Tarmac Driveway Ideas: Edging, Borders and Details That Lift a Plain Drive
Updated: 3 days ago
The quickest way to make a tarmac drive look designed rather than just laid is the edge. A contrasting block or kerb border frames the black surface, holds the edge in place, and costs far less than changing the whole material. After that, the details that matter most are the entrance, the junction with the house, drainage, and what grows and glows around it.
Here are the ideas we come back to most often on drives around Wolverhampton.
1. A contrasting block border
A single row of blocks or setts around the edge is the classic finish for tarmac driveways. It is not only decoration: Pavingexpert says edgings or kerbs must be used on the free edges of a bitmac drive, because an unrestrained edge crumbles. A border does that job and gives the drive a clean outline.
Colour choice changes the feel. A light grey border keeps it crisp and modern. A warm red or brindle tone softens it. On one of our tarmac drives in Tettenhall, Terra blocks give a clean, contrasting border; on another in Wombourne, bracken-coloured blocks edge both the drive and the path.
2. A double or wider border
On a large drive, a single row can look thin. Two rows, or a wider band of setts, gives the border enough weight to read from the road. It also makes a natural place to change level or direction.
3. Setts or a band at the entrance
An apron of setts, or a contrasting band across the entrance where the drive meets the pavement, marks the boundary and makes the drive look finished from the street. Check with the council before changing anything on the public side of the boundary; the footway and dropped kerb belong to the highway authority.
4. Kerbs that do a job
Where the drive is higher than a lawn or border, a proper kerb holds the edge and stops soil washing onto the tarmac. Low-profile kerbs keep it subtle; bullnose or splayed kerbs soften the edge where wheels might clip it.
5. Coloured tarmac bands
A strip of red tarmac, or a red path running through a black drive, separates spaces without changing material. Our post on coloured tarmac explains how the colour is made and why some reds fade. Keep coloured areas simple: straight runs and clean joints look sharper than complicated shapes.
6. Hide the awkward bits
Most drives have something to tidy: the footings of a neighbour's wall, a step in level, a meter box. On our tarmac driveway in Compton, edged with a light grey block border, sleepers were installed to neatly hide the footings on the neighbouring wall.
7. A drainage channel as a feature
A linear channel drain across the drive by the garage or house is often needed anyway, because tarmac is impermeable. Choose a slot or a smart grating and line it up with the border, and it becomes part of the design rather than an afterthought.
8. Planting and a rain garden
In England, a new or replacement front drive over 5m² that is not permeable needs to drain onto a lawn, border or soakaway on your own land, or it needs planning permission. The gov.uk guidance on paving front gardens suggests rain gardens: a shallow planted area along the edge of the drive that collects run-off and lets it soak away. That turns a drainage requirement into planting space, and the green edge softens the tarmac.
9. Lighting
Low-level lights set into the border, or a few bollard lights along the edge, make the drive safer after dark and show off the edging at night. Plan cable routes before the drive is laid; running ducts under a new drive is easy, cutting into a finished one is not.
10. Security posts and gates
Fold-down security posts at the entrance protect cars and vans and give the drive a defined entrance. The Wombourne drive above was finished with security posts. Post sockets and gate footings are best set before the surface goes down.
11. Mix tarmac with another surface
Tarmac does not have to be the only material. A tarmac parking area with a pattern imprinted concrete or resin bound path to the door, or a decorative patio at the side, puts the money where people walk and look, and keeps the hard-working parking area in hard-wearing tarmac. Our pattern imprinted concrete driveways page shows the patterns and colours available for paths and patios.
What makes a tarmac drive look cheap?
No edging, so the tarmac fades into the soil in a ragged line.
Patchy levels, with puddles and dips that hold water and grit.
Bad joints at doorsteps and the pavement, with lumps and gaps.
A thin build that ruts and cracks within a few years.
Good-looking tarmac starts with what is underneath it. Our tarmac drives are dug out properly and laid on a compacted base, with the edges held by block or kerb edging.
Tarmac driveway ideas questions, answered
What is the best edging for a tarmac drive?
Concrete blocks, setts or kerbs laid on a concrete bed and haunched behind are the most common and the most durable. Timber edging rots and moves. The key is that the edge is fixed before the tarmac goes down.
Can you add edging to an existing tarmac drive?
Yes. The edge is cut back to sound material, the edging is laid on a concrete bed, and the gap is reinstated with tarmac and sealed.
Is there more than one type of tarmac to choose from?
Yes. Surface courses come in different stone sizes and mix types, from fine 6mm dense mixes to tougher SMA, and the types of tarmac change the texture more than the colour. All of them are bitumen-bound stone, as covered in what tarmac is made of.
Planning a new look?
Pete and the team have laid drives across Wolverhampton, the Black Country and south Staffordshire for over 25 years. Bring us a photo you like and we will show you how to get that look on your drive. Book a free quote.
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