DIY driveway

[abcdabcd]

Ok, our drive consists of rockery stone/house bricks (not totally covering...very jigsaw puzzle!) which is on top of clay soil. It's also uneven.

We need to start a diy job this weekend as fed up of getting muddy feet and the car grounding!

What's our best course of action??

Thinking of levelling what's there first then laying some hardcore. Whacker plating this down then covering this then with decorative stone/gravel.

Do we need anything else under the hardcore??

All suggestions welcome!! As long as they're cheap!!

Lydia

[nonomaybe]

Sounds very "Heath Robinson".
If I read it correctly you will end up with the Drive rutting as now. Retaining the clay soil doesn't seem to be a particularly good idea.

[abcdabcd]

trouble is we're stuck with the clay soil.....unless we dig a few feet down. Would rather keep topping hardcore up....

[Clanad]

If, by bricks, you mean whole, unbroken house bricks, you could, fairly easily, do a paver type drive. If you need more bricks they are probably one of the least expensive paver blocks one can buy, at least here in the U.S.
The clay could be excavated by only 3 or 4 inches and then backfilled with a good quality sand. This, too, is inexpensive. Once the sand is in place it should be compacted with a motorized compactor (rented from your local DIY supply). Extra sand should be on hand to level any low spots. The bricks are then just layed in whatever pattern you choose. Additional sand is scattered on the finished drive and had swept over the surface to lock the pavers in place.
There's special plastic edging that's "L" shaped to hold the edges. Very nice looking and durable...

[The Builder]

....nono's quite right .... it would be a lot better to clear the top 12 inches or so IF it's spongey and waterlogged. The clay's OK as long as it's dry when you put in the hardcore.
If you're happy that what you have isn't too soft - then put down 50-100mm of quarry scalpings - that's 75mm to dust.
Roll it well - then a cheap finish maybe, of road planings - that's the crushed black stuff they scrape off the roads before re-surfacing. It looks almost as good as tarmac.
Google for local suppliers.
Good luck

[nonomaybe]

Is there not a material called hoggin used to give a firm sub-base when wetted and compacted. they use it here when building "temporary" logging roads- it actually seems to last forever until nature reclaims the long-unused ones.

[Nosha123]

Just bear in mind that the material you use must allow water to soak through it - otherwise you need planning permission. New laws came out end of last year.