When it comes to driveways, there are many different types and styles to choose from. Most prefer a typical, rectangular-shaped asphalt driveway, but there are plenty of homeowners who prefer an alternative type of driveway.
Ribbon driveways, for instance, are popular for a variety of reasons. Ribbon driveways look much different than the typical driveway and they have a number of benefits that attract homeowners.
There are many variations of the ribbon driveway and you might prefer one type over another, so in case you’re interested in this style, let’s take an in-depth look at how to build a ribbon driveway.
Benefits of a Ribbon Driveway
When it comes to ribbon driveway pros and cons, there are plenty of pros but not many cons. For starters, they tend to cost less because they use less material. Though you can implement a grass/gravel ribbon driveway, even types with concrete or natural stone pavers tend to cost less because the middle of a fill-in ribbon driveway usually consists of gravel.
Only the tracks of a modern ribbon driveway where your tires are meant to drive are built with more durable and expensive materials like concrete, tiles, brick, natural stones, or another type of material. This drives the ribbon driveway cost down considerably in many cases, because the ribbon driveway width of the middle section is usually about 3-feet wide.
There’s also the stylistic diversity that comes with implementing this type of driveway. There are a ton of different ribbon driveway ideas to choose from, each with its own unique look. Some of these include a ribbon concrete driveway, a paver ribbon driveway, a brick ribbon driveway, and a double ribbon driveway.
Choosing a Style
The first step of building a DIY ribbon driveway is to pick your preferred style. You can choose from a variety of different materials, but the most popular types are grass/gravel, gravel/concrete, and gravel/tile.
Ribbon driveways are specifically designed to be permeable, which is why gravel is incorporated in almost every type of design. Grass/gravel is the least expensive option, but gravel/concrete and gravel/tile have a bit more stylistic diversity.
A grass/gravel ribbon driveway would be the quickest to install. Without pavers, you can complete your ribbon driveway DIY in a few hours or so. With stabilizing pavers included for the grass and/or concrete, it might take you a handful of hours. Either way, this type of ribbon driveway is a much faster install than other types.
A concrete ribbon driveway could take a day or two to complete because the concrete needs time to dry before it can be finished. Tile ribbon driveways also take a similar amount of time to install because of the labor involved in setting the tiles and grout.
Optimizing Your Ribbon Driveway for the Best Performance
If you want to build the sturdiest, most durable, permeable, and long-lasting ribbon driveway, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, if you want a planted center instead of a gravel center, you need to choose the proper ground cover. Low-growing plants like grass are the obvious choice, but you can also implement herbs, succulents, creeping phlox, ajuga, and/or vinca minor to change it up.
For gravel/concrete and gravel/tile ribbon driveways, you don’t necessarily need to stabilize the gravel in the middle with pavers because the borders of the tile and concrete keep the gravel in place pretty well. If you want to maximize the permeability of your ribbon driveway with gravel, stabilizing pavers are the solution.
Ribbon driveway pavers provide a perfect ratio of open space and gravel that allows water to effortlessly drain through them and into the ground. TRUEGRID permeable pavers, for instance, can handle a very heavy amount of rainfall without any threat of flooding.
If you want to know how to build a ribbon driveway to withstand almost any level of rainfall, TRUEGRID PRO LITE and TRUEGRID PRO PLUS pavers are both an excellent choice for a ribbon driveway with pavers.
The installation process for these pavers is very simple and requires only a basic excavation and a heavy roller to compact the subsurface gravel and press it into the surface of the pavers once they’ve been snapped into place.
Let TRUEGRID Help You Build the Ribbon Driveway of Your Dreams
Most ribbon driveways incorporate gravel, either in the tracks themselves or in the middle section. By using TRUEGRID pavers to stabilize your gravel, you can ensure that they possess a much higher level of permeability. For tracks made from gravel, TRUEGRID pavers will increase the lifespan of this part of your ribbon driveway to about 60 years, with almost no maintenance required.
If you want a ribbon driveway that will perform to the best of its capabilities while looking great and lasting decades, get in touch with a pavement professional at TRUEGRID today for a quote.
