Tarmac driveways in Macclesfield
In short
A tarmac drive laid in proper layers over a compacted stone base — a binder course and a wearing course, rolled hot, finished against a restrained edge. The thicknesses go in the quote, because depth and edges are the only two things that decide whether a tarmac drive lasts fifteen years or two.
Also called: Tarmac drive · New tarmac driveway · Blacktop driveway · Tarmacadam driveway
Signs you need this
- Wanting a seamless surface with no joints and no weeds
- A large area where cost per square metre matters
- A long or sloping drive where blocks would be expensive
- An existing tarmac drive that has come to the end of its life
- Preferring a quiet surface underfoot and under tyres
- A drive that may want overlaying rather than replacing later on
Tarmac is a good driveway surface with a bad reputation, and the reputation is entirely the fault of the way it is often laid rather than the material. Done properly it is seamless, quiet, quick to install, easy to repair, and comfortably the cheapest of the solid surfaces. It is what most of the roads in this country are made of, and roads take rather more punishment than a front drive.
A proper domestic tarmac drive is built in layers, and each has a job. The compacted crushed-stone sub-base carries the load and spreads it into the ground. The binder course — a coarser, stronger mix, typically around 50–60mm compacted — is the structural layer of the blacktop. The wearing course on top, usually 20–25mm of a finer mix, is the bit you see and the bit that keeps water out. A single layer trying to do all three jobs is the commonest fault in domestic tarmac.
The edge is the other half of the answer, because tarmac has to be compacted against something. Roll it up to thin air and the perimeter never reaches proper density, which is why so many tarmac drives crumble away at the edges from the first winter. Every free edge wants a kerb, a block edging, or a properly formed and supported haunch — set on concrete, with concrete behind it.
How it is compacted matters as much as what is laid. Tarmac has to be worked and rolled while it is still hot, which is why a job is planned around the delivery rather than the other way round, and why a wet, cold day is the wrong day. Under-rolled tarmac is porous, and porous tarmac lets water into the layers below — which is where every subsequent problem starts.
Tarmac is fully impermeable, and in a front garden that has a legal consequence. Since October 2008, laying more than five square metres of impermeable surface in a front garden has needed planning permission unless the water is directed to a permeable area within your boundary. In practice that usually means a channel drain to a soakaway, or falls to a border or lawn — designed in from the start, not added when a neighbour mentions it.
Then there is the doorstep problem, which this surface owns and which deserves to be stated plainly. The pattern is always the same: an unbooked knock, tarmac supposedly left over from a job nearby, a price good only today, cash preferred, and a crew who want to start straight away. Every part of that is a tell. Tarmac is bought hot by the tonne against a booked job and goes cold and unusable within hours — nobody has a spare load of it in the back of a tipper. And any contract you agree at your own door for more than £42 carries a statutory 14-day right to cancel that the trader must put in writing, which is exactly the piece of paper the pressure exists to avoid.
What the job covers
- Excavation to formation with the depth stated in the quote
- Geotextile membrane where the subgrade requires it
- Compacted crushed-stone sub-base laid in layers
- Edgings or kerbs bedded and haunched in concrete to every free edge
- Binder course and wearing course laid as separate layers
- Compaction with a roller while the material is still hot
- Drainage designed so the drive complies with the front-garden rule
- Thicknesses and layer make-up written into the quote
What it costs
We don't publish a price for this yet, because a number pulled out of the air is worse than no number at all — your contractor has to honour it. On driveways it would also be close to meaningless: the groundworks are usually the biggest single factor, and how deep the dig has to go varies enormously house to house. You'll get a firm price for your actual job when they ring you back, before any work starts. The quote itself is free and there's no obligation either way.
Common questions
How thick should a tarmac driveway be?
On a domestic drive, expect a binder course of around 50–60mm compacted plus a wearing course of 20–25mm, over a compacted stone sub-base — the whole build-up typically sitting 200–250mm above formation. A single thin layer of blacktop, however neat it looks on the day, has no structural depth in it. If a quote states a price per square metre and no thicknesses, ask for the thicknesses.
How long does a tarmac drive last?
Fifteen to twenty years is a fair expectation from a properly built one, and longer if it gets an overlay part-way through. What shortens it is nearly always thin layers, no edge restraint, poor compaction or standing water. What ends it is the base failing rather than the surface wearing out.
Somebody knocked offering tarmac left over from another job. Is that genuine?
No. Tarmac is delivered hot against a booked job and is unusable within hours of going cold — there is no such thing as a spare load being driven around a town looking for a home. The pressure to decide today exists because a doorstep contract over £42 legally carries a 14-day right to cancel that must be given to you in writing. Close the door and, if you want the work, get someone out to quote it properly.
Do I need planning permission for a tarmac drive?
In a front garden, yes if it is more than five square metres and the water is not directed somewhere permeable within your own property. Tarmac is impermeable, so it needs a drainage solution designed in — a channel to a soakaway, or falls to a lawn or border. Porous asphalt exists but is uncommon domestically. Rear gardens are not caught by the rule.
Need this doing in Macclesfield?
Tell us the job and it goes straight to our local contractor — one call back, usually the same day. Free quote, no obligation.