Mossy, Grassy driveway improvement question

[sidewinder79]

I've just moved house and my new home has an existing driveway which hasn't had some tlc for a long time. I got some quotes for redoing it but these are astronomical so I'd like to see whether I can have a go at improving it myself.

With this in mind I wondered whether anyone had any ideas how I could clean upthe grass, moss and algae that has grown through so that I can return it to how it should be. I've included a couple of pics. Also on a side note if anyone knows what sort of driveway has been laid that would be really good to know. Thanks

 

[Tigercubrider]

I'd water the whole thing with an aggressive weed killer. take care to not overspray the garden.
once the plant life is dead, you can look at what you have, be wary of pressure washing as it might blow everything off.

you might be able to use the drive as a base for gravel?

 

[sidewinder79]

I'd water the whole thing with an aggressive weed killer. take care to not overspray the garden.
once the plant life is dead, you can look at what you have, be wary of pressure washing as it might blow everything off.

you might be able to use the drive as a base for gravel?

Thank very miuch for replying. I will try that and see what happens. Do you think that a layer of gravel would work on this drive or would the gravel just get thrown aside?

 

[Tigercubrider]

Hard to say. Gravel always spreads and needs weeding/raking/ restoring but you're limited in choice

Gravel can be a good intruder detector as they don't like the noise

 

[sidewinder79]

Hard to say. Gravel always spreads and needs weeding/raking/ restoring but you're limited in choice

Gravel can be a good intruder detector as they don't like the noise

Absolutely and I'll need intruder detector at this house, apart from the alarm I'm putting in lol! I'll see what a layer of gravel how it does after I've sorted out the moss problem. There is already some gravel down but these seems to be at the sides, presumably pushed there over the years. Its just working out how deep I should go that's the problem. Since I was quoted £20000 to redo the drive i think I'll go for your suggestion first. thanks

 

[Tigercubrider]

Really deep gravel is a pain both to walk through and for the paper boy to cycle through !
Easier to add more than dump the excess

I'd use some edging to try to hold it in

 

[r896neo]

Simply weedkilling and putting gravel down on top will end up with a real mess. There is clearly many years of accumulated dirt and detritus gathered which is provided a nice bed for the grass and weeds. What you really need to do is scrape an inch off the surface with a digger and then add a little more sub base and recompact it all. The drive could sit like that for many years with no real problem or you could add a gravel surface of about 50mm depth on the top.

It shouldnt be too dear but then if you got quotes for £20000 im presuming its a couple of hundred square metres.