Sloping driveway towards house

[MLS11]

Hello!

So we’ve just purchased a new house which we are ecstatic with. To get the home we wanted we had to compromise on a few things one being we have a large driveway however it is sloped towards the house. (Come off the road to drive downwards and park in front of the house) I was wondering if any PH’ers have something similar with their home and what can be done to increase the accessibly whilst giving some curb appeal.

Any pictures or ideas would be super helpful.

Thanks!

[Mr.Chips]

My first house was like this. It was the third house in a terrace of four. It was no problem, except in the winter when the snow/ice meant that I couldn’t park at the bottom of the drive for fear of not being able to get to work. I eventually sold up and moved after 14 years because I couldn’t park my TVR at the bottom of the drive as it would catch the body work/rear splitter. The next door neighbour decided that his drive was too steep and so had it built up. It ended up looking like the take-off ramp on an aircraft carrier! It made his drive flatter, but restricted the number of vehicles he could park there.

[MitchT]

Mr.Chips said:

It was no problem, except in the winter when the snow/ice meant that I couldn’t park at the bottom of the drive for fear of not being able to get to work.

I'd find that useful. Too icy to get off the drive = probably too icy to drive to work without a significantly heightened risk of an accident.

[Antony Moxey]

Perhaps provide a picture of your front of house so we’ve got something to go on. My last two houses have had drives that slope down from the road, both had very different frontages and angles of drives.

[scot_aln]

Had ours redone and added a drainage channel as previously the drive sent any rainwater straight at the house. Not ideal. With a rwd car a bag of salt can be rather useful if you ever plan on getting off the drive. Had thought of what was suggested above and levelling but it'd never have looked right. It does however restrict very low or very long wheelbase cars.

[Baldchap]

scot_aln said:

With a rwd car a bag of salt can be rather useful if you ever plan on getting off the drive.

My advice is to fit the right tyres.

[Jamescrs]

I have a similar layout except mine runs downwards and all the way down the side of the house to a garage at the bottom, easily take 3 cars maybe 4 bumper to bumper but I never tried.

My main issue is as I come off the road it the pavement rises up slightly then the drop down my driveway creates a small pivot point. It’s problematic for low cars, I owned a Boxster for a while and had to put a board under it to get it off the driveway.
I’ve now fitted a couple of speed bump humps onto my drive to raise low cars at the back as they come on so they don’t catch.

It wouldn’t have put me off buying the house but it’s not ideal.

[WyrleyD]

We had a 1970's house with a sloping drive down to the double garage, the drive was concrete and breaking up and any time we had heavy rain the garage flooded. When constructed all there was was a groove along the concrete in front of the garage door into a small drain at one side, totally inadequate. We had the drive block paved and a proper Aco drain put in and a very deep soak-away in the grass lawn about 5 metres away, never had a problem after that.

[sospan]

As above. Our front was block paved and sloped towards the house. Stupid layout that shouldn't have been allowed by planning ( built in 1993) in my view. Last year we had it re-done but added an Aco drain to collect water and take to a drain. The only time there was a problem was when washing the area and a puddle formed just in front of the house until it drained naturally ( helped by me brushing the water towards a drain. The area was permeable to allow surface drainage with small, shallow puddles in heavy rain that drained anyway.
Now nothing at all in rain or washing.
A mate used to design roads for the council and his attitude was manage drainage properly.

[MLS11]

Thanks this is really helpful. Do you have any pictures to get a idea?