Resin Drive - any experiences?

[RRH]

Chaps, we currently have a tarmac drive, laid when the house was built.

We've seen quite a few resin drives recently and just got a leaflet through from resindrives.co.uk.

Does anyone have any experience of resin drives and / or resindrives.co.uk?

My biggest concern is whether a 4x4 will damage the surface of a hot day (we have quite a long drive with a dog-leg in the middle) and also whether the caravan (heavy twin axle) will damage it.

Thanks in advance..

[mikeiow]

short answer: I don't know!

Sorry - longer one - we have a tarmac driveway shared between 3 houses, perhaps 40m x 5m in total (not measured).....it is about 35 years old and we are all talking about getting it replaced......I suspect we may just look to skim and re-tarmac (hey, another 35 years would see me out!), but resin ones do look nice - would they have that kind of longevity!

[Blue62]

I am building a house next year and the planners have insisted on a permeable driveway, I can't face gravel anymore so think we will go resin. From the little research I have so far undertaken I understand that it is more resistant than tarmac when it comes to tyre damage (I think the biggest issue is low profile tyres), but not much more than that. It is pretty expensive as well.

[RRH]

From what I can gather, laid on top of good tarmac about £50 sq/m

[Rib]

As some one who comes across them with work I see quite a lot that seem to crack after time, some are lethal in the Wet aswell. I guess with most things it's the quality of them, but they've never really struck me as something I'd like.

[jke11y]

I was at a customers house today, who have a resin drive that's a few years old. I noticed that it has weathered pretty badly and has a lot of cracked areas. Not sure if this is par for the course or not but it wasn't looking great.

[ATTAK Z]

http://www.kbiuk.co.uk

I've used these guys on large projects ... excellent stuff

[Fastpedeller]

strikes me as the latest "double glazing" or "wall coating" earner. A gravel drive has so many plusses - only negative is you take some with you each time you drive away, but on the whole a gravel is easily repairable (just redistribute the stones, or add more) won't hold oil staines etc etc.

[All that jazz]

Fastpedeller said:

strikes me as the latest "double glazing" or "wall coating" earner. A gravel drive has so many plusses - only negative is you take some with you each time you drive away, but on the whole a gravel is easily repairable (just redistribute the stones, or add more) won't hold oil staines etc etc.

True but it's a nightmare for dirt, soil and crud collecting in/underneath it which then results in weeds growing, and that's with sheeting already laid underneath it before the gravel arrived. Gravel also gets on your tits after a while. It's horrible to walk and drive on and you end up with bits of it in your house and strewn down the road when you drive out. The only good thing about it is it helps deter burglars.

[MR2 Steve]

I've just had it done and I'm happy with it so far. Time will tell on longevity. I did have a quote from the company you mention and I didn't like their hard sell approach and the calls to "the boss" to reduce the price by 1/3 when I told them it was too expensive.

And they were still twice the price of the guys I ended up going with from classicstonedriveways.co.uk. I couldn't fault Nick and his team. Not sure if he covers your area but worth a call.

[RRH]

That's just what I was looking for Steve, thank you.
Could you give an indication of cost per square meter?
Thanks
Simon

[hedgefinder]

Blue62 said:

I am building a house next year and the planners have insisted on a permeable driveway, I can't face gravel anymore so think we will go resin. From the little research I have so far undertaken I understand that it is more resistant than tarmac when it comes to tyre damage (I think the biggest issue is low profile tyres), but not much more than that. It is pretty expensive as well.

I was under the impression that a resin drive wasnt permeable ?

[Blue62]

hedgefinder said:

I was under the impression that a resin drive wasnt permeable ?

Pretty certain it is, we can't go tarmac or concrete apparently because of run off so our options are limited, the architect has suggested resin or gravel and I've had enough of gravel. I'm a bit concerned about the longevity of resin and my preference would be imprinted concrete so I will see if we can get around the planners through better drainage nearer the time.

[duffy78]

hedgefinder said:

I was under the impression that a resin drive wasnt permeable ?

as long as the resin bound material is not laid over an existing impermeable surface it can be constructed as permeable.

[MR2 Steve]

RRH said:

That's just what I was looking for Steve, thank you.
Could you give an indication of cost per square meter?
Thanks
Simon

I think it depends on how much groundworks are needed because that is where most of the time was spent. I had started from scratch with the old drive going in a skip so a lot of stone and concrete went in before the final resin a few weeks later. c.£55-£6/sqm including the groundworks which was 2/3 of their time on the job. Cost was comparable to the cheapest concrete block paving which made it a no brainer for me as it looks miles better.

Resin bound is permeable but resin bonded isn't.

Edited by MR2 Steve on Friday 22 July 09:46

[blade runner]

Blue62 said:

Pretty certain it is, we can't go tarmac or concrete apparently because of run off so our options are limited, the architect has suggested resin or gravel and I've had enough of gravel. I'm a bit concerned about the longevity of resin and my preference would be imprinted concrete so I will see if we can get around the planners through better drainage nearer the time.

You can get a permeable tarmac - often referred to as open-graded tarmacadam. Shouldn't cost any more to lay than standard tarmac.

[Bobhon]

ATTAK Z said:

http://www.kbiuk.co.uk

I've used these guys on large projects ... excellent stuff

That stuff looks great, couple of questions though.

1/ How does the cost compare to tarmac?
2/ Can you jack up a car on it or would you need to use a board to spread the load?

Bob

[BIGDAI]

Try these guys http://coatech.co.uk/ I've seen some of their work and, while it isn't cheap, the quality is very good. They do a lot of work for prestigeous developments all over the UK and have a very good reputation.

[ATTAK Z]

Bobhon said:

That stuff looks great, couple of questions though.

1/ How does the cost compare to tarmac?
2/ Can you jack up a car on it or would you need to use a board to spread the load?

Bob

Cost does vary of course, dependent on the subase required, areas and location ... it's dearer than bitmac but has several advantages. I used it in the woodland path project at about 50 pounds/m2 all in including excavation, but that was a big project so expect to pay more for a driveway

TBH I would use a load spreader on bitmac and this stuff, just to be on the safe side

[Blue62]

I've made one enquiry today on the back of this thread, quoted £50psqm installed, but on a new build like mine I will need an asphalt substrate, probably costing another £50-60, so £110psqm. Given the size of driveway, I can think of better ways of spending £15k, guess I will be putting up with gravel.