Heat Up Your Driveway
What would make your driveway special? The materials that are available can make your driveway functional and attractive. Regardless of what material you choose, you can also install a snowmelt system, which consists of installing tubes under your driveway. Heated water is then pumped through the tubes, which in turn heats up the driveway and melts away the snow. How is that for a functional driveway?
Common materials used to build driveways include brick, flagstone, cobblestone, interlocking pavers, concrete, asphalt and stone gravel. Although stone is economical, you will need to control the weeds and add gravel on a yearly basis. Asphalt is another less expensive choice, and it has less maintenance too. A sealer coat needs to be applied to asphalt every two to three years.
Although concrete seems like a plain option, it can be decorated with color and patterns. Interlocking pavers fit together and form a pattern, and some manufacturers offer a warranty. The most expensive materials are brick, flagstone and cobblestone, but they are durable and require occasional maintenance.
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Nicolas Mottet
Thank you for the post. I’m reading your blog on a regular basis and it turns out that my company manufactures these snow melting system for driveways. I wanted to add that driveway systems can also be electric (Not only hydronic). while these heated driveway options used to cost a lot of money, an electric system for a 50′ driveway can now be purchased for about $3,000 (with a timer control). Installation is additional. A more elaborate system with an automatic snow detector can cost about a thousand extra on top of that.
Cost of operation is a little high but pretty affordable because you only need to run your system for a few hours to melt the snow. Typical cost of operation is $1 to $4 per hour.
Hope this helps!
Nicolas
WarmlyYours
carol
Your driveway looks gorgeous, I would so happy if my came out as good as yours!