How to Use Large Paving Slabs on your Driveway

Using large paving slabs outside the front of your property on your driveway so often conjures up the vision of a run down property, with some ropey old concrete slabs in the front garden in order to park an extra couple of cars where the lawn used to be. More often than not, the slabs were not designed to withold the weight of a car and having just been laid onto the soil, they are cracked and broken and overall, add absolutely nothing to the visual appeal of the property. 

Many a time, even with the best intentions to make an attractive feature of using large slabs in the front of a property, the paving is simply not suitable or thick enough for vehicular purposes. On occasion, the home owner is lucky and they have a contractor lay standard patio slabs on an extra thick 100mm wet mortar bed combined with an MOT sub layer of at least 150mm compacted and on these occasions, the paving has coped with its new intended purpose. However this is very much a gamble on behalf of both the homeowner and the contractor as the paving will not be guaranteed by the manufacturers for this use and if it all goes horribly wrong, then it can be a costly mistake. Even with the best laid paving, it's not uncommon for larger slabs to come unstuck and gradually start rocking and eventually break. 

So, how do you achieve the contemporary appearance of using large pavers at the front of your property knowing that the paving has been designed with this use in mind?

Well, several leading brands have recognised that lots of homeowners are looking for the contemporary appeal of larger profile paving on their driveway as they've now built a range of large slabs specifically for this purpose. Large paving slabs look good with modern style homes and not as fussy as the textured appearance of block paving, so with this in mind, the majority of ranges are very simple in design and some of the more specialised products are made to allow them to be laid straight onto sand. 

Here's a selection of the best large driveway slabs:

Natural Stone Driveway Paving

This stone at 50mm thickness is far thicker than domestic patio paving and therefore more robust for driveway use. Lay on 150mm compacted sub-base and a full wet mortar bed. 

Porcelain Driveway Paving

This paving is thicker than patio porcelain paving at 30mm thickness. Lay it the same as natural stone paving, i.e. 150mm MOT Type 1 sub base and then a wet mortar bed, but be sure to use a slurry primer on the back of the slabs to aid adhesion. Many products in this range also come in matching patio slabs and indoor tiles to ensure you have matching paving around your property. 

Concrete Backed Porcelain Driveway Paving

This paving is manufactured with a veneer of porcelain, usually at around 10mm thickness. This is bonded onto a concrete backing at around 50mm in thickness to give a sturdy and robust driveway paver that needs only to be laid on an MOT Type 1 and sand bed rather than a mortar base. Installation is therefore much quicker and similar to the techniques used when laying concrete block paving. 

This range of paving may be found here: https://www.pavingsuperstore.co.uk/paving-slabs/large-driveway-paving-slabs and please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have about laying large slabs on a driveway.