Look beyond the damaged spot
Check nearby edges, drains, walls, covers and wheel paths. A dip or crack may be the first visible sign of movement that follows a trench, weak boundary or water route across a larger area.
Problem diagnosis
Common driveway & paving problems
Understand common causes of standing water, sunken blocks, cracked tarmac, loose patios, stains and leaning fencing.
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Problem diagnosis
Understand what the visible defect may be telling you
Use these guides to gather useful information before requesting a repair assessment.
Standing water on a driveway
Understand why puddles form, what should be inspected and which drainage or surface corrections may solve the problem.
Explore problem →Sunken and uneven block paving
Diagnose wheel-track settlement, dips beside channels and movement around covers or edges before relaying blocks.
Explore problem →Cracked or crumbling tarmac
Work out whether cracking is a local edge defect, base movement, drainage issue or general surface ageing.
Explore problem →Loose patio slabs and failed joints
Find the underlying reason slabs rock, joints crack or water sits before deciding whether to repoint or relay.
Explore problem →Weeds, moss and stains on paving
Choose cleaning, joint replacement and surface treatments that suit the paving rather than damaging it.
Explore problem →Leaning fences and failed posts
Assess storm damage, rotten post bases, loose foundations and boundary alignment before replacing panels or the whole run.
Explore problem →How to use this section
Observe the pattern before choosing a fix
A photograph of the whole area, details of when the issue occurs and information about previous work are more useful than a close-up alone.
Record weather and loading
Note whether the symptom changes after prolonged rain, frost, parking or heavy delivery vehicles. These patterns help distinguish drainage, support, material ageing and isolated impact damage.
Avoid masking the evidence
Do not seal an unexplained crack, fill a moving joint or pressure-wash unstable paving immediately before assessment. A quick cosmetic treatment can make the original cause harder to trace and may need removing again.
Choose the guide that most closely matches the first symptom, then follow its links to the relevant repair and prevention options. More than one issue can occur together—for example, settlement can create standing water, while water can accelerate joint loss and movement. The site assessment should therefore consider the connected defects as one system.
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