The most inexpensive driveway you can build is made from decomposed granite. The stone is compacted with an emulsifier that dries into a hardened driveway surface. This kind of driveway stands up fairly well under normal household traffic.
If you want a nicer-looking driveway, consider a gray concrete driveway. The concrete is poured and creates a sold slab. A few tips: 1. Pour the driveway in sections no greater than 10 feet by 10 feet. Yes, your driveway will have “seams” in it, but larger slabs of concrete are more prone to cracking. The seams—called control joints or score joints—add a little bit of “breathing room” in case water gets under your driveway and causes it to expand in contract. Without the joints, the concrete will crack when the water expands because the ice won’t have anywhere to go but up through the surface.
An upgrade to poured concrete is the concrete paver. These brick-sized concrete squares lay in a sand mixer, which secures them into place without binding them. That construction technique allows the pavers room to expand and contract without cracking or flaking. And if one paver does get damaged, it’s easy to replace without digging up the whole driveway. Pavers also are more porous than poured concrete, so they allow some rainwater and overspray from your sprinklers to sink right through them and into the ground. This helps prevent puddling on the surface and eliminates most of the runoff into the street and sewers.
Finally, “permeable” pavers are your best choice for the environment. These square comes pre-drilled with holes—like lattices—that not only let water percolate through to the ground but allow grass to grow up through them. The holes create traction so they’re easy to drive over, even though grass is growing through them. Some manufacturers call this “drivable grass.” If grass is too hard to grow and maintain, fill the holes with sand, crushed granite or a drought-resistant ground cover.
