Homeless in Vancouver

Homeless in Vancouver: Best ways to make driveways

by Stanley Q. Woodvine on November 30th, 2013 at 11:06 AM
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      If I was having a house built, based on what I’ve seen over the last nine years, I would want my driveway to be made from paving blocks.

      Oh don’t scoff. Who sees more homes than a homeless binner? In the course of binning for returnable beverage containers in several Vancouver neighbourhhoods, I have not only seen a lot of different homes, but I’ve had the opportunity to see many of them for nine years. And I’ve noticed how they’ve held up over that time.

      Mind you, I have no experience building anything more complex than a sandwich. So consider what follows accordingly.

      Paving blocks are durable and really hold their looks

      Paving blocks, or bricks, or stones, or whatever you call them just stand out from everything else in the way they maintain their original appearance year-after-year.

      They handle gradual slopes and slight undulations quite well, and they appear to require no maintenance. Even when they’re neglected, as in the photo below, they look good.

      Stanley Q. Woodvine

      Concrete: homeowners get cracking by cutting corners?

      Thousands of driveways look like this. There must be a point where the cracking stops.
      Stanley Q. Woodvine
      Flawless old concrete driveway. The sloping leading edge has been deeply embossed to reduce cracking.
      Stanley Q. Woodvine
      Stanley Q. Woodvine

      Asphalt always looks so nice and smooth in the beginning but can looks particularly awful when it starts to crumble—which can happen surprisingly quickly.

      Stanley Q. Woodvine

      The City of Vancouver has experimented with patterning asphalt to look like cobblestones or paving blocks, and effect looks good and may even improve durability.

      The patterned asphalt shown here is at Ontario Street and 11th Avenue; I think it was done about three years ago. The embossing was done simply with thin pieces of wood and the whole thing was painted over with a sealant paint.

      It only handles pedestrian and bicycle traffic, but it’s still notable that it looks as good as the day it was made.

      Special mention: gravel and carpeting

      Stanley Q. Woodvine

      Gravel driveways are popular. They can maintain a very consistent appearance, but I expect they require regular grooming and topping up with fresh gravel–the stuff gets everywhere.

      This is weird and wonderful. One apartment building in Kitsilano “repaved” the crumbling parking lot behind their building with large chunks of carpet.

      The pieces were laid over top one another in a slightly haphazard fashion, but they completely covered the old surface. The building did this a long time ago—maybe eight years—and damned if it hasn’t worked.

      I think all the carpeting is overdue to be replaced but it’s still hanging in there. I can’t say it’s attractive—it’s not—but it’s been an eye-opener to see how durable it’s been

      Stanley Q. Woodvine is a homeless resident of Vancouver who has worked in the past as an illustrator, graphic designer, and writer.

      Comments

      1 Comments

      asphalt more expensive

      Nov 30, 2013 at 12:51pm

      I spoke to one of the contractors doing major renovations 3 doors up recently, and he told me that concrete is about 1/4 the cost of asphalt.

      This surprised me, considering the quality of the work done must've been more expensive than average.

      They'd done a concrete driveway and retaining wall.

      Gravel is good for water permeability, avoiding excessive run-off and replenishing the water table (not really an issue with how much rain we get). But it's a pain to shovel snow off of when that becomes necessary.

      I do like this blog - keep it up!

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