Almost every block paved drive that sinks, rocks or spreads apart fails for the same reason: not enough was done under the blocks. The surface is the part you see, but the sub-base is the part that decides how long it lasts.
Pure Lay Home Solutions lays block paving driveways, patios, paths and commercial hardstanding across Fleet, Hampshire, Pagham and West Sussex — excavated to the right depth, restrained at the edges and drained properly.
Proper excavation and Type 1 sub-base.
Itemised price after a site visit.
Permeable or drained, done to the rules.
Hampshire and West Sussex based.
Concrete block pavers are extremely tough. When a driveway sinks, rocks underfoot, sprouts weeds through every joint or creeps outwards at the edges, the blocks are almost never the problem. Three things underneath them usually are.
Blocks laid on a thin scrape of hardcore will settle under the weight of a car, especially over soft or clay ground. Ruts appear in the wheel tracks within a couple of winters and no amount of re-sanding brings the level back.
Block paving only works because every block is locked against its neighbours. Without a concrete-haunched kerb or edging holding the perimeter, the whole field slowly spreads, the joints open and the pattern loses its grip.
Water with no fall, no channel and no soakaway sits on the surface, washes jointing sand out of the joints and freezes in winter. That is what lifts blocks, feeds moss and pushes water towards your walls.
Get those three right and a block paved driveway will still be flat and tight decades later. That is where the majority of our time on site goes, long before the first block is laid.
Driveways, patios, paths and hardstanding for homes and businesses across Fleet, Hampshire, Pagham and West Sussex — new installations, replacements and repairs to existing paving.
We will come out, measure up, talk through blocks and patterns and put a fixed itemised price in writing. No pressure and no obligation.
Two driveways built to exactly the same specification can look completely different. The block you pick sets the character; the pattern you lay it in sets how the space reads and how strong it is under traffic.
For a driveway we normally recommend 45° or 90° herringbone. The interlock is what resists the twisting force of car tyres — stretcher bond and basketweave look lovely on a patio or path but move under vehicles.
Bring us a photo of a drive you like and we will tell you exactly what block and pattern it is, and what it would take to do the same at your property.
This is the part of the job that is buried by the end of the week and is the only reason the surface survives. We work to the standard domestic driveway build-up, and we will tell you on site if your ground needs more than that.
We dig out to depth — typically around 250mm below finished level for a domestic driveway — remove the old surface and any soft ground, and take the spoil away. Levels are set against the house so water runs away from the building, never towards it.
A geotextile membrane where the ground needs it, then compacted MOT Type 1 — around 150mm for cars, more for heavier use — laid and whacked down in layers rather than all at once, which is what stops settlement later.
Kerbs and edgings bedded and haunched in concrete around the whole perimeter first. Then a screeded laying course of sharp sand, about 30–40mm, ruled off flat and left uncompacted so the blocks bed in evenly.
Blocks laid to your chosen pattern, cuts made with a disc cutter rather than snapped, then the whole area vibrated in, brushed with kiln-dried sand and vibrated again until every joint is full.
Since 2008, if you pave over more than five square metres of your front garden with a surface that water cannot pass through, and the rainwater simply runs off onto the road, you need planning permission for it.
You do not need permission if the new surface is permeable, or if the water is directed to a lawn, a border or a soakaway within your own boundary. That is how the overwhelming majority of driveways are built — but it has to be designed in from the start, not added afterwards.
Purpose-made blocks with wider joints filled with angular grit, laid over an open-graded sub-base so rainwater drains straight through the surface and into the ground beneath.
A drainage channel across the threshold or along the low edge, collecting surface water and taking it to a soakaway rather than letting it run out onto the pavement.
The simplest option where the layout allows it — falls set so the drive sheds water into a lawn, planted border or gravel margin inside your own boundary.
We will tell you at survey stage which of these applies to your property, and the quote will say plainly how the water is being dealt with. If we think a job genuinely does need permission, we will say so rather than lay it and leave you with the problem.
