My new Driveway.

When I moved into my new old house 20 years ago the driveway needed to be replaced. It had been poured in 1949 when the house was renovated. At that time they added a bedroom, remodeled the bathroom and kitchen and added the garage. The driveway is short, only 10 feet, as it opens to the alley.

Well it was badly cracked and was worn down to the aggregate. I couldn't afford to do anything at the time. Good thing. I've since determined that there must be a small fault that runs slightly diagonally through my property. So it's a good thing I didn't just have a new slab poured as eventually it would have cracked too.

I looked into pavers a few years ago but the cost was almost $8,000 because no company would lay less than 400 sq feet and I only needed 232 sq ft. I also didn't like the company (Systems Paving in San Diego). So I put it off.

Then I saw this product on TV. And a few months ago my Mom and I were going to Home Depot and there was a brochure. They stocked the stuff. It's called Drivable Grass and in Southern California it's distributed by Soil Retention.. And some of the Home Depots are starting to carry it. It's a 2 ft x 2 ft grid of small concrete blocks connected by a rubber mesh so it is solid but flexible. Perfect just what I need. One grid square is $10.00. That's a lot cheaper than pavers.

It's listed as DIY but no way I can jackhammer up my driveway or even install the stuff. Each square is 45lb. So I found an installer.

It's done. Cost about $4,000. That's half what the pavers would have cost. I think it looks nice. It will look even nicer when there's some green in between. You can plant grass by I decided to try dicondra because I hate to mow. I've put a drip system out there on timers so it will be extremely low maintenance. I've already driven on it.

Take a look.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(formerVWdriver @ Jul 22 2007, 07:35 PM) [snapback]483325[/snapback]</div>

Well, it's $10.00 for 4 sq feet. I don't know what the cost is on pavers but I'll bet it's more.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hyo silver @ Jul 22 2007, 09:39 PM) [snapback]483387[/snapback]</div>

Sledgehammer. Yeah, I can see me out there with my two herniated discs breaking up the concrete. And what do I do with it after it's broken? Put a few pieces in the trash each week? And how to lay the new stuff. It's almost 50lbs. But other stuff I can do. I spent the day putting in some PVC and extending my sprinkler system to cover the driveway. It's in, on timers and I don't have to do anything except drive in and out of my garage. (I've also hung a ceiling fan and sweated copper pipe for a hot water line. I can do electrical but prefer plumbing.) I also lay tile and do drywall.

LOL. I *could* retire in 5-6 years. The plan is to get it all done so it's so low maintenance that I can rest during my retirement. I have a lot of needlepoint kits in the attic I'm waiting to do and I have a lot of afghan patterns just waiting to crochet. My sewing room closet is full of fabric waiting to be made into quilts. Of course I'd like to do a little yardwork but I don't want to have to spend hours a day every day maintaining it.

What's left?

Well, I still have to hang the new french door for the kitchen. The house gets painted (again) next week. That happens every 10 years. I'm having PV installed the week of Aug. 6. After the house gets painted the front fence iron gets powdercoated (to last a long time) and the front gets landscaped (again). I still have some planting to do in the back yard. After the garage is painted I plant to espalier fruit trees on that south facing side. I'll need to reconfigure the irrigation for that area when the trees go in. I have to replace the pump in my fountain. I have another small fountain I need to tile the inside of and get going again. I have a few planter beds still to do. I've decided on a climbing rose bush for the back corner with either blue agapanthus or a hydrangea. There are a number of places that need some hanging baskets. After the pergola gets painted I need to extend the drip irrigation system there. Then no more hand watering hanging baskets. That's why most of them are dead. (Except the geraniums.) I have an old lady yard. Roses. Geraniums. Fushcias. The inside is mostly done too. My microwave hood combo died so when that is replaced a new custom cabinet is going above the stove; shorter so the microwave can be hung higher and paint grade wood so I can paint it to match the rest of the kitchen. The only other thing I've really planned on is to put a closet system in the master bedroom closet. I've done the other two bedrooms (library and sewing room). I'm putting a nice Elfa system in my bedroom.

That's pretty much it. I am going to experiment with a sash trim kit for my library windows. The sash cords have broken and the windows are difficult to open. I can't remove the trim to get at the sash weights and their are no doors into the pocket. There is a new system with springs in the sashes. You have to trim and router the windows to fit. I'll be doing two windows this August. If it works out, I may do all of my windows. Or not. Depends. but those two windows are definitely getting done.

But what I'll be doing immediately after the door gets hung is to fix the furnace. There's a leak in the line between the control box and the pilot. The pilot got smaller and smaller and then went out. There was a faint smell of gas and now it's completely gone. That tells me the box shut off the gas when the pilot went out so the box is good. And the leak was between the box and the pilot because the pilot was starved for gas. So...I'll be crawling under the house....again.

And I guess I'll be crawling under the house one more time before I get too old to extend the phone line up into the TV cabinet so if I should ever want digital phone service through my cable company I'll be ready.

Have I mentioned I'm 52?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(huskers @ Jul 23 2007, 09:38 PM) [snapback]483904[/snapback]</div>

Yep. Likes it just fine.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ Jul 23 2007, 01:19 PM) [snapback]483664[/snapback]</div>

Check some of your local companies. We have one called RCP block and brick. They have a product called Turf-Blok. It's a big concrete block with holes in it. Looks sorta like Chex cereal or a Lego with holes. You can put anything in the holes.

Whether it's Drivable Grass or Turf-Blok anything can be put in the holes. It's nice to grow something. But if worse comes to worse, you can always fill the holes with gravel (of any color) or even artificial grass. I looked at one local installer but didn't even call them because they said they install Drivable Grass with artificial grass. I certainly didn't want to do that as the point was to grow something. However I will say I saw some awesome artificial grass samples at of all places my local gardening store. The stuff really looks real now. Of course putting a petroleum byproduct down sorta defeats the "green" purpose of the whole thing. Then again....you don't need to water or feed it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Devil's Advocate @ Jul 24 2007, 12:48 PM) [snapback]484209[/snapback]</div>

That looks sorta like the Turf-blok RCP has. I looked at that first. I didn't want to go that route because I need the flexibility. I am positive there is a small earthquake fault that goes right through the driveway, garage and house. If you connect the cracks in the driveway, garage slab, house and front sidewalk, they are almost a straight, slightly diagonal line. That's why I didn't want to use a more solid product. The steel reinforced part is going to make it really interesting to cut. The Driveable Grass was easy. I could do it with a brick chisel and hammer. Where the reinforcing was exposed I simply cut it with a pair of scissors.

I can see this being very nice to replace the pad in the back yard.