West Sussex
Driveways in Horsham
Tarmac, tar and chip, block paved and gravel drives across RH12 and RH13, built on a base that suits the clay.
We lay driveways across Horsham and the villages around it. Which surface is right depends on the house and how you use the drive, but what decides whether it lasts is the same everywhere in this town, and it is underneath.
The clay is the whole problem
Horsham sits on Weald clay. It holds water, and it moves as it wets and dries through the year. A drive laid straight onto it with a thin scraping of stone will crack and settle in the wheel tracks, usually within two or three winters, and no amount of quality in the surface material will save it.
Getting it right means digging to a proper depth, getting the water away, and compacting the sub-base in layers rather than tipping it in and rolling the top. It costs a little more than the cheapest quote you will get and it is the entire difference between a drive that holds and one that does not.
Choosing the surface
Tarmac
Practical, quiet, easy to sweep and clear in winter. The least fuss for a drive in daily use.
Tar and chip
A sealed surface with a natural stone finish. It suits the older cottages and farmhouses around the villages where plain black would look wrong.
Block paving
Smart, and repairable in sections. It needs proper edge restraint or it spreads, and on clay it needs a serious base.
Gravel
Cheap and quick over a stabilising grid, and it drains, which on clay is a real point in its favour.
Where the water goes
A new drive should not push its rain onto the road or into next door. On clay a soakaway can be slow to work, so the answer here is more often a channel drain across the entrance or falling the drive to a border. We work that out at the quote rather than leaving you to discover it in November.
- Tarmac, tar and chip, block paving and gravel, so the surface suits the house
- Sub-base built to depth rather than laid straight onto soft ground
- Run-off dealt with properly instead of pushed onto the road
- Edges properly restrained so the drive holds its shape
- Site cleared and left tidy
Our work
Jobs near Horsham
Every photograph here is Laymac's own, taken on the job.
What people say
In their words, not ours
Farm track had been breaking up for years and we had patched it twice. They dug it out properly, sorted the drainage first and it has been through a winter now without moving.
Yard resurfaced around a working farm. They phased it so we could still get the milk lorry in and out every day, which nobody else quoting for it had even mentioned.
Came out, walked the drive with us and told us it did not need replacing, just dressing. Saved us a lot of money and they still turned up to do the smaller job properly.
Before you ring
Driveways in Horsham: common questions
Why is your quote higher than the one I have from a man who knocked on the door?
Almost always depth. On Horsham clay the base is the job, and a quote that skips it will always be cheaper and will not last. Ours sets out the layers in writing so you can compare properly rather than on the headline figure.
Do I need permission for a new drive?
Usually not, provided the surface is permeable or the water goes to a soakaway or border instead of running onto the road. A large sealed area draining to the highway is the case that can need consent, and we will flag it if yours looks like one.
How long will you be on site?
Most domestic drives here are a few days, depending on size, how much has to come out and whether drainage is going in. We give you a realistic figure with the quote.
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Get a straight answer today
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