Driveways in Ferndown

Tired tarmac from the estate era. Ferndown filled out quickly through the late sixties and early seventies, a fifth of the town in those few years alone, and a lot of those houses came with a thin tarmac drive over very little.

When the binder has weathered out the surface goes grey and loose, then it ruts under a parked car and cracks at the edges where there was never an edge restraint at all. Where the base is sound we can overlay or take resin bound over the top. Where it is not, it comes out, the spoil leaves by grab lorry, and we dig to formation, lay a geotextile membrane where the ground is soft and build a compacted sub-base that will actually hold a car, with a haunched kerb or edging where there was never one.

Parking courts at the flats. Nearly a third of Ferndown is flats and retirement blocks, and their shared courts wear differently: the bays by the entrance go first, the bin store apron takes a hammering from the refuse lorry, and the falls are usually flat enough that water sits. We are happy to price these for a management company or a residents' association, in sections that can be done without shutting the whole court, and with the figures set out so leaseholders can read them. Where the cost triggers consultation, section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 is the process the managing agent has to follow.

Two houses in five here are bungalows, and rocking concrete flags on five spots of mortar are the standard find in the back garden. They come up, the base is rebuilt, and porcelain, sawn stone or riven natural stone goes down on a full mortar bed with a fall running away from the house and the joints pointed. For the back garden, see patios in Ferndown. On the block drives the jointing fails first, so a re-sand with kiln dried sand and a reset edge often does more than a full relay. The finished level stays clear of the damp proof course and the threshold, which on a bungalow is a much tighter margin than people expect.

Drainage is its own item, not an add-on. Ferndown is mostly sand that drains well, but some plots sit over a layer that holds water, so a channel drain at the garage door, a gully that has silted solid dug out and re-connected, a permeable build-up so the surface takes its own water, or a soakaway sized from a percolation test is the part that decides whether the rest of the work lasts, and whether a bay ponds and stains green every winter. Approved Document H is the standard it is designed against.

We will not give you a rate per square metre. The ground under a drive decides more of the cost than what goes on top.

Plot and access. A bungalow with a straight run to an integral garage, a detached house on a wide corner plot where a machine can manoeuvre, and a flat where every barrow has to cross a shared court and a side gate have little in common.

Breaking out. Old concrete or tarmac has to be broken up and carted off by the load. The sub base depth depends on the ground and on what will park there.

Water. Ferndown is mostly free draining sand, but some plots sit over a layer that holds water. There a soakaway may struggle, so permeable blocks, a slot drain run to an outfall, or a strip of planting to soak it up, might be needed. That design choice costs money, and Approved Document H governs where the water may go.

Edges and finish. Haunched edgings keep block paving from spreading. Blocks, resin bound and tarmac each price differently.

Parking courts. Phased work at the flats takes longer, and the managing agent may need a section 20 consultation first.

Before choosing, find out from each firm how deep the dig goes, what the sub base is, whether edgings get haunched, where rainwater ends up, and whether spoil removal is included.

We lay drives across Ferndown and out to West Parley, West Moors, Stapehill, Longham and Wimborne. Ferndown is 5.9 miles from our Boscombe base, and planning and building control there are Dorset Council's. The company is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, company number 15471719, registered in England and Wales. Before you book a visit in Ferndown, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Its owner is Thomas Hannen, who checks the levels and prices your drive himself. A verified Checkatrade customer marked us 10 out of 10. You pay nothing for his visit, and the written quote with each item shown is free.

Most repairs in Ferndown need no application at all. What decides whether a change to the outside of your house does is who the council is, whether a conservation area or a listing applies, and whether the place sits in a protected landscape.