted by the LA.

I used to work with a guy who's girlfriend's dad (stay with me) was looking to tarmac his carriage-style drive. He got a few quotes in from reputable locals, and then a bunch of blokes rolled up and offered to do it for about a third of the cheapest quote. So they got the job and set about lovingly tarmac-ing the whole drive, and when they were done it looked great. Great job lads.

It never, ever set.

How overly dramatic!!

18 square metres hardly matters in the scheme of things. They've probably built 300 houses on a 150 acre green field site! If there are going to be flood or bog issues, they're going to be present already.

Having done something very similar in Block paving, you don't need planning permission.

Holy thread resurrection Batman!

A year and a half of procrastination later this is all done. To be fair it was more the case that we spent the spare rainy day money that was earmarked for this on something else last year. We just got tarmac done in the end as it matches what is already there. I would post a photo but it would be hard to tell from the photoshop above so I won't bother. Got 5 quotes and went with a company that had done similar for one our neighbours so we've seen work of theirs that's already lasted two years.

One company sounded like a bunch of cowboys but the other four were very professional and clear about we'd get get done. Thanks again for all the advice above as it was used it to make me sound like I vaguely knew what I was talking about. The general consensus was that the drive slopes forward into the garden away from the house so drainage would be fine without a soakaway. Massive variety in quotes with the most expensive being just over double the cheapest.

This lot if anyone wants a recommendation up in the North East. They can have a free plug from me as they did a very efficient and tidy job.