Driveways in Milford on Sea

Rebuilding a drive properly follows the same discipline as anywhere. The steps are: excavate to formation, a geotextile membrane over soft ground, a compacted sub-base at a depth that suits what parks on it, edge restraints haunched in concrete, then the surface. What changes at less than a kilometre from the water is the detail at the perimeter, because the wind gets at edges and open joints first and works inwards from them.

A quarter of the housing in Milford on Sea is flats, so a good share of the work is a communal court, not one household's drive: sunken bays where the refuse lorry turns, block paving spread because the edge restraint has gone, tired tarmac and a gully that silted up years ago. Worth knowing before you ring round, the court usually belongs to the freeholder and is managed out of the service charge, so the quickest route is finding out who manages it. We will still come and look and put what it needs in writing, so you have something to send them.

Choosing a surface this close to the sea. Porcelain is dense and takes very little water, so it stays cleaner and shrugs off staining better than a softer natural stone on an exposed terrace. Resin bound over a sound concrete or tarmac base gives a smooth surface with no loose stone to blow about. Block paving still earns its place where vehicles turn. Whatever goes down, we pick something with grip in the wet, never a polished finish that looks superb dry and is unusable in a shower.

Joints matter more in Milford on Sea than they do inland. Kiln dried sand blows and washes out of an exposed drive far quicker, and once the joints are empty the blocks start to move, so on the seaward side we use a stabilising jointing compound, or mortar joints on a patio, and we treat a re-sand as ordinary maintenance, because it will need doing. Gullies and channel drains fill with shingle and grit, so the falls have to be right and the gratings have to be the sort you can lift and clear by hand. We keep water off thresholds, take it to a permeable area or a soakaway inside the boundary, and clear the drainage as part of the job.

Terraces get low walls against the wind, even steps and a finished level clear of the damp proof course; for that work, see patios in Milford on Sea. Where an older house sits low and the ground outside has crept up over the years, we take the level back down and run a gravel margin along the wall instead of paving tight to it. Smaller work as well: lifting a sunken bay, replacing a cracked slab, repointing a patio, re-sanding a drive and clearing blocked gullies.

What you walk on is the smaller part of the bill. The layers beneath it, and the water, take the larger share.

Clay. Milford sits on clay that shrinks in summer and swells in winter. The sub-base has to be deep enough to spread the load across that movement, and water has to be steered away from the house footings, so drainage counts for more here than on sandy ground.

Drainage. You may need a permeable surface, a channel drain across the entrance, or a soakaway. Clay soaks water away slowly, so a permeable build designed to the BS 7533 guide, with storage in the stone beneath, is often the better answer.

Salt and shingle. Gullies near the front silt up with sand and grit, and the jointing sand has to be one that will not blow out of the joints in the wind.

Access. A wide front on a detached house is quick. A narrow entry means barrow work. A shared court behind flats comes with a freeholder and a service charge, which adds paperwork before a spade goes in.

Ask anyone else quoting: what depth of sub-base is going in? Where will the surface water go? Who removes the spoil?

We are based in Boscombe, 10.3 miles from Milford on Sea, and New Forest District Council is the authority for your drive. We also lay drives in Everton, Hordle, Keyhaven and Lymington. Your contract would be with Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. Before you book a visit in Milford on Sea, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

It is Thomas Hannen's firm, and Thomas paces out the drive and prices it himself. Our Checkatrade profile shows a verified customer's 10 out of 10. We do not charge for the site visit, and the written quote with each item listed is free too.

Most repairs in Milford on Sea 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.