Actual Street Paving Bricks/Using in Driveway

[2Lloyd]

I've got the good luck of having bricks that originally paved a nearby street, that is I've got four or five hundred square feet of them (8 1/2 by 3 1/2 inch side up, 4 inches deep). The previous owner of my home used them to cover the floor of the garage and an area in front of the garage.

I've got the bad luck of having 105 feet of unpaved driveway as I look ahead to shoveling snow for several months, my first months in Canandaigua, New York.

These are big beautiful bricks and I'll seek a permit from the city to incorporate them in a driveway design. I'm in an historic district, thus approval of anything exterior is required.

My idea for the first part of the driveway is to have it sufficiently wide to allow a car to park and another car to pass on to the garage. As it is we are blocked in by each visitor or by each other.

I imagine working the bricks into a simple pattern with concrete forming the greatest part of the surface. Perhaps I'll have concrete on either side of the brick. This concrete and brick mix may be only used until brick runs out then I may switch to asphalt for the remainder of the driveway.

Two questions:

What is an appropriate driveway width for the double wide length and for the remaining single wide length?

What should I provide for a base for the bricks?

thank you,

 

[ToolGuy]

It's a shame to have nice historic bricks hidden away in the garage and I'm glad to know you're pulling them out of there and letting them see daylight. To be honest, though, I doubt the district will approve of three different materials for the driveway. But then, it doesn't hurt to try, right? The bricks would also make a great patio or walkway.

I think 16' feet wide is the norm for 2 cars, but you could go as narrow as 14 as a tight sqeeze for larger cars.

The base for the pavers is the same for concrete and asphalt - a minimum of 4" compacted gravel on undisturbed or compacted soil. In other words, the driveway plot would be dug down a minimum of 8", and the filled with 4" of gravel. Every 2" the gravel would be tampped (compacted). However, the deeper the gravel the better. It's not uncommon to dig 12" and have 8" of compacted gravel.

By the way, it would be great if you could share some photos of the project so others can see how it's done, and so we can get a peek at those historic pavers.

 

[2Lloyd]

Well, I will post photographs.

I guess that it is just as easy as using the "insert image" icon, but I guess that I need to convert the photographs to small files.

I can do that. Or do I use the "Manage Attachments" under "Attach Files?"

I am thankful that previous owner took the initiative to save them, although he may have done so just to save money.

My walkway into the house is slate, so we may be dealing with concrete, asphalt, brick and slate .. four materials.

 

[ToolGuy]

concrete, asphalt, brick and slate .. four materials...

I think ecclectic is currently in vogue.

It would be great to see them.

I think to use the Insert Image icon the file has to be hosted somewhere on the web. If it's located on your computer, you might see it but nobody else will. You could upload them to http://www.flickr.com/ and link to them from there.

The attachment option is somewhat limited - if the file is .jpg format (not jpeg) then you can go up to 97 Kb.

Hope that helps.