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Can You Widen Your Driveway Entrance? (Answered)

A driveway is considered the most important part of a home because it is the place where you start or end your daily journey. But with the lifestyle change, there should be some change in these parts too. In today’s article, we will be discussing widening the driveway entrance. 

Can you widen your driveway entrance?  

It is important to widen your driveway entrance to accommodate your daily lifestyle. However, widening the driveway entrance of your house can expand your driveway several feet as well. This will create more space for your driveway as well as add curb appeal and increase the land value. 

The driveway is an essential part of your house that you need to visit every day. When you take off from your house for work and come back home. Generally, a driveway also increases the beauty of your home. 

But due to a change of lifestyle, the cars visiting your home may increase and you might need to move your car every time someone visits your home. This could be a matter of trouble for you. 

That is why you can widen the driveway of your house to make space for more cars to fit in the driveway. There are several benefits of widening the driveway of your house. 

Firstly, you can widen the driveway by several feet to add room for more cars to fit in the driveway. This will also make the frontal side of your house more spacious. 

Creating additional space in front of your home by widening the driveway will also add curb appeal and increase your land value. 

The main reason to widen the driveway is to make space for more cars to fit in the driveway and reduce the pressure of traffic inside it. People don’t like to move their cars over and over again whenever someone has to leave. 

To do this you need to widen the driveway space to park the cars in an organized manner and get out of the house without any hassle to move the car. 

Due to the multi-generational lifestyle, people are having more members in their family, and that causes them to have more cars. 

If you consider an average card that is 7 feet wide and 15 feet long, the driveway for two cars should be between 16 to 18 feet 9 feet wide.

Do you need a permit to widen the driveway? 

Generally, it doesn’t require any permission to widen your driveway because you’re widening the driveway inside your land. You can widen or manage the driveway depending on your choice. 

However, you need to make sure that you follow the government regulations when widening the driveway. You need to make sure that you do not harm the movement of other people by widening the driveway.

Unplanned driveways can ruin the beauty of your home. Therefore, it is necessary to plan properly before doing so. 

When you decide to widen the driveway, you need to make sure that you make spaces for other cars to fit inside your house. In some cases, you may need permission to widen the driveway.

If you extend your driveway to the public road, or it alters the sideways gutters, curbs, or any type of government land, you may need to take permission from the government authority regarding the widening of the driveway.

Can you widen your driveway without a permit?  

It depends on your driveway expansion. In general, you do not need any permission from the authorities regarding the widening of the driveway

Since you’re widening the driveway that is inside your land, you do not need to get permission from anyone. 

But if your driveway extends into a government area, which includes roads, sidewalks, gutters, curbs, and other parts, you may need to ask for permission to widen your driveway and extend them into the public zones. 

In addition to that, you need to make sure that you do not harm anyone’s movement when extending the driveway. Most people love to do a concrete driveway extension which usually connects with the public road. 

That is why it is better to widen the driveway within your land area to prevent anyone from charging you for entering the government area for extending the driveway.

3 things to consider while widening driveway entrance  

The task of making a driveway extension may seem easy, but it is not easy. There is a lot of caution and calculation behind this. There are a few things you must consider when making a driveway extension. 

First, you need to make sure that your extensions do not interfere with the movement of others. At the same time, you need to keep in mind what kind of material you are using, how strong the structure is, and how much space you want to make for the car.

Here are some tips to help you build a beautiful and comfortable driveway:

Materials you are using: 

It is important to consider the materials are using the extension of the driveway because this will make your driving lot smoother. 

This part interferes with the paving, so you can try using block paving which is molded concrete blocks. 

You can also use loose materials such as gravel or pebbles, which has a good value, an ecologically friendly option to use in the driveway.

Overall cost: 

Depending on materials, the overall cost of extending the driveway may vary. Generally, concrete is considered an affordable option for a longer lifetime. 

You can also consider using paver or asphalt. Using a different type of materials will cost differently.

Extension size: 

When widening the driveway, you need to make sure that you use the proper dimension that will be able to fit more cars in your driveway. It is recommended to extend the driveway at least 10 to 12 feet to fit an average-sized car in it. 

Depending on the space you have inside your home, you can increase the length and width of the extension.

Does widening the driveway entrance increase value of your house?  

Widening the driveway entrance increases the value of your house. People tend to give more value to the places which have more facilities. 

So, if you are allowing more than one car to fit inside your driveway, that will keep you a step ahead from the other house. In addition to that, using high-quality pavement materials for your driveway will also increase the value of your home.

It will simply increase the beauty that will attract the people a lot. Besides, widening the driveway makes your house more spacious and open. Nowadays, almost everyone has multiple cars to store and move inside their house. 

So, they usually prefer a driveway that can fit more than one car in it. That is why widening the driveway to fit more cars will eventually help you increase the beauty of your house, as well as increase the land value significantly. 

If you extend the driveway using good materials in it, you will be able to get a quality return on your investment and materials. That is why extending the driveway is a great option to boost the value of your property.

How can I make my driveway wider? 

Widening the driveway nowadays has become an essential part of making room for more cars to fit inside the house. Widening the driveway will not only increase the beauty of your house but also increase the land value. 

Since the driveway is the most used part of your yard, you need to widen the driveway so that the cars can easily move, turn and get out of your house without any hassle. 

That is why, when making a driveway wider, you need to consider a few things such as the material, cost, layout and design. After you have finalized everything, it’s time for you to start the work. Follow this easy simple step to make your driveway wider: 

Prepare the soil: 

As a part of preparing the soil, you need to take out all the grasses and clean the soil so that there isn’t any debris left in the soil. After that, you need to dig the soil 11 inches down for installing the pavers. 

Use gravel on extension: 

Apply paver inside the excavated part of the driveway. Once done, you can either try using concrete to make their pets or use pebbles in the extension.

Apply a layer of sand to the surface: 

Apply a thin layer of sand on the surface to make it more comfortable when driving. Following this technique will provide you with the best type of extension of the driveway in your house.

Final Thoughts 

Driveway extension is an important part of increasing the land value as well as the beautification of your house. Widening the driveway helps you to fit more cars inside the driveway without any hassle. Depending on the materials you’re using to widen the driveway, the overall cost may vary.