How to Maintain Gravel Driveways – and Keep Them Looking as Good as the Day They Were Laid

Whether you are considering gravel driveways for your home or have already taken the plunge and had one installed, you are probably interested in the best way to maintain the surface. It’s true that a gravel driveway typically needs less work than other drive surface materials to keep it looking good. But as with any area around the home, the key is to spend a little time on a regular basis to keep on top of maintenance. Then problems don’t have a chance to take hold, which can result in an unsightly appearance or reduced performance.

What Tools You Will Need

Investing in a few basic tools from the outset will make the job much easier. You will need:

• A small supply of extra gravel. Keep a bag or two of your chosen gravel type handy, so that you can use it to fill in any holes or gaps in the surface as soon as they appear.
• A scraper or a shovel. Ideally, you’ll have a box scraper for a larger driveway, a tool that has front and rear blades for digging into the surface and evening it out. For smaller driveways, a shovel can be used to do the same job.
• A rake. This is used to clear weeds and other debris like fallen leaves from the surface. Raking your driveway will also help level out the surface.

Weekly Maintenance for Best Results

As noted above, it’s a good idea to do just a little work on your driveway on a regular basis, rather than trying to tackle it once a year, which will make it much harder to clear. Once a week, if you have time, it pays to rake any debris, like leaves, twigs and rubbish that’s blown into your garden.

Ad Hoc Tasks

Keep an eye on the surface and if any holes or ruts appear, don’t just rake the existing gravel from elsewhere over them. This will just leave a thinner covering elsewhere and result in longer term damage in other areas. Use fresh gravel to fill in any emerging potholes to permanently eradicate the issue.

Your gravel driveway will be graded – in other words, the gravel will usually be thickest in depth towards the centre of the drive, and thinner round the edges. This allows water to run off and also helps prevent potholes. Maintain this grading to prevent longer term damage.

Once Every Couple of Years

No matter how much you rake, shovel and grade your driveway, those tiny stones will migrate over time and leave your surface depleted. To keep the look and performance of your surface, it’s best to add fresh gravel at two yearly intervals, or more frequently if that’s what is required.

All these issues are entirely natural through normal, day to day use of a gravel driveway and simply addressed. If you are interested in further information about the benefits and maintenance of gravel driveways in general, why not ask the experts at New Look Driveways SE Ltd?