Driveway Repairs
Sunken block lift-and-relay, tarmac patching, resin patch repair, edge re-haunching and drainage retro-fit, extend the life of your existing driveway for a fraction of replacement cost.
The Service
No filler, no jargon. What you're getting, why you'd want it, and what makes the difference between a good install and a bad one.
What it is
Driveway repairs cover targeted remedial work, lifting and re-laying sunken or rocking blocks, patching tarmac, repairing damaged resin sections, re-haunching failing edges, and retro-fitting drainage to driveways that were never properly drained.
Who it's for
Homeowners with structurally mostly-sound driveways that have developed localised problems, a sunken patch, a cracked tarmac corner, a section of failing edge. The right service when full replacement isn't justified.
When you need it
As soon as problems appear. Small driveway problems compound fast, one sunken block becomes ten, one tarmac crack becomes ten potholes, one failing edge becomes a creeping perimeter. Early repair is always cheaper than late.
Why it matters
Because the difference between a small repair and a full re-lay is usually a single season of inaction. We diagnose honestly, telling you whether your driveway is genuinely repairable or whether the underlying problems mean a repair would be throwing money at the symptom.
What Goes Wrong
We get called in to fix all four of these every month. None of them are accidents, they're predictable consequences of cutting the wrong corner.
One sunken section means the sub-base has failed locally, usually water ingress, sometimes tree roots, sometimes original poor compaction. Untreated, the failure radiates outward and joints in the surrounding paving start to fail.
Tarmac cracks let water in. Water freezes, expands, opens the crack further. By the second winter, a hairline crack is a pothole. By the third, it's a constellation of potholes.
Once perimeter edging starts moving, the failure pattern is predictable: edge blocks splay, the next course in starts rocking, then the row behind, and so on. Spotted at year one it's a one-day repair; left to year five it's half the driveway.
Resin repair is genuinely difficult, colour-matching weathered aggregate, getting the joint invisible, getting the cure right. Most 'resin repair' work we're called in to redo was done by a general builder, not a resin specialist.
Our Process
Site visit, identify the underlying cause (not just the symptom), check whether repair is genuinely the right answer. Written quote, including a straight assessment of whether the driveway is worth repairing.
Where there's an underlying cause, failed drainage, root intrusion, original poor sub-base, we address the cause before the cosmetic repair. Repair without root-cause fix is wasted money.
Block lift and relay onto a fresh bed; tarmac cut-out and hot-laid patch; resin patch repair with carefully matched aggregate; edge re-haunching with fresh concrete. The right technique for the surface and the failure mode.
Joints re-sanded; tarmac patches rolled and sealed; resin patches feathered to the existing surface; edges re-aligned to the perimeter. We work to make the repair as invisible as the surface allows.
Walk-through with the homeowner, written guarantee on the new work (1 year on workmanship), advice on preventative maintenance to extend the life of the surrounding driveway.
The Benefits
Targeted repair work typically costs 5–20% of full replacement. When the bones of the driveway are sound, repair is the better economic decision every time.
A correctly executed repair, with the underlying cause addressed, extends the life of the surrounding driveway by 5–10 years. Prevents the localised failure from spreading.
We'll tell you straight if your driveway needs replacing rather than repairing. We don't take on repair work that's going to fail again in two years, wastes your money and our reputation.
Block, tarmac and resin all need completely different repair techniques. Most general builders are competent at one of these; we work with all three every week.
Most domestic driveway repairs are completed in a single working day with no impact on vehicle access overnight. Larger repairs 2–3 days.
1-year workmanship guarantee in writing on all new repair work, the same as our new installations.
The Detail
Materials, methods, variations, and the small decisions that separate a 20-year driveway from a five-year one.
07910 030085Sunken block repair involves lifting the affected blocks with paving keys, identifying the cause of the local sub-base failure, addressing it (re-compacting MOT, fixing local drainage, removing a root cause), re-bedding on fresh sharp sand, re-laying the original blocks, and re-sanding the joints. Done correctly, the repaired section is indistinguishable from the surrounding paving within a few weeks.
Tarmac repair is more demanding than it looks. The damaged section is saw-cut to a clean rectangular edge (not chiselled out), excavated to sound base, primed with a bitumen tack coat, and patched with matching hot-laid tarmac compacted with a heavy roller. The patch is visible for one season then weathers in. Cold-laid 'pothole patch' material is repair material, it has its place for emergency winter patching, not permanent repair.
Resin repair is genuinely difficult. The original aggregate has weathered; new aggregate is fresh. Matching colour, gradation and surface finish is craftsmanship, we keep records of every job we install and can usually source matching aggregate from the original supplier. Repairs to driveways we didn't install need a careful sample and match exercise first.
Re-haunching a failing edge is the single highest-value driveway repair available. A one-day job at year five prevents a £6,000 re-lay at year eight. We catch and re-haunch failing edges as a routine part of any maintenance visit.
If your driveway has a failed sub-base across the whole area, if the falls are fundamentally wrong, if the original installation skipped the structural basics, repair is throwing money at a problem that needs proper replacement. We inspect honestly and tell you. We have walked away from repair quotes where the right answer was 'replace, not repair', the homeowner gets a straight assessment, every time.
FAQs
Still have a question? Pick up the phone.
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Where We Work
Durham-based, on the road across the region every week.
Free site survey. Written estimate. No pressure, ever.
Backed by 20+ years' experience and a 1-year workmanship guarantee in writing.