Paving is a crowded trade and the quotes you get will vary wildly. Ours will not be the cheapest, because what makes the difference is under the surface and it costs money to do properly.
We are a paving and landscaping firm first. The excavation, levels and sub-base are done by our own team, not subbed out to whoever is free that week.
You get a written price that states the excavation depth, the sub-base, the blocks, the edgings and the drainage — so you can compare like with like.
Spoil taken away, the road and pavement swept, and your drive usable when we go. Neighbours notice how a paving crew behaves.
Based in Fleet and working across Hampshire and West Sussex. Our work sits on streets we drive down, which is the best quality control there is.
A selection of block paving, slab and driveway projects completed for homeowners across Hampshire and West Sussex.
It is priced per square metre, and the square metre rate depends on the block you choose, how much has to be dug out and carted away, how much edging and kerbing the shape needs, and what the drainage solution has to be.
Access matters too — a drive a machine can reach costs less to build than one that has to be barrowed through a side gate. We measure up and give you an itemised figure rather than a rate over the phone.
A typical domestic driveway runs to somewhere between three days and a week on site, depending on size, access and how much groundwork is involved. Patios and paths are usually quicker.
You can normally walk on the finished paving straight away and park on it within a day or so of the final compaction.
For most of the week, yes — once the drive is excavated it cannot be driven on. We will tell you exactly which days that covers so you can arrange parking, and we keep a safe walking route to your front door throughout.
Very little. Brush it, wash it down occasionally, and top up the kiln-dried sand in the joints every few years — that sand is what holds the interlock together. Weeds come from seed landing on top, not up from below, so keeping the joints full keeps them out.
Sealing is optional. It deepens the colour and makes oil easier to clean off, but it is a choice rather than a necessity.
Clear answers to the questions we are asked most often about driveways, paving materials and what the work actually involves.
A driveway built on a properly compacted sub-base with concrete-haunched edge restraints should give you twenty years or more of service, and individual blocks can be lifted and replaced at any point in that life without disturbing the rest. The failures you see on other drives after three or four winters are almost always a groundworks problem rather than a materials one.
We would not recommend it, and in most cases we will not do it. Laying on top of old tarmac or concrete raises the finished level — often above your damp proof course or door threshold — and you inherit whatever is wrong with the ground underneath. The old surface comes up and goes away.
Only if you are paving more than five square metres of front garden with an impermeable surface that drains straight onto the road. Use permeable paving, or direct the water to a soakaway or soft ground inside your boundary, and it falls under permitted development. A dropped kerb across the pavement is separate and does need council approval.
Permeable blocks are made with wider nibs so the joints stay open, and they are filled with angular grit rather than sand. Under them sits an open-graded stone sub-base with voids for water to sit in before it soaks away. It looks much the same from above but handles surface water without any channels or gullies.
Seeds blow onto the surface, settle in the joints and germinate in the sand — they are not coming up from the ground below through the sub-base. Keep the joints topped up with kiln-dried sand and there is nowhere for them to root, which is far more effective than weedkiller.
Usually yes, and it is a much smaller job than a full replacement. We lift the blocks over the dip, find out why it settled, rebuild the sub-base in that area and relay the same blocks. If the sinking is widespread, though, that normally points to the original build-up being too thin, and patching will only move the problem along.
Often, yes. Bring us a photo or keep a spare block and we will identify the range. Be aware that paving weathers, so new blocks of the same product will look brighter at first and tone in over a year or two. Where a match is not available we will suggest a deliberate contrast instead, which reads better than a near miss.
We work throughout Fleet and the surrounding Hampshire towns and villages, and across Pagham and West Sussex. If you are not sure whether you are in our area, give us a call and we will let you know straight away.
Book a free site visit and we will measure up, talk through blocks and patterns, sort out the drainage question and put a fixed itemised price in writing — across Fleet, Hampshire, Pagham and West Sussex.
Elvetham Bridge Unit 1, Fleet, GU51 1AE
Your trusted local specialists in driveways, patios, landscaping, roofing and guttering — quality workmanship and reliability from the ground up to the roofline, built to last.
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